PETROGRAD - VYBORG - VASILEVSKY ISLAND

Man. Keeping up with the blog is very time consuming, and I am struggling to keep up!

Below are some random photos from last week's ramblings on Petrogradskaya Storono, Vyborgskaya Storno and Vasilevsky Island.

FRONT OF PETER THE GREAT'S COTTAGE. I WAS DISAPPOINTED. HERE, THEY CHARGE FOREIGNERS A DIFFERENT AND HIGHER PRICE THAN RUSSIANS (A SEEMINGLY FADING HABIT) AND DID NOT SAY UNTIL I SNAPPED A PHOTO INSIDE THAT THERE IS AN EXTRA FEE FOR THAT PRIVILEGE.

SURROUNDING THE ACTUAL COTTAGE (WHAT WE WOULD CALL A CABIN) IS THIS PROTECTIVE PAVILION ERECTED IN THE LATE 1700S BY PETER'S PROGENY. THAT WAS FAR SIGHTED OF THEM. PETER ACTUALLY HAD THE THREE-ROOM COTTAGE ERECTED IN THREE DAYS IN EARLY MAY 1703. IT WAS BUILT "SWEDISH" STYLE IN THAT THE LOGS WERE CUT TO HAVE SIX SIDES, AS OPPOSED TO AN AMERICAN LOG CABIN WHERE THE LOGS ARE EITHER ROUND OR MIGHT HAVE FOUR SIDES.

LOOKING SOUTH FROM THE COTTAGE INTO THE GARDEN SURROUNDING IT AND OUT TOWARD THE NEVA RIVER AND THE SUMMER GARDEN ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE RIVER.

BUST OF PETER THE GREAT IN THE GARDEN.

OUT OF SEQUENCE, BUT ACROSS FROM THE PETER PAUL FORTRESS IS A COMBO PETROL STATION AND BURGER KING. GASOLINE IS ROUGHLY EQUIVALENT TO WHAT WE PAY IN THE STATES - $4 PER GALLON OR HERE, 33 RUBLES PER LITRE.

AND TO FILL YOUR SOUL IS THIS NIFTY LITTLE CHAPEL ON PETROGRAD CALLED ST. TROITSKY'S. IT IS AT THE TIP, JUST AS YOU COME OVER THE TROITSKY BRIDGE.

THE AURORA AGAIN.

ON THE SAMPSON BRIDGE HEADED TO VYBORG LOOKING AT THE AURORA MOORING ON THE BOLSHAYA NEVSKA WITH THE NAVAL CADET ACADEMY. 

FROM THE BRIDGE, LOOKING AT VYBOR ON THE LEFT AND ACROSS THE RIVER NEVA TO THE SOUTH SIDE OF ST. PETERSBURG ON ANOTHER CHILLY AND GLOOMY DAY.

THERE WAS NOT A LOT I COULD FIND TO SEE OVER ON VYBORG. I WENT INTO THIS OFFICE COMPLEX CALLED VYBORGSKAYA CENTER AND FOUND THIS INTERESTING OPEN LOBBY. I ATE AT A STOLOVAYA, WHAT WE COULD CALL A CAFETERIA, WHICH I UNDERSTAND WERE THE PRIMARY PLACES TO EAT DURING SOVIET TIMES (NOT ALL THE VARIED CUISINE ANDREA AND I FIND IN SPB TODAY.) 

 

I LIKED THE DESIGN OF THIS OFFICE COMPLEX. IT IS BUILT AROUND A FOUNTAIN WHICH CELEBRATES ST. PETERSBURG'S 300 YEARS OF EXISTENCE GOING BACK TO 1703. A SUN DIAL IS DESIGNED INTO THE FOUNTAIN.

THE ST. PETERSBURG MOSQUE ON PETROGRAD IS QUITE STRIKING.

TEREMOK KIOSK - THESE LITTLE STANDS CAN BE FOUND ALL OVER THE CITY. HERE YOU CAN GRAB A DRINK, SOME BLINI, A HOT DOG...

ON THE MAIN THOROUGHFARE OF PETROGRAD - KAMENNOOSTROVSKY PROSPEKT, WHICH IS A CONTINUATION OF THE TROITSKY BRIDGE ROAD - IN ALEXANDER PARK IS THIS DYNAMIC SCULPTURE BY KONSTANTIN IZENBERG COMMEMORATING THE HEROIC EFFORTS OF TWO RUSSIAN SAILORS WHO SCUTTLED THE STEREGUSCHY TORPEDO BOAT RATHER THAN GIVE IT UP TO THE JAPANESE DURING THE 1904-05 RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR.

AHH! VASILEVSKY ISLAND AND YA-LINIYA 7 RUNNING NORTH-SOUTH. AFTER THE DAMP COLD IN PETROGRAD, THIS SUNSHINE WARMED ME OL' BONES. THIS IS A LOVELY STREET WITH CAFES AND BOUTIQUES, LENDING IT A FRIENDLY, COLLEGE TOWN FEEL. 

ST. ANDREW'S CATHEDRAL.

THE VASILEVSKY MARKET. IT IS SPACIOUS AND OFFERS EVERYTHING FROM FRESH FISH AND MEATS TO FRUIT AND VEGETABLES, AS WELL AS CLOTHING AND ELECTRONICS. I SHOULD HAVE PHOTOGRAPHED MUCH MORE OF IT, BUT I WAS ALREADY RUNNING LOW ON BATTERIES.

FROM VASILEVSKY ISLAND LOOKING ACROSS THE WIDE NEVA TOWARD ST. ISAAC'S CATHEDRAL AND THE YELLOW SENATE-SYNOD BUILDING COMPLEX.

ALONG THE UNIVERSITY EMBANKMENT LOOKING AT THE ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS.

ALONG THE UNIVERSITY EMBANKMENT LOOKING AT THE MENSHIKOV PALACE.

BUST OF ALEXANDER MENSHIKOV. HE WAS A CLOSE FRIEND OF PETER THE GREAT'S WHO ROSE IN PROMINENCE AS PETER REIGNED. HE AMASSED GREAT WEALTH AND POLITICAL POWER, BUT WAS STRIPPED OF EVERYTHING AFTER PETER THE GREAT DIED. HE AND HIS FAMILY WERE BANISHED TO SIBERIA, AN OLD RUSSIAN TRADITION!

ACADEMY OF SCIENCES ALONG THE UNIVERSITY EMBANKMENT.

STATUE OF LOMONOSOV ALONG THE UNIVERSITY EMBANKMENT. IT STANDS BETWEEN THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND THE TWELVE COLLEGES. LOMONOSOV - ANOTHER OUTSTANDING RUSSIAN.

THE BACK OF THE OLD STOCK EXCHANGE AND CURRENT NAVAL MUSEUM. I PHOTOGRAPHED THIS MANY TIMES FROM THE FRONT, ALONG THE STRELKA, ON THE EASTERN TIP OF VASILEVSKY ISLAND.

BUST OF ALEXANDER PUSHKIN IN FRONT OF THE PUSHKIN HOUSE LITERARY MUSEUM.

STATUE OF IVAN PETROV PAVLOV - INVENTOR OF DOG BEHAVIOR!

THE TWELVE COLLEGES, WHICH PETER ORIGINALLY CONSTRUCTED TO HOUSE THE SENATE, SYNOD AND HIS MINISTRIES. IT IS NOW PART OF ST. PETERSBURG STATE UNIVERSITY.

STATUE OF ANDREY SAKHAROV - SCIENTIST, NOBEL PEACE PRICE WINNER AND TRUTH FIGHTER - STANDS ON THE OTHER END OF MENDELEEV AVENUE FROM THE LOMONOSOV STATUE, NEAR THE TWELVE COLLEGES.