A high and dry, wild and wet, majestic history medley – RTW 2018

[juddles]

Sorry juddles, that's not a bell: THIS is a bell (Moscow kremlin - sorry JohnM, couldn't resist). And nothing a bit of araldite won't fix.

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Yes, that is a bell! I wonder how they broke it? Announcing "last drinks"??

 

[JohnM]

I was just looking to see whether I had taken a pic on my phone of the Moscow bell to do just that, but I hadn’t, so thanks RF.

The problem, apart from the weight, of large bells is the low frequency setting up harmonics in buildings and shaking them to pieces.

 

[JohnM]

The breakage was an accident caused by water contacting it during casting.

 

[juddles]

The breakage was an accident caused by water contacting it during casting.

I think I have heard that story with bells before - I think the old "water during casting" is an insurance line

 

[JohnM]

After arriving in St Petersburg early afternoon, it was out for a few hours’ orientation walk on a beautiful mild late summer day.

The summer garden.



On the way Chizhik-Pyzhik, the smallest monument in St Petersburg, and on the side of the Fontanka canal. It’s of a small bird and derives from a nursery rhyme. Legend has it that anyone landing a coin on it from above will have their wish come true.



Canal beside the Hermitage and a portico on one side.





The Hermitage across the Palace Square and back through the arch and the avenue through to Nevsky Prospekt.







Along one of the canals with the Saviour of the Spilled Blood cathedral in the distance.



This place is impressive! Tomorrow morning is a boat trip then into the Hermitage. I’ll see what else I can squeeze in on what is my last day here.

 

[JohnM]

Tonight it was out to the home of a family who live in a a Soviet-era type of shared apartment for pancakes and tea and to gain some understanding of the older way of life. The family was a husband and wife and their fifteen year old daughter. Each of the four families has its own living room with bedroom niches, while kitchen and ablution facilities are shared.

The crepes were excellent, served with sour cream and home made lime jam.

 

[OATEK]

The Hermitage across the Palace Square and back through the arch and the avenue through to Nevsky Prospekt.

Along one of the canals with the Saviour of the Spilled Blood cathedral in the distance.

It just looks so much better now that all the World Cup paraphernalia is out of the way. You could not see the Hermitage from the Arch in June, and under the centre of the Arch was the FIFA goodies tent.

 

[JohnM]

I’m certainly glad my visit did not coincide with the soccer, and followed sufficiently later that it was all gone.

 

[RooFlyer]

This place is impressive! Tomorrow morning is a boat trip then into the Hermitage. I’ll see what else I can squeeze in on what is my last day here.

Suggestion: St Isaacs if you can. Not just another bloody big church, but an amazing building even on the outside, near the statue of Peter the Great near the waterfront. Great views from the roof.

Or, St Peter and Paul church on the fort island ( very tall, thin spire). They re-interred the remains of the murdered Romanovs inside.

 

[love_the_life]

How many people are there on your tour JohnM? They look quite young too.

 

[JohnM]

How many people are there on your tour JohnM? They look quite young too.

16 - the maximum number they take per group. Age range 30-ish to an 80 year old, brought along as a birthday present by her daughter. She does well. It breaks out about half in their thirties and the rest in their sixties. No PITAs but some of the older ones (but younger than me...) are, err, a bit, shall we say, fuddy-duddy for me. Premature aging, I think of it as...

Ahem, I hang out with the the younger ones when we go independently for dinner. Otherwise, most seem to peel off with who they are travelling with when we have free time during the day. While yesterday’s walking tour was included, visits to the Hermitage and suchlike are under your own steam - a good thing. The large guided groups in the Hermitage were a PITA.

 

[JohnM]

I bought my ticket to the Hermitage online last night, so skipped straight to the separate, expedited side entry and straight in this morning. Find the rack that is supposed to be loaded with floor plans, but all it has is a few in Korean. Huh, what!? I ask at the nearby audio guide desk. Nup, that’s it. Sheesh - major fail .

The Hermitage is closed on Mondays, so you might hope they would use that day to tidy up and re-stock things like floor plans. Clearly not.

Not off to a flying start and the place is a zoo. It looks like a flotilla of cruise ships must have disgorged, and maybe there’s a backlog from the Monday lay-day.

I roam around, slightly directionless, and take in at least some of the glitter.

 

[JohnM]

The St Peter and Paul church on the fort island and the Spilled Blood Cathedral.

 

[JohnM]

S7 lounge LED.

 

[JohnM]

Last night it was off to hip CoCoCo for dinner with five of the millennials for a tour finale. Some of the group were going to the ballet (Swan Lake), so a full-group final dinner that might typically occur wasn’t possible.

One of the millennials had seen an Anthony Bourdain report on CoCoCo, owned by the lead singer of a major Russian pop group and his wife, and reputed as being the first Russian ‘farm-to-table’ restaurant. OK, we’ve got those and a few other buzzwords lined up and the plan is to do the tasting menu. I’m happy to go with the flow.

Let’s hit it.

It seems to be connected to the Sofitel, not far from the main square and very close to St Isaacs church.

A glass of my favourite NV Champagne - from a newly-opened bottle - kicks off proceedings appropriately. The tasting menu is printed on a card to follow along and souvenir. The ‘main’ course is a fish/meat choice. 2900 Roubles is about $60.

We fall into a bit of a hole at the start. Some of the others had planned to take the wine pairing, but that’s not available because they’ve run out of some stock. Hmmm - that strikes me as a bit strange that they stick to a rigid plan for the wine and can’t substitute. But, hey, it’s Russia and plans must be unquestioningly followed, I guess. Old habits die hard.

I had spotted a Russian Pinot Noir from Crimea on the list, so I was going to peel off to try that. Dang! The last bottle has recently gone to another table. The other Russian reds looked too heavy for the menu, so I went for a half bottle of Chablis and a half of red Bourgogne. OK, but not Cru wines.

 

[RooFlyer]

Looks a bit wanker-ish; at least anything with 'foam' is. What happened to the beef stroganoff, in the home of the dish (Count Stroganov). You probably walked past his palace - a lolly-pop pink building - on Nevsky Prospect, IIRC.

 

[JohnM]

Oi! Patience! I had to go and jump on the bird LED-DME.

Now to the scraps. Refer back to the card for descriptions.

The first three items came simultaneously. The bread and butter following as a course was slightly amusing, but it was a artesanal small bun made with some foragings or suchlike that I didn’t catch. I’m not much of a bread eater; it was fine.



Salmon icecream with wasabi.



The salmon caviar taco.









OK, but more like a white Bourgogne than a true Chablis.

 

[JohnM]

Moving on.

I had the tartare but I’ve included a pic of the fish - despite the excessive foam. I thought the tin was a bit twee but the millennials dug it.







The egg was very good as a palate-cleanser. The cranberry liquid inside was ver zesty.


The paper cup for the cococorn threw me a little but the others (a couple and a woman from the US and an Ustralian couple living in London) thought it was OK.





The jely-like lollypops were rather tasteless.



The wine from a large producer was serviceable.



All up, good but not memorable. The food itself was quite inexpensive as these things go. All-in-all it was a fun evening with the (ahem, more fun company), and as tasting menus can often be in a group. A great end to the Russia trip. We were there at around 8pm and left approaching 1am. I had to be up at 0500 to get to the airport...

A view of St Isaac’s as we wandered back to the hotel.

 

[JohnM]

A little over an hour LED-DME. Bag third out . Short walk through to QR checkin and a brilliant highly expedited totally separate premium security and passport control (some are more equal than others ). Hardly had better.

Passport control was interesting. Agent flipped through every single page of my (freqent traveller) passport, then used a magnifying glass that was attached to the equipment in front of her to inspect something in detail. I guess it was my Russian visa. She asked if I was transiting DOH (I’m not). Dont’t know why.

QR uses the DME Business Lounge, despite the S7 lounge sporting prominent OWA and Emerald and Sapphire logos. I was not optimistic, but it’s pretty good.

LED.

 

[JohnM]

Aboard and about to farewell sensational Russia. It really is a fabulous place and the people I encountered were all wondeful. It’s just too bad they are so neurotic about visa stuff.

Woo-hoo, nobody next to me. 4:40h flight time.