St Petersburg

St Petersburg turned out to live up to all the wriiten laudits about it's treaures and opulence.  Sadly the way our visits were organised were not of the same standard and we ended up with one and a half hours to see the Hermitage!  You could spend a whole week wandering around and only see a fraction and I left the group to spend more time visiting the display of impressionist paintings (by the dozen) and other priceless works of art on three vast floors.  In contrast to the priceless beauty surrounding me I was struck by the glares of dragons in each room - middle aged Russian women employed to strike fear into the hearts of visitors.  One look could reduce you to a trembling mass.  I did actually see one smile but when I pushed my luck and asked one, in English, for the way to a particular room, I was waved away with a vigorous flourish of the hand. Madame Tussauds would be hard pressed to replicate some of the faces. One in particular remains with me today.  I can still see the pillarbox red lipstick and boatrace blue eyes (one dark blue the other light) surrounded by thick folds of powdered skin that hung around voluminously.  By God it struck terror into my heart!  I wondered if she was married but I can't imagine anyone could deserve the punishment of living with that 24/7!

I had my portrait done by a street artist outside the Hermitage.  The examples of 'his work' on display suggested he was accomplished at his trade but the finished article of me convinced me otherwise.  When I showed it to the girls they were initially too polite to declare what they really thought but after only minor encouragement from me they readily agreed it bore no resemblance at all to my handsome features!

Tension pervades the air. This is not a people "happy in their skin." History bears heavily.  Opulance contrasts decadence. Across the river (Neva), mountains of bland, suburban highrise apartments accommodate the massed, normal citizens of St P.. Their bay view: tourism's "army" disembarking from massed liners for their 72 hour visit (no visa required).  Our guide, Natalya (a lovely girl with a sense of humour) tells us it is a new city, only some 300 years, originally by Peter the Great...he built the Peter and Paul (his son) Fortress. A large, enlightened, man (6ft 7 ins), he travelled, learnt boat building in Holland (he loved Holland and rearranged the Dutch flag for Russia's white, blue, red) and government in London. He consolidated his dynasty as a nation, he understood his people, state, but died early. His "home" palace, small, set in ornate summer gardens contrasts his dynastic successors opulence (Elizabeth I's had 15,000 dresses, avoiding clothes bugs by a daily change).

Splendidly arrayed along the River, opposite the revered Peter's Fortress his daugther, Catherine the Great's massive, ornate, autumn green, white, baroque, "winter" palace dominates the skyline.  The Hermitage houses 3 million works of art, sculpture and artifacts.  She combed the world for treasures and works of art - not one piece but the lot - everything she 'discovered'.

Venician like canals (68) with many bridges (400) cleave canyons of beautiful architecture.  Every street is lined with baroque (some later, art deco) palaces, businesses, mansions, residences. Their ornate exterior, pastel coloured (palaces: yellow, white, statued, embellished in gold) emphatically announcing wealth, position, ambition centered around the Czar. 

Understanding Russia is complex. No other country has experienced such turbulence - imperial dynasties, revolution (1918), civil war( Reds v Whites), famine (WW I - 2/3 of the population starved), Soviet idealogy, World Wars, Stalinist repression (1930's), peace, economic collapse, capitalism (1991).

"...I went to a Soviet school...I didn't know I wasn't free...I was happy..." was a notable quote by Natalya our guide.  She told us Stalin's idolatory has been removed whilst Lenin's bronzes stand tall. "...he is left to history..." she added.  How do you recognise statues if asked?  "...if it is bald, it is Lenin, if it has a mass of curly hair it is Pushkin, Russia's most celebrated artist..."

40 km distant  from St P is Peterhof - the "summer" palace and "temple" of golden, baroque, excess - Czarist escape - set in French "Versailles" gardens with waterfalls, dripping, gold leafed statues - the ultimate, kitsch - lakes, canal, stretching, through vast parkland promenading to the bay.

In 2006, Nicholas II, his family (two children are to be interred later) and servants, were reinterred from a Siberian forest to the St Peter and Paul Cathedral within St Petersburg birthplace fortress. The crush of visitors to catch a glimpse of these tombs was FA Cup Final resemblant, but worth the wait.  By the time I left I was 'tombed out' but happy to have seen them.

We said goodbye to St P, each in awe at what we seen and experienced, most hungry for more, but all relieved to move out of Russia's 'clutches' since the Soviet practices of the KGB were always close to the surface in my view.