Muse back!
July 18, 2008 / Friday
Neva Tour!
Same boat, same guide, but we spent most of our time out on the Neva today, so I'll give it a different title. The big boss was in town today, and since he'd never been on a boat here, we all went out on a boat again. Got more interesting history and stories on a different set of buildings, since we spent only a nominal amount of time on the Neva on Wednesday. Some of the stuff I'd heard before from the previous days, but it's so much information it doesn't hurt to hear it twice. For example, I forgot to mention that the Stroganoff Palace (which is pink, by the way), was built on top of a graveyard. Or was it a cemetery? On top of human bones, how's that?
As with last time, the boat dropped us off at our restaurant. That's one cool thing about a city with so many rivers and canals: you can use boats to get places. That said, I don't think that water taxis are very common there. We just happened to have our private tours arranged that way.
Tonight, at the big boss's request, another Georgian restaurant, Bagrationi. This one was nicer than the last one, and they delivered us a huge feast. I counted 9 appetizer courses plus bread, followed by a giant platter of kabob meats and some potatoes. All super tasty, and I managed to pace myself and not feel ill by the end of dinner.
Speaking of ill, my stomach is not ill anymore. It feels great, and is back to constantly wanting food. Welcome back, stomach! :-D
I wanted to write about how many bridges St. Petersburg has, but I really have no idea. Our guide says 432, some websites say 539, and Wikipedia says 342. Or maybe I heard wrong and our guide said 342 also. In any case, it suffices to say that there are a LOT of bridges here.
In news unrelated to sightseeing and dinner, I found three more mosquito bites on the back of my left arm today. The count is now at 16.
And of course, I just got back from dinner and it's already 1:00 AM. Goodnight, everyone!
July 18, 2008 01:30 PM | St. Petersburg
Comments
Your accounts of the meals remind me of a scene from one of the Horatio Hornblower books, when he is visiting St. Petersburg, and there's a huge buffet at which he stuffs himself, not realizing that the buffet is just a warmup for the main meal, which itself is dish after dish after dish. The Emperor is present, so the food is served on gold plates, which sucks the heat out of the food. Hornblower's seat-neighbor remarks that all the wealthy families have regular chain plates, which they use for everyday meals, and only break out the gold plates when they are hosting the Emperor, because it's impossible for keep food hot on the gold plates. The neighbor remarks, of the Emperor, that the poor guy has probably never eaten a hot meal in his entire life.
Anyway, back to the food: As I recall, many of the dishes are described, but I don't recall the details. But it was the same surfeit of food as you are describing!
It sounds as though you are adapting very well to your surroundings. Riding the metro! (Wouldn't that make a great song title :)
Posted by: gs at July 21, 2008 07:17 AM
Riding the metro, soon. That's how I'm getting home tonight! The folks at the office here are sending someone with me, though. They're really worried that I'll get lost or pickpocketed or something. Tomorrow, I'm on my own. :)
Posted by: Viv at July 21, 2008 07:21 AM