Muse back!
July 25, 2008 / Friday
St. Petersburg From Above
My trip into work this morning took me back to St. Isaac's Cathedral, where I went up to the Colonnade to see the city from above. I walked alllll the way down Nevsky Prospekt, bought my ticket, and walked up the 200+ step circular stone staircase.
The view, it was nice. But St. Petersburg doesn't have much of a skyline, so it wasn't much to wow at. It was neat, though, seeing all the buildings in the city. The from-above analog to all the scaffolding seen at street level are the giant cranes in every direction. Lots of construction, yes there is.
I wasn't anywhere near a Metro station from St. Isaac's, so I decided to walk along the Neva toward Gorkovskaya station. It's another long walk, but it ended up being pretty cool because there were 5 Navy ships anchored just off the shore. I took lots of pictures. I was a little confused by the flags they flew, as I didn't see the Russian flag on any of the ships, but the internet tells me they were flying the Russian Navy Jack up front and the Russian naval ensign in the back.
At noon, the cannon at Peter and Paul Fortress went off. I think it's pointed across the Neva toward where I was at the time. It was, by far, the loudest I've heard it all week. Made my ears ring a little. Made some tourists scream. That was kind of funny.
As I neared the bridge toward Gorkovskaya, one of the ships started to fire its cannon. (I guess it was a cannon? It boomed.) I was close by for the first few shots, and they were loud, and rumbled like thunder. I watched the last few shots from the bridge, and I could see the ship fire a couple seconds before hearing the boom. There were 20 shots in all. Not sure what that was all about, but it was neat.
[ Update: I was talking to someone at the office just now and found out that Navy Day is this coming Sunday. Too bad I will have just left. The internet tells me there will be music everywhere, a submarine, and access to board and visit the ships. Darnit darnit darnit! ]
[ Update to update: Darnit darnit! ]
I was quite hungry by the time I got to the other end of the bridge. I had originally planned to check out Petrogradskaya, but I wanted to be at the office soon and I needed food and liquid. I came across a babushka with a food cart. I read the menu: Пирожки. "Pee-ro-sh-k-eee." Ah! Piroshki! There were two kinds, and I had no idea what the difference was, so I just shrugged and repeated one of the words the babushka said. I think I got potato. Potato piroshki and Powerade. :)
Afterward, I wondered what the difference was between a piroshki and a pierogi. Wikipedia says they pretty much refer to the same thing, except that a Russian piroshki is much different from a Polish pierogi. The "Russian pierogi" picture on that page is a pretty accurate depiction of what I got, except that mine didn't have meat.
Now, to find pelmeni!
July 25, 2008 02:25 AM | Food:St. Petersburg
Comments
I've heard that--that pierogi and piroshki are the same. And that they are different. (sheesh!)
If you don't find pelmeni (but I hope you do!) I found a Russian delicatessen in Campbell on Winchester in Yelp.
Yum, pelmeni... with a dollop of sour cream...
Posted by: Jennie at July 25, 2008 02:00 PM
I always though pierogi have meat, and piroshki are potato? I thought they were both Polish, shows what I know...
Posted by: scully at July 25, 2008 03:01 PM
Sour cream, the Russian everything condiment!
Confusing that there are two names for one item, but two items for those names. Huh??
Posted by: Viv at July 25, 2008 09:54 PM