History and Erotica

Hello Everyone!
Since our last post we have seen a few more sites of the city. We’ve been trying to fit a few in every week so that over the course of our time here we’ll have been able to visit everything that we wanted.
Aquarium! While neither Leah nor I knew that St. Petersburg had an aquarium (or an Oceanarium as they call it here), and although aquariums aren’t a particularly Russian experience, we spent a relaxing Saturday afternoon under the sea so to speak. The aquarium is all indoors, and was built in 2006 so it is very modern. Leah and I were both very impressed at how well the fish were kept, and how clean and big the tanks were. In fact, we would even go as far as saying that it was better than the Vancouver Aquarium. The tanks are divided into different regional areas. For example, the fish at the beginning of the exhibits are from around this area, then follows a tropical rainforest/freshwater section, and finally on the lower floor was an extensive ocean reef section. Our favorite exhibits included a massive open water tank about waist deep which we could even lean over to see its inhabitants. It contained a large number of stingrays, which swam right up close, so that if we had wanted, we could have reached over and touched them as their “wings” (fins I suppose) came out of the water. The most popular section of the aquarium is a horseshoe shaped tunnel that is surrounded on all sides and above by sharks, fish, coral, eels and all such ocean critters. Leah’s other favorite tank was one that contained seahorses. She did not like the sharks….although we have a picture of her in the jaws of a Megalodon (for all you museum folk who know what that is).

Following our excursion to the Oceanarium, we decided to treat ourselves to dinner at…….McDonalds! For some reason or another, despite never craving it at home, the five of us who went were all inexplicably longing for a McDonald’s burger. Another thing…for some strange reason, in every country in the world outside of North America McDonalds is actually good. The service is good, the restaurants have leather seats, they are clean, and the food is actually tasty. After struggling our way through ordering (the poor guy at the front had to deal with 5 foreigners with broken Russian), we sat down at a table near the door, only to have an uninvited guest soon join us at the head of our table; no it was not a rat, rather a sad old babushka (grandmother) who was waiting by the garbage can to eat any food that someone was going to throw out. We felt very sorry for her, especially since the 5 of us were eating full meals: burgers, fries and beverages. Let us explain. During the Soviet Union, when health care was free, retirees had pensions, and the state controlled the prices of necessities, everyone was reasonably well taken care of. But, when the Soviet Union collapsed, everyone who was receiving a pension, or who would soon receive a pension, lost everything. Now, because of rapid inflation, and a re-evaluation of the currency (the exchange rate was 1000 Soviet Rubles to the new Russian Ruble), everyone’s savings were wiped out. On top of that, as a new country, Russia was unable to provide social welfare programs that they had been able to provide before, so the older generation is left with meager savings, and since they are unable to work, must rely on charity and what little the state can provide them. Looking at this old women, who we were sure would have survived World War 2 and the Siege of Leningrad, Stalin’s reign, the collapse of her country, and the building of a drastically different Russia, we were reminded of how lucky we are. So, we decided that given our luck in life and prosperity, to give her a couple hundred rubles to hopefully make her life a little easier. After a brief argument (she was too proud to take it at first) she eventually relented and thanked us very much and wished us all good health. As a bonus, perhaps this will leave her with a positive impression of young foreigners as well.

Today, like every Monday, while all the other classes are forced to go to school, our group gets a day off (we are divided into classes based on our level of Russian and while some classes get Fridays, or Tuesdays off, our extra day of rest is Monday). The weather was particularly fantastic today, about four degrees Celsius, (the snow has all melt) so we decided not to waste it. We left the hotel around eleven or so this morning and first headed downtown. We took the subway, got off at our stop and headed in the direction of the Hermitage Museum (the old Winter Palace built in the 1730’s). The building was constructed by Empress Elizabeth who unfortunately died before it was completed, and so Peter the third was the first to live there. He however only lived there for three months, because a coup occurred which replaced him with the Palace’s next inhabitant Catherine the Great! On the way to the Hermitage, we had some lunch (KFC! Ridiculous I know! We have been eating Russian food too I promise you) and then continued on to the museum . . . which was closed! We had forgotten that it was Monday, thinking it was still Sunday, and unfortunately our day of rest is also the Hermitage’s day of rest. Our walk there was not for nothing however, because we snapped some beautiful pictures of the building itself, as well as the square in front of it, which has a large monument in the centre. The monument was built to commemorate the defeat of Napoleon in 1812. It is a huge 47.5 meter tall pillar of granite which it topped with a statue of an angel who is trampling a snake (the snake is a common symbol here of an invading force). After being denied a day in the museum, we decided to continue on our trek to some of the other nearby sights. About a block or so away, stands the Bronze Horseman statue, which is a monument dedicated to Peter the Great from his wife Catherine I (not to be confused with Catherine II who was “the Great”). . . See picture. The statue is of Peter himself riding a horse which is trampling a snake (again symbolic of invaders). The park in which the statue sits looks out onto the Neva River (the main campus of St. Petersburg State University is on the opposite bank), is across the street, on one side, from the Constitutional Court buildings, and also across from St. Isaac’s Cathedral (who is the patron saint of St. Petersburg because he and Peter the Great share the same birthday). It is a massive cathedral with a golden domed roof and gorgeous statues and pillars decorating it, and was the first church built in the city. We took photos of the horseman and the church, but intend to visit the church again later because we discovered that inside is a museum, and you can also ascend to the top of the cathedral where we are told there is a fantastic view of the city.

After taking in these sights, we still had some time until we had planned to meet up with Jessi and Laura to go see another museum, so we did some souvenir shopping. We found a great bookstore, where we bought a fantastic book of soviet propaganda posters! Definitely a great conversation piece which will live on our coffee table back home. We also poked around in a couple of souvenir shops which had everything from matroshkas ( ‘nesting’ dolls as we call them in Canada) and shot glasses, to watercolour paintings of the city and jewelry, but we didn’t find anything we needed to have immediately.

Eventually, we made our way back to the metro, and then to the station nearest our school so that we could meet up with Jessi and Laura. On the way to the institute, we stopped at a Teremok kiosk which is a chain of restaurants here that has both kiosks and restaurants serving Russian foods. We each ordered Blini: they are thin little pancakes, similar to crepes which Russians eat with various kinds of toppings. Ross’ had caramelized apples, and mine was chocolate (although Elisa I really should have had mine with that condensed milk stuff, which by the way we have found in everything . . . to everyone else, I will explain that later when I write a full blog on Russian foods we have been eating, stay tuned). However normal these toppings may sound, they also eat these thin folded pancakes with mushrooms, various meats and cheeses, as well as with onions and other random things. After this quick snack we met up with Jessi and Laura and continued on to our final site for the day . . .

The Museum of Erotica! Housed in a former centre of venereal diseases, now a fully functional, modern proctology/”prostate-ology”/gynecology clinic (as the sign out front also reads), the Museum of Erotica is essentially a collection of rather tacky, sexually themed objects which are displayed on the walls of the clinic. Meanwhile, as we are observing the collection, patients were checking in, filling out forms, and waiting to see their doctors. The showpiece of the entire collection, and the sole reason why we bothered to go at all (aside from the laughs of course), is a rather disturbing (ask to see the photo when we come home) jar which contains . . . Rasputin’s Penis! (allegedly) Not sure if this can be believed or not, considering the circumstances of his death. At any rate, given our interest in Russian History, that Rasputin is somewhat of a legend himself within the larger scope of Russian History, and simply to say that we have seen all that remains of him, we had to go and see it!
Bye for now, From Russia With Love: Ross and Leah