The Zehrens Go Global

St. Petersburg ~ July 16

Well it rained all day today but that didn’t stop us. We first went to go see St. Isaac’s Cathedral which they say can hold 14,000 people. It is HUGE. We did not go inside this time. We were all a little “churched” out. (see picture below). From there we walked and went to a hard to find museum about the siege of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) during WW II. They were under siege for three years from Nazi Germany. The Germans wanted nothing left of Leningrad. — no people or city. They felt they could easily march in and take the city. They were wrong so their next strategy was to starve it out and bomb it. The museum was very moving and the Russian people’s resilience was truly impressive. About a million Russians died in Leningrad during this siege. The museum was well worth the walk in the rain.

From there we went in search of a cafe that our English friends recommended as a must. It was raining the entire walk there which was probably a mile. We found the Singer Cafe which was a massive three story book store. On the second floor was the cafe which had a spectacular view of the Kazan Cathedral (Russian Orthodox). See the picture below. We had tea, cappuccino and dessert. It was well worth the search for the view alone. Russian desserts are not exactly fantastic.

From Singer Cafe we decided to go look for a ballet theater we had heard about. As we started to leave the cafe, a man from Sweden approached us asking if we needed help. He lives in St. Petersburg now. He brought us to two theaters and we were in luck at the second theater which had their closing performance of Swan Lake. John had called several theaters earlier for a ballet or opera and everything was closed. We purchased five tickets and went to the show. It was really good. The theater was an old world theater with balconies and simply gorgeous. The costumes and sets were amazing. The dancers were great as well. The live orchestra was fantastic too. Much to our surprise there were two intermissions. We almost left early! The show started at 8:00pm and ended around 10:30 pm. When we went to exit the theater it was still light outside!! We took the scenic walk back to the apartment. It was almost 11:30 pm by the time we got back so we ate a light dinner of bacon and cheese sandwiches in the apartment. We just can’t manage to get to bed before 1:00 or 2:00 am here.

John is feeling sick and we are worried about food poisoning. I hope he is feeling better in the morning. We are scheduled to fly to Moscow at 8:00 pm and have to be out of the apartment by 11:30 am. They have another guest arriving so we can’t get a late check out.

Below is a picture of the 24 hour tiny convenience store close by that we have been buying our breakfast items from. In the picture is the lady who helps us but speaks no English. It should be noted that the Russians don’t smile for pictures.

The city is just so lovely with beautiful old ornate buildings along canals. We will be sorry to leave.