St Petersburg--third day

Bob, Peggy, Ellen and Jan at Catherine's Summer Place...just like Pipe Lake!

We started our last day here at Catherine the Great’s Summer Palace at Pushkin. This enormous place suffered incredible devastation during World War II. One of its most famous rooms was covered with pieces of amber. Though it has been restored, there are people who are still searching for the original pieces which they believe were secreted away. We are amazed at the extent to which these buildings have been restored.



Ellen, Bob, and Jan in the Podvorye's gardens.

Mila steered us to lunch at the Podvorye Restaurant in nearby Pavlovsk.
The restaurant is a wooden building, typical of that style of Russian architecture. The food was typical Russian food: mushrooms, pelemeni (ravioli-like dumplings), stuffed cabbage and grape leaves, sour cream; cucumbers in sour cream; minced meat (like meatloaf.) We recognized most of the plants in the beautiful gardens outside the restaurant. The “autumn joy” cedum was beginning to bloom. It’s called rabbit’s cabbage here.



Back in St Petersburg, Ellen and Peggy walked along Nevsky Prospect where we mostly browsed. Nevsky Prospect is named for Alexander Nevsky, a 13th century hero. Mila suggested we stop at a grocery store to see its art deco interior: elaborate crystal and bronze wall sconces; tiled food cases; teas, cheeses, cold meats, candies, cookies, vegetables, and the ever present vodka and beer.





Young sailor at the Navy ship Aurora.

Mila took Bob and Jan to see the Aurora and the admiralty museum. Unfortunately this young sailor had to tell them that the ship had just closed for the afternoon. They ambled around the Admiralty Museum instead which suited the old salts that they are.

We all returned to the hotel at about the same time to enjoy our last visit with Mila. She will soon be departing for six months in England where she will be teaching Russian history, politics, and culture. She did a fabulous job of introducing us to Russia. It was not just luck that put us together. Her daughter is a good friend of a good friend of Jan and Ellen’s in Moscow.

We finished our last night here with a Caviar Sampler that was featured in the Astoria’s Davidov Restaurant. Three kinds of caviar with three kinds of vodka. While we struggled with what this sampler consisted in terms of quality and quantity, the manager noticed our consternation and came to our aid. He explained how they would serve the caviar so we could share it. We tried it on toast, pancakes, crepes; with minced onion, egg whites and egg yolks, and sour cream. The head of the wait staff and our waitress also were very involved which led to much merriment. The delightful waitress was pleased to practice her English and was polite with our feeble attempts at Russian. Of course, we finished by sharing desserts: It was a grand evening for our last night in grand St. Petersburg.