St. Petersburg, the legendary fighting nation

After spending the Spring Festival in Vietnam and Cambodia in 2018, in the Spring Festival of 2019, the same Buddy, different scenery, this time we came to the legendary fighting nation-Russia, is it the fighting nation in your impression? . . Such?

"In the middle of winter, the air conditioner is not blowing at home, so we don't eat the New Year's Eve dinner, so we go to Russia where it's dozens of degrees below zero to suffer the cold..." Before departure, my father watched my mother laboriously stuffing luggage into the box with me, shaking He kept mumbling with his head tilted. Looking at the overstuffed suitcase, I remembered carrying my hiking bag while wandering around Vietnam and Cambodia last year, and I could only look at my dad with a helpless "Hey~". Who makes the natives of Jiangnan full of yearning for the world of ice and snow, but also full of worries? Before the trip, I bought a lot of cold-resistant equipment such as outdoor snow boots, ski gloves, Lei Feng hats, wool socks, baby warmers, etc., and took a lot of effort to bring them all on the plane. Friends who have been there may have smiled knowingly when they saw this. Yes, friends, if you just go to St. Petersburg, Moscow and other cities, you don’t have to worry about the temperature at all. You know, I wear a single layer under a down jacket in Moscow. When I go home, Later I added a sweater and a blanket for sleeping. Not to mention the ubiquitous heating in Russia, the outdoor temperature is not as cold and humid as Jiangnan, which makes people shiver.

St. Petersburg - my favorite place during this trip. Covered in ice and snow, it looks like a quiet and down-to-earth life. It is more real than Murmansk and warmer than Moscow.

Whether you are transferring to St. Petersburg or taking the train, you basically have to pass through Moscow. After landing in Shanghai direct flight to Moscow, we took the airport express to the train station without stopping. The condition of the sleeper berth was average. After a long night of banging and boring, I arrived at Moscow Station in St. Petersburg half asleep (Russian train stations are named after their terminal stations).

The airport bus is very clean and has its own WIFI.

As soon as I got off the train, I saw the gray-green tin boxes and the classic Russian mink coats that were walking in a hurry, as if I had traveled to the former Soviet Union.

On the day we arrived in St. Petersburg, we had no specific itinerary. After washing up slowly and leisurely at the B&B, we went out to find food refreshed. Take a breath of the crisp air, step on the crisp snow, and start to carefully look at the appearance of St. Petersburg - the wide and clean main roads, pigeons and wild ducks everywhere, the lake covered with thick ice, scattered everywhere Churches and Soviet buildings that cannot be seen clearly are the first impressions brought by the street scene of St. Petersburg.

The Cathedral of the Savior on Spilled Blood is the best interpretation of the classic Russian style. It was being renovated at the time, and as night fell, it lost the fairytale-like colors under the sun, but it became more tranquil and sacred.

Southern children who have never seen the world will always have an irresistible impulse when they see the snow. They will walk over and over again until the snow reaches their knees. It is like realizing all their childhood fantasies about the winter snow scene. .

Key point: In St. Petersburg, please look for Mickey & Monkeys. Due to the difference in taste, I really didn’t have a good experience with Russian food. M&M is a Western restaurant bar. It was recommended by the lady at the B&B. Unexpectedly, it became our "canteen" during the few days we were in St. Petersburg. From breakfast, lunch, dinner, to desserts and cocktails, there was no mistake in many days, and the environment was harmonious. The price is also very friendly to young people. Of course, the waiters and ladies here can also be regarded as the spokespersons of Eastern European beauty. Not to mention blond hair and blue eyes, fair to transparent skin, and a pair of long legs. Look at it. The person sighed up to the sky and could only turn envy, jealousy and hatred into appetite, and unknowingly played into the boss's hands.

When I woke up early in the morning and opened the window, fluffy snowflakes rushed towards me. When I lowered my head, I found that a thick layer of snow had already accumulated on the window edge. On the snow-covered streets, there were cars stuck in the snow. , and topped with a layer of fragrant "milk cap". In the heavy snow that filled the sky, pseudo-literary young people who were keen to be influenced by art marched happily towards the Winter Palace.

You can spend a whole day admiring the fancy subway stations in Moscow, while the ones in St. Petersburg are relatively plain, but the details here - different lighting at each station, yellowed walls with small tiles, unique stations The cards and carvings all show the Russian people's thoughtfulness.

During the few days I traveled in Russia, I often encountered this exceptionally deep escalator. The dim light shrouded the dome, like a time tunnel, giving people an inexplicable sense of vicissitudes of life. The escalator went very fast, and in a blink of an eye, the dim lights were left behind. When I opened the heavy wooden door of the subway station, it felt like a world away, and another scene appeared in front of me.

This green building in a vast expanse of white is the Winter Palace, and the story about it could last for days and nights. When I walked to the Winter Palace, I only had a quick glance, and I only saw a small corner of it. There were too many artworks that I didn’t have time to appreciate, too much history that I didn’t understand, and too many stories that I never heard. The collection here is vast. It is said that if you want to visit all the about 400 open exhibition halls, the journey will be about 22 kilometers long. If you stay in front of each painting for 5 minutes, it will take 20 years. You will be amazed and amazed.

When in St. Petersburg, ballet is a must-see. We did not go to the famous Mariinsky Theater at home and abroad, but chose "Giselle" at the Mikhailovsky Theater. For us who were watching ballet for the first time, we were originally worried about the situation throughout the whole process. In fact, we watched the two and a half hour performance mesmerizingly. Although we know that non-professionals can only appreciate it in a limited way, the charm of art may lie in it. Therefore, we were deeply attracted by the highly contagious performance without realizing it. Every rotation, jump and expression affected our mood. After the performance, the audience applauded for a long time, and the actors took their bows again and again. Even after the curtain was drawn, everyone was still unwilling to leave for a long time until the leading actors came out to call again. The warm artistic atmosphere here and the enthusiasm for art The love and respect of the staff is truly touching. I think that in St. Petersburg, both on and off the stage, you are happy.

During the break, there is a restaurant in the theater where you can have a drink, order a dessert, and chat with your companions. Although ballet performances have become relatively popular now, and there are no particularly strict requirements for dress, I feel that no matter how formal the dress is, it is never too formal.

This historic castle on the Neva River in the city center is the Peter and Paul Fortress. When I walked through the snow in the morning to find it, there were not many tourists. Most of them were Russian people enjoying themselves there.

See, the fighting nation is not a legend. After the ice swimming, the uncle calmly invited us to experience it, haha~ we might as well throw snowballs.

Themed activities in the castle—fantasy?

The oldest church in St. Petersburg, the Peter and Paul Church, is an early Russian Baroque cathedral and is now a museum.

"Dostoevsky" and "Gorky" in prison

The largest church in St. Petersburg, St. Isaac's Cathedral, as soon as you enter the door, you will be filled with the glorious golden walls. If you look closely, you will see the exquisite murals and statues, and the bright green malachite columns. The building itself is amazing enough. Climb up to the dome of the church for a bird's-eye view of St. Petersburg.

Street and square as seen from the church door

Panoramic view from church dome

The last stop in St. Petersburg is the Russian State Museum, which houses the world-famous paintings "Trackers on the Volga" and "Meeting of the State Council".

Bye~St. Petersburg