5. On the way to the church
1. didn’t expect ’s breakfast
The next day, the breakfast was richer than I expected, because when I came, I heard people say that the economy here is backward, and the food is probably not that good when the economy is backward. But I was wrong, except for my favorite meat stuffed buns. However, almost everything else is there: two kinds of ham sausage, hot and cold milk, eggs, coffee, a kind of porridge made with milk, several kinds of bread, fried rice with eggs, a kind of small biscuit similar to ours, etc. There are just too few vegetables, only tomatoes and purple cabbage, which are enough to keep you satisfied.
milk bread
Especially the ham sausage. After eating Russian ham sausage, I realized what "ham sausage" is - Russian ham sausage is the best ham sausage I have ever eaten, bar none. However, I want to make a special statement: I am not a spokesperson or distributor of Russian ham, nor am I an endorser of "the moon in foreign countries is always rounder than the moon in China", I am just an ordinary tourist.
This was also the first time I saw the high purity of milk. When I poured it into the cup, I saw the viscous consistency. It was the first time I saw: there is such a "thick" milk! It feels like milk with the water evaporated.
I didn't dare to drink more, only two small glasses. Because before, the tour leader reminded us that the milk here is very concentrated and pure, so be sure to drink it in moderation. If you drink too much, be careful that your stomach will not be able to adapt to it and you will get upset.
It turns out that no vegetables are grown in the suburbs of St. Petersburg and surrounding areas. All vegetables are transported or imported from other places. But not importing from China for a while. It is said that a batch of vegetables once had pesticides that exceeded the standard, causing a "straw rope and snake" effect that affected the hearts of St. Petersburg people because Russians have very strict requirements for food.
Although food in Russia is not as abundant as in China, there are no fake and shoddy products. The crackdown on counterfeit and shoddy products here is very strong, and offenders will be sentenced to heavy sentences. So, when it comes to food, you can feel free to eat.
2. Xiaohou is not "little"
If you want to understand Russia, you must visit three places: churches, squares and palaces. We will go to these places today.
The tour guide Xiaohou asked us politely how his explanation was yesterday. Everyone said: It was very good and very vivid.
In order to liven up the atmosphere, he asked us to guess how old he was. Each of us could only guess once. If we guessed correctly, he would treat us to a Russian dinner in the evening.
Everyone suddenly became active:
Someone guessed: 35 years old,
Some people say: 37 years old,
Someone guessed: 40 years old
…
Everyone guessed for a long time, but none of them got it right. Xiao Hou reminded: If you guess further, the last teammate boldly guessed that he was 47 years old.
Xiao Hou said humorously: "Many teams have not guessed my age because I have a face that makes it difficult for people to guess my age."
When we all said that he must have some secrets for maintaining good health, he said that if he had to say a secret, it would be a state of mind: Be optimistic at all times. This is the secret.
It turns out that Xiao Hou is not young anymore. 50 18 years old. He has never been to university and is a self-taught tour guide. He is originally from Heilongjiang. After graduating from high school, he returned to his village to farm. He is a genuine farmer. As the country's reform deepened, he went south to make a living and went to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xiamen and other places. He worked as a repairman, chef, taxi driver, and other service-oriented jobs. However, his life has never changed much.
By chance, at the beginning of 2004, he came to St. Petersburg. At first he sold clothes here, then he opened a clothing store, and then he became the owner of four clothing stores. The business was booming, the income was good, and he bought a house and a car in St. Petersburg.
However, after the "Crimea Incident" (2014, Crimea was annexed from Ukraine to Russia), the West, led by the United States, imposed severe economic sanctions on Russia. , ruble depreciation, inflation.
A fire broke out at the city gate, damaging the fish pond. He could no longer run the business and disposed of all the shops at a loss. He also changed from a boss to an unemployed vagrant overnight. But he believes that there is always a way out.
He didn't want to leave St. Petersburg. After living here for more than ten years, he had developed feelings for St. Petersburg. He must find another way out and start over.
In 2015, he obtained a professional tour guide certificate and started working as a tour guide.
I’m curious, “How did you learn Russian ?”
Xiao Hou said that he was completely self-taught because his family is in a residential area of St. Petersburg. In such an environment, he was basically able to communicate with the locals in Russian within a year. Now he can be said to be proficient in Russian. His girl is a sophomore at a national university in St. Petersburg. She sometimes has to go home to ask him for advice on Russian language.
When we talked about his future plans, he told us that whether the girl returns to China or stays in St. Petersburg after graduating from college, he will continue to stay here and work hard.
I admire him for being amazing.
“I’m just an ordinary migrant worker,” he said modestly. “The most difficult thing was when I first came here. When I came to this foreign country, I really had no friends and couldn’t communicate with others. Coupled with the weather here, Especially in winter, when we rarely see the sun, in such an environment, I can’t express my depression and frustration in words. I’m lucky that I don’t suffer from depression.”
It turns out that people go to distant places, some for poetry; some for life.
3. Russia’s “Top Ten Weirdnesses”
When it comes to his work as a tour guide, he also admits that there is still a certain gap between him and a college graduate in some aspects; however, he also believes that his 16 years of life experience here is his greatest advantage.
Xiao Hou said, as a tour guide, I like to interact with tourists, so I hope you can ask some questions that interest you, so that I can give targeted explanations with better results.
I think this kind of tour guide is just what I want. I am a person who loves to "break the pot and get to the bottom of things".
Hearing his reminder, I suddenly remembered the small bed in the hotel last night.
"Xiao Hou, why are the beds here so small? Russians also sleep on such small beds, but they are specially prepared for us ? " When I said this, everyone agreed.
When Xiao Hou was asked this question by me, the tour guide's enthusiasm immediately became high, and he started talking about it with gusto.
It turns out that this is one of the "Top Ten" strange things about Russia - "Russians have tall horses and big beds but very narrow".
There are other "nine major" monsters:
"Handsome Russian guy with a big pot lid on his head";
“Russian beauties reveal their thighs in winter”;
“Russian grass covered with snow”;
"Russian girls fall in love at the age of twelve or three";
“It’s not strange for Russia to become grandparents at the age of 30”;
"The Lada runs faster than the Mercedes-Benz on the streets of Russia";
“It’s not surprising that people want to smoke on the streets of Russia”;
“Russian beauties wearing sacks”;
“All the work in Russia is done by old ladies.”
This "Ten Monsters" cross-talk summary is both concise and rhyming. It is catchy and catchy, and I remembered it immediately. I asked curiously: "Who made up these cross talk?"
“Of course it’s us Chinese,” he said. “Foreigners don’t have our level and ability.”
What Xiao Hou said is indeed true. The level and ability of our people in this area are high. Think about it, most regions in the country also have cross-talk. For example, the most famous cross-talk in Inner Mongolia is: the three treasures of grass are: yam (potato), oat noodles, and big leather jacket.
Although the author of these "Ten Weird" cross-talks is just like those in China, there is no way to verify the author, but one thing is certain: the masters are among the people.
6. Visiting the church for the first time
1,Patron Saint of Russia
When we arrived at the Kazan Cathedral, our tour guide Xiao Hou reminded us: no taking pictures, no talking loudly, men must take off their hats, women must wear headscarves, etc.
We lined up and entered the church one by one. There is a solemn and solemn atmosphere in the church. In the tall and spacious church, there are more than ten bright and smooth marble columns, reaching up to the dome, which is very shocking. The central dome is splendid and gorgeous. Looking up, you can see a picture of the Virgin. It is surrounded by sculptures of biblical figures and rich watercolor murals. Several clergymen perform their duties, and one of them is closely monitoring every move of us uninvited guests.
inside the church
The church was unusually quiet.
At this time, I saw an old Russian woman in her sixties or seventies, wearing a dark scarf around her head, walking to a statue of a god, stopped, and solemnly painted on her chest with her right hand. "Cross", I don't know what I am praying for devoutly.
After all, I am an atheist, and I couldn’t abide by that rule, so I finally broke the rule: I quietly turned on my phone—while I was taking pictures, my eyes were always staring at the supervisor alertly. Maybe the supervisor was incompetent or he was simply not good enough. It’s not so serious, maybe it’s because of my excellent secret photography skills, but in the end, we got along well.
After all, they are not the "KGB" and we are not "spies."
The name of Kazan Church comes from the earliest statue of Our Lady of Kazan enshrined in the church. The church was built in 1801 and took ten years to be completed in 1811. When Ivan the Terrible's army attacked Kazan, they discovered this statue of the Madonna of Kazan amid the flames of war. As stories of the apparition of Our Lady of Kazan continue to spread, this icon has become one of the most revered icons among Russian Orthodox Christians.
From 1612 to 1613, in the battle between the Russian army and the Polish army, the Russian army carried this statue of the Virgin. Under the protection of the Kazan Virgin, the Russian army won a great victory. drove the Polish army out of Moscow. Since then, the statue of Our Lady of Kazan has become the patron saint of the Russian army.
In 1710, a holy picture identical in shape and composition to the Kazan Madonna was shipped from Moscow to St. Petersburg. The Tsar ordered a church to be built in St. Petersburg to enshrine the statue of Our Lady of Kazan, hence the name "Kazan Church".
During the Russo-French War of 1812, the Kazan Madonna appeared again: before the Russian counterattack, Marshal Kutuzov came to the Kazan Church and prayed in front of the Madonna. The statue of the Virgin gave a dream to Marshal Kutuzov: "During the war, there must be a big snowstorm." Sure enough, a big snowstorm and a big drop in temperature froze most of the French army to death. The Russian army defeated the French army, Napoleon was defeated, and Marshal Kutuzov became famous in one battle and became a hero of Russia.
In 1945 during the Soviet Union’s Second Patriotic War, the Kazan Madonna appeared again: the Russian Orthodox Pope who prayed to the Kazan Madonna in his dream said, “A cold wave will appear and freeze more than half of the German troops to death. The tanks couldn't move, the planes couldn't take off..." As a result, the battle to defend Moscow was won.
However, the most unexpected thing is that the Kazan Madonna statue is now preserved in an American museum.
It is said that a thief stole the statue of Our Lady of Kazan. Later, the thief was caught, but the Madonna statue disappeared. The Statue of Our Lady of Kazan, the "patron saint" of the Russian army, somehow "wandered" to the United States!
However, Russians believe that when they encounter another disaster, Our Lady of Kazan will definitely protect them.
I have no intention of offending or blaspheming the gods, but I believe that the key to victory in war is people, not gods who can protect people; however, facing such pious Russians, at this moment, I would rather believe that all this is it is true.
We came out of the church and looked back at the exterior of the church: a semicircular colonnade surrounded by 94 huge columns, facing the street and surrounding the church square. On the right front of the colonnade stands the statue of the famous Russian Marshal Kutuzov, and on the left front of the colonnade is the statue of another marshal of the same period.
outside the church
Since the coffin of Marshal Kutuzov is still placed in the church, and some trophies were also stored in the church, after the statues of the two marshals were completed in 1837, the significance of the church was secondary and it actually became The earliest war memorial in Russia.
In this church, I saw God and man coexisting in harmony, both in worshiping God and in placing human coffins.
Gods who bless people will always be worshiped by people; people who become national heroes will always be respected by people.
2, let scars remember history
There is a saying in Russia: all roads lead to church.
The implication is that there are simply too many churches here.
This statement was quickly verified by us. After visiting the Kazan Church, we walked not far along a path and came to the largest church in St. Petersburg — St. Isa's Cathedral, also called Isa. Kiev Cathedral. It is said that this church was built by Tsar Alexander I in 1818 to celebrate Tsarist Russia’s defeat of Napoleon. A total of 44 people were used and it took 40 years. Time to complete.
St. Isaac's Cathedral
This church, together with St. Peter's Church in the Vatican, Florence Cathedral in Italy, and St. Paul's Cathedral in the United Kingdom, is known as the four largest dome churches in the world.
The church is 102 meters high. If you climb the dome of the church, you can overlook the entire city of St. Petersburg. Due to time constraints, we just looked outside.
When I saw there were several scars on the stone pillars outside the church, they were very conspicuous and somewhat disfigured the scenery. After asking the tour guide, I found out the reason.
It turns out that the church was severely damaged during World War II and it took 20 years to be repaired. However, several bullet marks on the marble pillars outside the church were not repaired on purpose. A small bullet was hung under the pillars. Bronze medal, the small bronze medal says:
"This is the incriminating evidence of one of the 148,478 artillery shells fired by the German fascists from 1941 to 1945."
St. Isaac's Cathedral
Scarred pillar
Seeing this scene, I suddenly remembered a Chinese saying: "When the scar is healed, the pain is forgotten." Yes, people are forgetful. No matter how big the scar is, as long as it heals, the pain will be forgotten.
The Russians also know this very well, so they specially keep that scar, which also keeps people's memory of history.
What makes people remember history is not only the abstract words, but also the scars that will never heal. (To be continued)