My land of stories
Well, I think this is a time to reminisce a little.
I had a wonderful trip to Saint Petersburg. I headed from Moscow on Friday, 4 in the middle of a rainy day. I had never before travelled there by afternoon train, so I thought why not? Gonna try it. Well, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea if I wasn’t suddenly aware of a little fellow on the opposite berth. Boy, was he loquacious! I mean, he was funny and all, I shared a candy bar with him, but he wouldn’t calm down for a minute and in the end of an eight-hour trip I was as mad as a hatter. Eventually, we got to SPb and he dashed off without even saying goodbye, Klim (that was his name) was met by his relatives, as a conductor told me later.  Anyway, I felt better after that and made my way for a hostel, I got an hour to prepare and meet my friend on Sadovaya station. And here is one of the great things about SPb – I had an hour, and I: reached my hostel, checked in, grabbed my bed linen and towel, made my bed, refreshed my make up and went to the subway. Needless to say, I was on time.
We met and started our walk along the embankment of Griboedov canal, under a snow flurry. Then turned several corners, passed some streets and end up in a cul-de-sac, standing before a building without any signs. I pulled the door and we slipped in. we went to the roof – and all the way up there were strange pictures and signs on walls, tall white  brunches entwined with blue and white garlands, some armchairs and huge mirrors in the hallways, no doors or anything, except the last floor – and then the roof. The café itself is settled right on the roof, it was a dome with one glassy wall which gave a stunning view really – the city roofs and illuminated head of Kazan Cathedral in the distance. Also it had a big balcony for smoking or just enjoying the view from outside. And I forgot to say  - there was also a big telescope, ye could watch it for free of course, though the night was cloudy, and I didn’t see much. The staff was lovely, music was good, and almost no people – I loved the place so much. It definitely gonna become one of my favorites.
It was about 2 o’clock when we went back to the embankment. We travelled streets, and went to Troitski bridge, then to Dumskaya street – the most posh place, awash with night clubs and drunk youths. We went to Banka – it’s a karaoke bar with a lot of rooms with different kind of music for all tastes. Actually it looks really good, but I don’t like such places, so we just had Gin and Tonic, laughed and listened to some not so good but really heartfelt singing, and then decided to leave. There was a photo boot in the hall, and we got to take some funny pics on our way out.
After that we walked some more, and stood under the snow, and I read some William Blake to my friend, and that particular moment was so absolute and cristal clear, it made my heart ache. We stood there, like in the middle of a universe, or snow globe, the big silent sculpture towering over us, its silhouette illuminated by the street lamps and snow swirled all around us. It was a beautiful moment, one of those we put in memory for good, and keep returning to them.
Then we went to Stirka – it’s a little café with a washing machines in there, where you can wash your cloths while having a cuppa or smth alcoholic. There was a strange old piano all covered with stickers and a big discoboll. They served funny shots with mad names – princess banjata, bunya or smth, I cant quite remember, we had some named after fictional princess. There was the music from 20-s, and almost no one, except us. Well no wonder, cause it was almost 4 in the morning, and the place was to close in 20 mins. That was a thing the whole night actually, whenever we went they said  - we gonna close in an hour/20 min/15 min and so we went from one place to another, (cause the spanish place we visited after was also closing) and ended up having a English talk and coffee for nearly 2 hours in Shokoladnitza. The night felt good and all in the spirit of SPb, but day started breaking, and my friend needed to go to her work, so we agreed upon another meeting next night and went our separate ways.
After having a nap and a shower I had a fast breakfast, or brunch  - if ye call that a meal at 3 p.m. Then I headed to the hothouse of the Bot. garden on Petrogradka. There was only one rout open for visitors,  a subtropical one – but I didn’t really care, cause I’d been waiting for a chance to visit the glass-house for a long, so I was happy. I handed my ticket to funny little old man, which said I could visit a tulip exhibition after, and then I entered a glass door. The moment I did that, my lungs felt heavy from the moist grassy air, and I just stood there, breathing, for almost a minute. Oh my, what an incredible, fantastically beautiful place! All glass and nature, nothing else. I felt like walking in a  Amazonian forest, full tall trees, moist and dripping sounds and some birds crying (that must have been a record). Lovely young women approached me and started talking about the giant banana tree we stood under (she said it’s a giant grass, actually, and told me how it blossomed), then about the 60-years old huge palm near the banana, and then I went on, watching other trees and flowers, passing the parts with different kinds of plants separated on several groups depending on the original places they grew in.  I was walking and sniffing and enjoying every minute, patted the kitty which lived there, saw a women with owl and went out. I spent an hour there and felt just brilliant, and the tulips (I popped into the exhibition too) smelled like spring. I felt light and lovely, regardless the rainy-windy day. I totally loved the green-house and gonna visit other routs next time.
Then I took a tram to the old lutheran church where the free-market of hand-makers took place that day. Actually, I wasn’t sure where to go off, but one old lady overheard me asking the driver, and told me she knew the place, and she would tell me the right station, then the conductor joined the conversation, and we tried to come to some agreement, but  a bit later a young man spoke up and told me exactly where the place was. And that’s how I got to the market. And was it worth it! The place was just awesome. It caught my breath the instant I went in. Inside it was all beautiful ruins and old huge white staircases, and candles and a huge illuminated cross. The market itself looked very cosy: there was a saxophonist girl taking turns with a young pianist and a lot of different people with their handmade stuff and a light from white Chinese laps hanging above and the balcony with artist and other craftsmen. And also a real farrier making iron roses right there)) I loved the place! But I had to go, eventually, and I went to Tsiferburg in the centre of the city.
I walked in the middle of an acoustic concert of some guy, so I sat in a deem room under the tall lamp and a banjo by my side and read for an hour, then went away to meet my friend.
That evening we wanted to go to one of my favorite places – jazz-club The Hat, but place was already crowded and there must have been some special occasion, cause they wanted 200 r for entrance, and we had no cash, so we decided to defer our visit to next night. Instead we went to the bar Roses, which I heard of from my friend. Oh, on our way we popped to the Big astonishing place on Nevski which has the best eclairs in SPb. And had it not! It just melted in my mouth, a perfect piece of a pastry, it was delicious)) The place itself was quite remarkable by the huge pineapple in the middle of the hall, which had big crystal chandeliers hanging from it’s leaves over the red armchairs and little tables put around the pineapple. And again ‘we gonna close in 20 mins’ started our evening)) but we didn’t rush, and had our earl grey with grace as well as our eclairs and just then were off.
The Roses bar is a tiny bar (the room where we sat) and we took places at the counter, so the musicians were playing lovely crasy stuff just 5-7 meters away from me. We drank some tasty cocktail ‘baby Beth’ XD and went mad, I guess)) My friend had a bright lipstick with her and we used it, and we laughed, and then pictured some funny stuff on each other faces, and some guy told us what they meant, as we couldn’t see what we drew on each other, and there were a lot of funny friendly people, we just laughed and talked for hours and the barman screwed away the last check I was going to pay, and then I stole 2 pencils from him to make a hair-do, as a tubule wouldn’t work for that. I was drunk, oh my. Thankfully, I didn’t do anything very much shameful, but I’m not sure about just shameful.)
Then there was another day, and we visited the ginger fox fest – where I petted real foxes, listened to some young musicians (talented, as always in SPb) and bought myself a backpack. The only thing disturbing me was the way most of the foxes looked - tired and stressful in the end of the day, poor things. Everyone wanted a photo, especially kids, so that’s why, I think. We didn’t, so at 5 we were out. Till evening I was walking with the acquainted of my friend(she went to work), we talked, visited some cafes and then separated. And that night we eventually reached the Hat. Musicians were perfect, I liked their jam session, and two girls in the end of it had such a good voices, they sat near us at the counter. One of them sang Cry me a river, I love that song so much))
Then we went and ate sushi-set  named Sherlock and Watson, and talked and laughed, and then gave the waiter a magic card and were off.
The last day we had a brunch in a cultural centre Etagi, where I had the loveliest glass of red wine a delicious pesto spaghetti. There is way to the roof in that café too, so we went there and faged.  It was lazy, nice afternoon and we didn’t hurry. There was another photo boot, and took more mad pics with sepia, colored and black-and-white shots. It wouldn’t wait for us to settle, just counted 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and made a lot of ugly but kinda funny photos)) Later we  wanted to visit the exhibition of Frida Kalo, but there was an endless queue, so we had a fag and went to the embankment of Moika river, then to my friend’s work. I liked her collegue, we had a little tea party with cakes and then  I headed to hostel, to pack my things and check out.
In the evening we went to pub – Molly Sullivan and I had a few pints of Guiness and whole lot of a nostalgia about good old Ireland. As always, the pub was awesome and not crowded – I love that about the places in SPb. I made the acquaintance of another friend of my friend, very smart guy, but I felt a bit uncomfortable around him. Though he is a good fellow, that was my opinion in the end of the evening.
We spent several hours left to my depart in Lumier Hall – the cinema with a lot of big screens inside, placed on walls. There was a night of Audrey Hepburn again)) After that, we picked my things from the hostel and went to the station. Of course it was rainy and we were all wet but we arrived there in time, and stood and talked rubbish, and I was the last passenger to pop into the train and when it departed, my friend waved me a hand from the platform.  She gave me a letter and a little self-made envelop with tiny printed pics of Frida’s drawings, so I wouldn’t feel bad about how we hadn’t made it to the exhibition. I got an ear-to-ear grin as I watched them in the train.