« Cheap fares JFK-Gatwick and vice versa | Main | Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Pinky? »
August 29, 2006
Pictures at an Exhibition (II)
Accidentally not included from my first day, walking back to the Radisson on Nevsky Prospect:
Right down the block from the Beloselsky Palace, the Golden Arches. Yes, it's an exact transliteration. I did not eat there.
The next day, walking to the center of the city. I avoided Nevsky Prospect because there was a huge parade. It was Saturday, and the city's anniversary. I hate to admit it, but I don't like parades or crowds.
The Griboedov Canal. I stayed about two blocks outside of the Fontanka. The Griboedov (formerly the Catherine) Canal is the next one in. It's quieter, smaller and more meandering than the Fontanka.
The Bankovskiy Bridge over the Griboedov has four gilded griffons, two at either end.
The Bronze Horseman. This statue of Peter the Great was erected by Catherine the Great. The inscription says "To Peter the First from Catherine the Second." Catherine, a German, was skillfully asserting her legitimacy.
The statue figures so prominently in Pushkin's narrative poem The Bronze Horseman that people referred to it as such afterwards. One can see why poor Yevgeny would find Peter and his aspirations as intimidating as the Neva itself.
The Neva at the center of the city. The Bronze Horseman tells the story of the flood of 1824.
My room at the Radisson. The room was on the level of a good business class hotel in the United States, though because I was on the top floor there was no window, only a skylight. What can I say, it was an award stay at a ridiculously good rate. The breakfast buffet there was also excellent.
Posted by Leigh Witchel at August 29, 2006 11:04 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.leighwitchel.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/521