ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER PALACE

We are about to head off to the country palace of Catherine the Great for our final Big Excursion in St Petersburg. Our last night at the Mariinsky was superb. We started with a glass of champagne, then proceeded to our box (all the leg room we needed this time) to enjoy the vulgar, showy and extremely enjoyable Le Corsaire (The Pirate). In the finale we not only had a squadron of dancers and students from the school on stage, but three fountains with real water! A fitting end to our Mariinsky pig-out.

On Sunday morning we had been to St Nicholas Cathedral and were fortunate to arrive at the right time in the long service for the actual communion with all its orthodox ritual, accompanied by the stunning singing of its choir - what a privilege to be there.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) will be picked up by a driver to go to the station for the 4.00pm train to Moscow. Another driver will be waiting at the Moscow station (we sincerely hope) at 9.30pm to take us to our hotel, which is operated by the Russian Orthodox Church and is in the grounds of its monastery and cathedral - the Patriach lives there (in the monastery, not the hotel - but, he may pop over for a comfortable bed!)

I dare say we might get another blog entry done before we leave St Petresburg.

Love to all.

A BIT OF CALM

Saturday brought a bit of calm (for part of the time, not the whole, of course). The hydrofoil to Peterhof was luxurious and relaxing (airline-type seats and the Gulf of Finland whizzing by). The gardens and fountains seriously rival Versailles and the palace itself is over the top, but charming. We decided on a Big Lunch, as we realised that our timetable, with evening performances, meant grabs of this and that rather than a Real Meal. So, in the autumn leaf setting, we dined on a terrace, with pork hocks on red cabbage - wait until you see the photo!

The evning at the opera - our favourite, Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, was marred by our most expensive seats to date being crammed into the gallery with no leg room (Zoe might have squeezed in) and one seat with only half the stage viewable because the decoration of the royal box got in the way. The singing and orchestral playing made up for this nuisance and our evening wasn't spoiled.

Today we're off to St Nicholas Cathedral again to hear some liturical music (it's Sunday, by the way - I think the blog day headings and times are a bit askew)

Where are all the cars?

Who knows what may happen this time ......

The cars are very much alive and living in St Petersburg! I will try again to share a few moments of time here with you all.

It is impossible to be here without being overwhelmned by the noise, rush and chaos of the roads. We are spending a lot of time trying to get across major thoroughfares like Nevsky Prospekt ( read Chapel Street/Toorak Road on a Friday at 5.30 only it seems to be all the time!) Each time we step out there are cars coming at terrifying speed not just from left anf right but any other direction they feel like - at least that is what it feels like.

The cars which , in the main are new, are driven by all ages and stages. The only group that seems to missing are elderly women. Perhaps they have more sense! Mix these in with trolley cars, ordinairy buses which range from the very new to those held together with tape and paint, myriads of small communter vans which can be hailed anywhere and see to also swing into the kerb anywhere too and the occasonal pink stretch limo and you can get some idea of the scene.

Suddenly the hydrafoil sounds very appealing....

HEAPS OF HARPS

Jim was justifiably upset about the Dortmund Opera House's skimpy (and unmusical) approach to the harp, demanding he ccombine two harp parts on one instrument - a physical impossibility. We thought of Jim when surveying the orchestra at the Mariinsky - 2 harps, 6 double basses etc - regulation issue. A huge orchestra and chorus (the last time we saw so many people on stage was at the Met) plus dancers galore mean the Russians do it properly - with so many productions on (7 days a week), it must be chaos backstage. It was a bit of a relief to have the audience respond to an over-long interval at Cinderella with slow clapping. The production of Life for the Tsar was wonderful - the 4.5 hours went in a flash - a very Russian piece which is never seen outside of this country - we were privileged to see it.

We head off on the hydrofoil this morning to Petershof - we walked TOO MUCH yesterday, so will take it at a leisurely pace today.

On a family note: congratulations to Zoe for being singled out for her specialist training next year - what a whiz of a daughter-in-law!

Would Jeremy please phone Maree at The ABS to check she has the blog address - we're not sending postcards, and would like the Russians on the staff to read our blog instead. Thanks!

THE CARS THAT ATE ST PETERSBURG

It has happened again: Christine wrote about the cars and the blog retaliated by eating up her words. We'll write something, hopefully, when we get back in the afternoon before going to the opera.

SETTLING INTO THE HURLY BURLY

If you wish to see our apartment, go to http://www.roxana-apartments.com/ then to Fontanka 69

Christine wrote a section on this post before the above reference to our apartment's website. It disappeared for some reason, so we headed off on our Thursday excursions to the Church of the Spilled Blood (a rather off-putting title, but a Tsar was murdered on that site) and to the Hermitage. The Hermitage would take days to cover, so we returned home once exhaustion set in and Christine is soaking in a bath before we go to the ballet, Cinderella at the Mariinsky Theatre. I will re-cap on her vanished comments on the hurly burly of this crazy city.

St Petersburg was once an elegant combination of Venice (with its canals), Paris and Bath. It's now crumbling, but is being restored (rather randomly). Everywhere you go, buildings are clad in plastic, paths are diverted and roads are being dug up. It's chaotic, dirty - yet absolutely fascinating. On Wednesday we orientated ourselves and tried out the local buses - we were nearly stranded down in a port area, but managed to make it back to the centre. We ate again at our little local cafe, which has good food - tonight we'll return from the ballet and cook our own eggs.

Tomorrow we'll go out of town to Petershof, the Tsar's summer palace, then will have the evening at the opera, Life for the Tsar (we're thematic, if nothing else), 4.5 hours of spectacle. As it starts at 6.00pm, I suppose eggs will be on the menu again.

SETTLED INTO ST PETERSBURG

Flick was so kind in taking us to the Dusseldorf airport at some ungodly hour. We have become fans of Air Berlin, a wonderful boutique European airline - we changed planes at Berlin without any hassles and landed right on time in St Petersburg. A pity the lugguage took AGES to be unloaded. Our driver was waiting for us and took us on a hair-raising dash with death into the heart of the city in totally crazy traffic. Roxana (with whom I have been corresponding re the apartment) was waiting at our canal-side dwelling (half of the city is coated in plastic, being renovated). Our building is full of dust in the corridors, but the apartment is specatcular - very spacious, with all mod cons INCLUDING A COMPUTER (no need to sniff out Internet Cafes) and a lovely outlook over the canal. We had no cash, so soon found an ATM and spent our first roubles at a downtown supermarket (trying to work out if the butter was really butter etc) and, while I tap this out, I'm enjoying a Rumanian Cab Sav. We'll try a little local restaurant next door in an hour or so (just point and hope for the best!)

Family note: we have a direct phone line - ref the list we gave you! We've had no emails yet on our gmail, but have enjoyed the comments on the blog.

Much love to everyone!