Jam-packed

This is the first time I will have two entries that are a full week apart. I don't think that's because I didn't do anything last week, but I didn't seem to take any pictures of whatever it is I did do. So there you go. I'm sure I did all the normal sorts of things: going to work everyday, Institute, eating, etc.

I had thought I might try to go to Novgorod on Saturday, but then Saturday came and I hadn't planned anything and I slept kind of late, so I had to make other plans. I ended up filling the day up with no problem.

First I went back to the Russian Museum to see everything that I had missed the first time. Too bad a bunch of the rooms with things I knew I wanted to see (including some Chagall's) were closed. I still enjoyed myself and spent a couple hours wandering around, and in addition to the rooms that were open there was a really nice temporary exhibition of works by Isaac Levitan.

Barge Haulers on the Volga - Ilya Repin. Repin was one of most successful artists of the peredvizhniki movement.

Morning - Mikhail Vrubel

Flowers of the World Blooming - Pavel Filonov

Red Cavalry - Kazimir Malevich - I loved this painting for some reason. I tried to find a copy of it in the gift shop to buy, but they didn't have any. Too bad.

From the Russian Museum I decided to walk over to the Yusupov Palace, which is where Rasputin was murdered. On the way I took a few other pictures...

Yeliseev's Department Store on Nevskiy Prospekt, though I think the building is empty now. This is the building that the bronze cat is sitting on. It's also right next to Carl's Jr., where you can get all the ice you want and free refills on your drinks. Sometimes those things are really important.

Rossi Street was designed by architect Carlo Rossi. The buildings are both 72 feet tall, which is also the exact width of the street. The length of the street is exactly ten times the width (720 feet). At one end of the street is a square and at the other end is the Alexandrinsky Theater.

Just a little ways past Rossi Street I came across a massive outdoor market - mostly clothes and shoes. I don't know how I've never run across it before, as it stretches on for blocks. I enjoyed wandering for a while through the narrow allies. This was the largest street in the market by far. I'll probably go back and maybe I'll be able to better capture the market experience in a photograph.

From the market I went to the Yusupov Palace, which is situated right on the Moika Canal. The basement, where they have some wax figures that show the murder of Rasputin, was closed, so I had to be satisfied with wandering the other rooms of the palace. I was sorry not to see the Rasputin part, as the story goes that they first tried to poison him by feeding him cakes laced with potassium cyanide, which had no effect; then they shot him, hitting him directly several times, but he was still alive; finally they bludgeoned him and drowned him in the river. Pretty gruesome.

The palace was really cool on its own though. I LOVED it. This was probably my favorite palace that I've been in so far. While it was not as fancy as the royal palaces, it had some pretty incredible features (which you will see in a minute), and the Yusupov family was apparently even wealthier than the royal family and had over fifty palaces scattered around Russia, so it was nothing to scoff at either. When the Bolsheviks seized this palace, not only did they get the priceless art collection, but they also found a gold dinner service for 120 people, 70 trunks full of silver, a collection of rare musical instruments, and 111 letters from people like Pushkin and Napoleon. Felix Yusupov had already escaped the country at this point with two million dollars and some Rembrandt manuscripts.

This is one of the rooms in the extensive art gallery. The Yusupovs had over 45,000 pieces in their private collection, all of which now belong to the Russian state museums (The Hermitage and Russian Museum).

They also had their own theater in the palace, so that they could have private performances of some of the greatest musicians and dancers of the time. The theater seats 180. Mikhail Glinka conducted orchestras here, and Franz Liszt and Clara Schumann both performed here as well. The next three pictures show the stage,

the Royal Box and some of the second and third tiers,

and the ceiling.

What was so cool about it is that it really was just a miniature of any great European theater, with the multiple tiers, beautiful ceiling, gilt decoration, etc. They still occasionally have performances there, but I have no idea how you get invited or get a ticket.

The other thing I especially loved in the Yusupov Palace was the library. I don't think my picture does it justice, but it was really cool with all the wood panelling and multiple levels (there was a ladder hidden behind a cupboard door that you could climb up to the second level.

While they were renovating the Palace in 1925 they found a secret compartment hidden behind some of the book shelves where there was a strong box. In the strong box they found twenty letters written by Pushkin that were previously unknown. Someday I want to have a cool library like this.

After the Yusupov Palace I went on a walking tour of the northernmost islands in St. Petersburg: Kamenskiy Ostrov, Yelagin, and Krestovskiy Ostrov. It was a nice walk, as Kamenskiy and Yelagin are heavily wooded and Yelagin Island is closed to vehicles.

Church of St. John the Baptist on Kamenskiy Ostrov

Kamenskiy Ostrov was and is also home to some of St. Petersburg's wealthiest citizens. It is full of 19th century mansions, some of which have not been restored,

and some of which have.

Yelagin Island is home to the Yelagin Palace. There was a wedding going on inside. I looked in the windows and it looked pretty fancy. And it looked like they were having really good food at the wedding reception. I was a little sorry not to be attending.

Back view

Front view

There was also a pond on the island where people could rent rowboats. I stopped and read for a little while on a bench.

By the time I had walked all over these three islands I was pretty exhausted and it was after 9:00. I went home, ate dinner, watched a DVD, and fell asleep. I feel like I fit in quite a bit considering my late start and lack of planning.

This weekend I'm really going to try to make it to Novgorod.