LostNortherner Adventures: This weekend is only going to be about horses, isn't it?

At the beginning of November we had a long weekend with the Thursday and the Friday holiday days. Needing a break from the rigours of teaching and to rest my weary body Ana proposed 2 nights sleeping on a train and one night sleeping on a friends couch; it seemed idyllic.

The train left Moscow at 02:00 on Friday morning and arrived in at Saint Petersburg at 14:00 the same day. The train itself was quite pleasant; clean, comfortable but incredibly, heartbreakingly slow. The carriages were a mix of Thai and Chinese trains with 6 beds to every open compartment, but only two beds up in each case. There was, as is standard on sleeper trains, hot water at the end of the carriage for noodles and a little tea and beer person if you needed to quench your thirst. The same person also came round near the end of the journey to retrieve the bed linen.

The only qualm I had with the train, apart from the pace, was the heat. It was stifling and very uncomfortable, but overall the experience was nice enough.

Arriving at Saint Petersburg we found the Metro station and bought the coins used instead of tickets. These coins are similar to those found in slot machines the world over and are fairly easy to mistake for money and to lose. The only other difference was that in some stations there were two sets of doors that acted as an anti-flooding device from the rivers above. The metro trains, I can only presume, are the same ones from Moscow that just continue going when they leave the last Northern station in Moscow. There was no discernable difference at all, same colours, same noise, same rollercoaster like feel when you stand up in them.

It was then a whistle-stop four hours of sight seeing until we met Ana’s friend. In this time I was shown the main street in the city, the cathedral which is very similar to St Basil’s in Moscow but is a different colour (see below), some beautiful architecture, a Roman style church, the outside of the Hermitage museum, and another very big church. Please forgive my ignorance but it was all very quick and I was very tired.

First word reads as "Shag"! oh the hilarity!

Pretty Buildings

Cathedral from the rear.

Hermitage at sunset.

And now a story for Nik; he knows why, there is no need for that anecdote here. On a road bridge over one of St Perterburg’s rivers there are four horses positioned at every corner and on one of these horses you can find Napoleons face…but not where you would expect! This is because his face is positioned, and rather hidden as it turns out, on of the horses genitalia. Yes Napoleon’s face is sat rather proudly upon a horses ball sack.

One of the said horses

Said French General's face

The story goes that Napoleon stole the architect’s girlfriend. The architect was somewhat perturbed by this and maybe after having one too many vodkas, decided to take his revenge by giving the wee emperor eternal mockery by Russian citizens, and now you lot.

I can confirm that it was an odd experience checking out the undercarriage of several horses before stumbling upon the correct beast.

After this encounter we ventured off to meet Ana’s friend for a night of vodka fuelled drunkenness and then some more vodka.

Rear Window???

The next day may have started with a slight tingling in the head and minute fogginess around the eyes, but this may have been due to the snow that was falling outside giving the city a wintry beauty.

Saturday itself was spent drinking coffee and keeping out of the weather. At some point after night fall we left the comfort of the flat to find a drinking and eating establishment and to mentally prepare for the journey home. There was a small break when I was the shown the city by rooftop; there is nothing as bohemian as drinking gin from a bottle whilst sitting on a strangers rooftop just watching the twinkling of the lights below.