A Recounting of Yesterday's Travels:

Today in Saint-Petersburg, we will be taking a river tour of the city and not long after will eat our first great supper in a city raised on the Baltic Coast by Peter the Great himself. The restaurant will be Georgian, a subtle reflection on the longstanding diversity of the Russian land. Russia today is the second only to the United States in terms of overall immigrants attracted. And this contemporary immigration is itself a reflection of longstanding cultural intermixture: Caucasian, Central Asian, European, Slavic influences are some of the many different traditions and cultural patterns that have contributed to the rich tapestry of Eurasian culture. Russia is, after all, arguably the only truly Eurasian nation on the planet. On land, it borders nations as far east as China and as far west as Poland. This vastness inherently lends itself to diversity in every possible meaning of the word.

My entire first day in Saint-Petersburg was thoroughly enjoyable. We spent a good part of the day on a river tour through the city. There are over 300 bridges in Saint-Petersburg, as the city was effectively built on a series of islands in the Baltic by Peter the Great. A river tour afforded countless, dazzling views of the city's impressive architecture. Saint-Petersburg, it should be noted, was a city that experienced profound change (as did all of Russia) throughout the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. In the 19th and early 20th century, this city was the capital of the Russian Empire: a splendid metropolis with such gems as The Hermitage and the Winter Palace. This was, first and foremost, a purpose-built city: designed by Peter the Great to bring Russia into the modern age but also by future Tsars and Tsarinas to showcase its own greatness as a European power: economically and politically, but also culturally: the Mariinsky Ballet (many things in the city are named for Marina, the wife of Tsar Paul I, who was a noted philanthropist, but also for Maria Feodorovna) for instance, is one of the greatest-known ballet companies in Russia. And what was formerly known as the Imperial Ballet has survived through the ages and continues its proud, performing tradition to this day.

The onset of the Soviet Era in 1917, unsurprisingly, broke strongly from the lavish nature of the Tsarist period. It was here that the Petrograd Soviet (a council of workers) was formed by radicalized workers in the city, renamed to Petrograd during WWI to sound more authentically Russian as opposed to Saint-Petersburg, which was perceived as too German. And yet, despite its early importance to the revolution, the city, soon to be renamed yet again as Leningrad (locals still quietly called it Peter), suffered a certain degree of apathy from the Soviet government. Soviet rule was, generally, a time of neglect for Saint-Petersburg. The capital was moved to Moskva, a practical military decision during the Russian Civil War, but one that had lasting political effect in Russia today, as Moskva (Moscow) remains the Russian capital to this day. The Soviets, in a combination of deliberate action and through lack of resources neglected much of the city. This was obviously detrimental to the city's historical buildings as nearly 80 years of neglect caused many issues to the city's infrastructure and cultural heritage, but, moving the capital to Moskva also meant that Peter was spared the experience of forced renovation and redesign along Soviet lines. The early Bolshevik government had little money to devote to grandiose projects, and it was for this reason that the city was largely spared the same process of destruction of historical sites and buildings that would take place in Moscow.

The modern era has proven to be a time of great opportunity and revival for Saint-Petersburg: urban renewal initiatives sponsored by the Russian government have followed a simple but profoundly effective policy: whole blocks of disused and abandoned buildings in awful disrepair are sold at low prices by the Russian government to investors. The investors are required to invest in refurbishing and rebuilding, and this process has proved resoundingly successful in restoring many parts of Saint-Petersburg to a functioning state. One need not look hard through the city to see that this rebuilding is an ongoing process.

We saw firsthand views of this long history and then some on our river tour throughout Saint-Petersburg. But nothing could quite compare to the sumptuous dinner we would have last evening. We went to a Georgian (the country, not the US State) restaurant, as Georgian cuisine is widespread throughout Russia. Georgian food is very rich: lots of dairy products and vegetables, along of course, with copious amounts of meat. The Georgian nation in the Caucasus is quite a fertile one, a land of milk and honey.

One of the highlights of our Georgian meal was the chance to try the Georgian rendition of pizza: a rich bread covered in cheese known as Khachapuri. That, as well as a heaping helping of shashlyk (kebabs done in Russian, Armenian, or Georgian styles) made for an utterly delectable meal and an excellent end to the day.

A Small Selection of the Photographic Highlights of the Day:

http://imgur.com/a/Ha5AP