Order off the Russian Menu

We were all pretty wiped out after this much travel, so we hired a car from the hotel to take us to the Catherine Palace in Pushkin, just outside the city. For all the over-the-top lavishness of the Russian royalty, this palace is their crowning achievement. Its richness is beyond words. Its vast and every inch is decorated in the most extravagant manner.

At the coat check I bumped into a blind man who asked for my help in getting his coat – he couldn’t read the number on the coat check disk to determine if he was in the right line. I confirmed he was in the right place. What is a blind man doing somewhere like this? Why? I guess it has a lot to do with the Russian tour guides. Their descriptions, even as they stand in the middle of the room they are describing, are vivid and detailed enough to bring the room to life. In Catherine’s bedroom, for example, the narrative includes her favorite posture and window to look out of as she had her 4 to 5 cups of strong black coffee, and which pillow her dog liked to sit on. Indeed, it seems even a blind person could appreciate a tour of such a visual feast.

We headed back from there, and caught a tour of the canals. Well, it took a little more doing than that. I negotiated a price for a whole boat (3500 rubles) from some guys fixing an engine on a tour boat. Then I negotiated a route. Then, I convinced 7 more Spanish tourists who were passing by to join us to get the cost per person down to a more palatable sum. It worked, and we all boarded. The boatmen were especially surly, and the first mate spent the entire 90 minute cruise glowering at each of us in turn. It seemed as if he really wanted to be working on that engine back at the dock. Anyway, it was a great cruise on a beautiful day – a real showcase for St Petersburg to unfold all its glory in front of us on the canals.

This might be the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. I love it.

We headed along the canal to a restaurant for dinner. Mom tried to order a manhattan. Well, I tried to order it for her. It was on the menu. When I explained what she wanted to the waiter, he looked at me blankly and said he didn’t know what that was.
I showed it to him on the menu.
“Honestly, that’s the first time I’ve ever heard of that,” he said.
Awkward pause stretches on for a few seconds.
“Well,” I countered, “is it possible to order it?”
“Let me check”, he said as he walked off to the bar.
A moment later he came back and announced that a manhattan is a whiskey drink made with red vermouth. An accurate description and word for word what was written on the menu.
“Is it possible to order it?” I asked again.
Another trip to the bar before an answer - “Yes. How many?”
“Just one” I said. He seemed a little crestfallen.

Anyway, dinner was quite good and the service was very attentive.

Later we went back to the train station for the trip to Moscow. In Moscow, I got them a cab for the airport. Neither of them really slept on the overnight train, and then had to travel all the way back home with a long layover in NYC. I don’t expect I’ll hear from them for quite a few days while they recuperate.