From Russia With Love, Day #2

Where can I start? Too much to see, too many photos. Welcome to St Petersburg, a photographer's paradise. Every corner turned there was always something to be amazed by. Our aim today was to explore the Hermitage and Nevsky Prospekt with the hope of ending the day at the Church of Spilled Blood as pictured in the blip.
 
We took the first tour bus from the St Isaacs Cathedral stop, after having a pleasant conversation with a fellow tourist while we waited in the snow. The old man spoke to us in a language we did not understand. He carried on talking to us anyway. Initially we thought he was Russian, but turned out he was Polish. Anyway, after doing half a loop around the city, we stepped off at the Hermitage so we could (selectively) look at some of Mrs Tuttle favourite original art works by Monet, Picasso, Gogh & De Vinci. Selective, because apparently it takes over 8 hours to look at every piece of art in the building. And then there were the rooms within, decorated without a single trace of MDF or laminated flooring. Every decorative detail just mouth droppingly grand. It was impossible not to be a tourist. See the extras and you’ll get what I mean. 
 
After a decent, well deserved latte and cake (they do good coffee in Russia by the way) in the museum cafe we headed up the Nevsky Prospekt through the museum archway and instantly got sucked into the Russian Cosmopolitan way of life. It was not too dissimilar to any other busy western city high street: MacDonald’s, KFC, souvenir shops, taxis, buses, Costa and Subway (the fast food place, not the railway). The main notable difference was the constant working of the snow sweepers, both the foot and the tractor type. The walk was tricky as we dodged the frozen water from the drainpipes, a close shave by myself and Mrs Tuttle falling over once, saved by my arm being pulled out of my socket, just. The cold didn’t seem to bother us, though did feel the need for some tubular olive/pesto pancake before heading to the Church of Spilled Blood, but by the time we got there the church was letting out the last visitors. This didn’t stop us from marvelling the building and naturally took pictures, selfies as if we weren’t trying to be tourists! We'll visit again tomorrow and pop inside.
 
We found out about a vegetarian restaurant before we left England and it just happened to be across the canal from our hotel. The restaurant is called Idiot. Like we are(!). It seemed a logical move as Mrs Tuttle doesn’t eat meat especially in a country which loves its meat and fish. The people there were very pleasant and the food excellent and we both got a free vodka with our meals, which was nice. Upon asking about some local shops for souvenirs, the waitress who served us recommended us to the “orange” supermarket down the road, as the Russian name would’ve confused us. And further down the road was a “yellow” shop. Simple enough for us as we visited the orange shop for some Russian biscuit/chocolate supplies for our loved ones for when we get home.
 
By the time we finished the day the temperatures plummeted to minus thirteen as we discussed at length why we didn’t see any snowmen or Russian having snowball fights*. The hotel room was a (rather too) toasty 23‘C.
 
Zzz zzz zzz
 
*You CAN see a snowman in one of the extras, if you look hard enough (I only spotted this myself after going through my photos later), and what a place to build it too!