So here we are in Russia again. This lovely country, with its lovely people, its amazing food, its cold charming weather, beautiful landscapes and beautiful people. My dad was invited to teach on this Plastic Surgery Conference here in St. Petersburg. One of the most beautiful cities in the world. I have to confess that I’m really happy to be back.
We woke up and went to the clinic to check on the patient that my dad was going to operate on the next day and after we had a free afternoon, which they (the organizing team) offered us a city tour.
As the tour guide told us, St. Petersburg has around 6 Million people, 200 Museums, 100 Theatres, 50 Art Galleries and 70 Universities. Known as the Russian Cultural Center and the Venice from the North, it is only 300 years old.
We passed in front of “The Guest House”, this department store from the 18th century. In the past, people used to sleep there but now it’s famous for its expensive stores.
After we went to check the Kazan Cathedral or Kazanskiy Kafedralniy Sobor, also known as the Cathedral of our lady of Kazan, is a Cathedral of the Orthodox Church on the Nevsky Prospekt, in St. Petersburg. Probably the most venerated icon in Russia. It started groundbreaking in 1801, and it was completed in 1811. It was modeled by Andrey Voronikhin after the Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
We then went to check out the St. Isaac’s Cathedral, also known as Isaakievskiy Sobov. It is the largest Orthodox Basilica and the fourth largest Cathedral in the world. It is dedicated to St. Isaac of Dalmatia, a patron saint of Peter the Great, who had been born on the feast day of that Saint.
We passed in front of the Nicholas I Monument and headed to Youssoupoff Palace or Yusupov Palace or Moika Palace. The building was the site of Grigori Rasputin’s murder in the early morning of December 17, 1916. He couldn’t write and read properly but he could heal people and predict things. He was a very special man.
They say that Yusupov killed Rasputin
Or
Rasputin didn’t want the war to happen and they ended up killing him
Or
British spy killed Rasputin (Alexandra was from the royal family)
Official version:
What seems clear is that on 30 December, 1916, Felix Yusupov, along with Vladimir Purishkevich and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich invited Grigori Rasputin to the Moika Palace. He took Rasputin to a small but lavishly furnished cellar room of the palace. There he served Rasputin red wine. When Rasputin was affected, Yusupov retrieved a revolver and shot Rasputin from the side. Taking him for dead, Yusupov went upstairs to where the other conspirators waited in a ground floor study/drawing room. Rasputin succeeded in fleeing through a side door into a gated courtyard which opened onto the street outside. Purishkevich then shot Rasputin in the back, on the doorstep. The body was taken inside and a third bullet, fired at close range, entered his forehead. The conspirators wrapped Rasputin in a broadcloth, drove outside the city and threw the body into the Malaya Neva. So that he would finally die frozen in the water.
After the Palace we headed to the Mariinsky Theater for some Russian Ballet. We got there early so we decided to walk around and look for a Restaurant. There are not many Restaurants around and it was really cold, so we ended up in this Pub/Restaurant called Shamrock and the food was surprisingly good. We had soup, pizza and some wine and headed back to the Mariinsky Theater.
We watched/saw Le Parc play and headed back to the Hotel around 11pm to sleep because we were going to wake up at 4 am the next day.
Cristianna Saldanha 