Don Curry on Tour 2
Don Curry on Tour 2
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Don Curry is being monitored

Objavljeno: 19.07.2019

Don Curry loves his freedom. Even when he meticulously plans his daily schedule while traveling, he always takes the freedom to change the program and do something different spontaneously. As long as he is completely in control, everything works wonderfully. But what if he has to meet other people's requirements? What if his every move is being monitored? If the state - of course, for the safety of its citizens - wants to know everything about him.

Don Curry has experienced this several times in Russia: when he wants to log into a free Wi-Fi network in a hotel or restaurant, he has to provide his mobile number and either receive an SMS with an unlock code or dial a Moscow telephone number and immediately hang up. In both cases, his phone number is stored somewhere and accessible. The reason for the action is always given as the Russian legal situation. You can use the internet for free, but please make it controllable by the state.

Don Curry also felt a bit uncomfortable in the metro stations. During the endless rides on the escalators, cameras were directed at him at regular intervals. At the end of the escalator, a security officer has her guardhouse, where she continuously looks at the faces of those rolling down or up on several monitors. Big Sister is watching You!

Mutilated Church
Mutilated Church

Don Curry was also confronted with comprehensive surveillance at his first destination. In pouring rain, he made his way to the Resurrection Church, which still disfigures the environment with its brutal mutilation. Long lines had formed at the ticket counters, but Don Curry decided to use a ticket vending machine for the first time here. He already had his ticket in hand and bypassed the queue. Queuing - that's so yesterday! - he thought. When entering the church, a first sign in Russian and English indicated that chewing gum and ice cream are prohibited in the church. The second sign announced that video surveillance would be in place.

Very popular warning sign
Very popular warning sign

But when Don Curry saw the crowds of people who had taken shelter from the rain in the church, he wished the video surveillance operators lots of fun in identifying individuals.

But he didn't have much time for such banal thoughts, because the interior of the church captured him without resistance. It is completely decorated with thousands of colorful wall mosaics. Not a single spot is left empty! A completely unique interior design in Russia, which also allowed the shameless flash of the crowds of photographers. For the first time, Don Curry understood why active Orthodox churches prohibit photography. In the Resurrection Church, there is now a morning service, but officially it is considered a museum and is therefore defenseless against tourists. Flashlights everywhere!

Aisle
Aisle
Iconostasis
Iconostasis
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday
Whitsun
Whitsun
Iconostasis
Iconostasis
The central dome
The central dome
Resurrection Church intact
Resurrection Church intact

Someone is posing everywhere in the most bizarre contortions to be photographed or to do it themselves with a selfie. Several groups of Chinese people were currently populating the building and relentlessly exposing everything that was somehow visible. Don Curry longed for the reserved Japanese of previous decades, who also captured everything on photo or film that could not escape them, but at least they were quiet...

Don Curry is not alone...
Don Curry is not alone...

Ambivalent, but mostly delighted - and with many photos! - Don Curry left the externally ruined church to devote himself to the "lunch" project. One of his culinary destinations in St. Petersburg was definitely a Georgian restaurant, of which there are remarkably many. Don Curry chose the 'Mamalyga', which was still relatively empty at around 12:30. But that was about to change quickly. After Don Curry had placed his order, the restaurant filled up to the last seat, including a large Chinese group that increased the noise level in the restaurant significantly.

Eggplant rolls with walnut filling
Eggplant rolls with walnut filling

But Don Curry was looking for culinary pleasure, not acoustic pleasure - and he found it: he was first served a black currant juice at the expense of the house, then he ordered fried eggplant rolls with a walnut filling and pomegranates, and finally a Chakhabili - fried chicken in a creamy onion-tomato sauce with very spicy Georgian herbs and fresh cilantro.

Chakhabili
Chakhabili

The eloquent waiter recommended a Georgian lavash bread, which was served with a spicy dipping sauce; Don Curry also ordered the only draft beer in the restaurant, a French Kronenbourg. In the end, the beer was the most expensive part of the lunch, not because the food was so cheap, but because the beer was outrageously expensive at €7.92. Nevertheless, a highly recommended restaurant and an extremely delicious national cuisine.

St. Isaac
St. Isaac's Cathedral
After being refreshed, Don Curry wanted to go high up next. He had chosen the St. Isaac's Cathedral as his next destination, one of the largest dome churches in the world. It is also considered a museum, so Don Curry had to first buy access to the interior and the dome at a ticket vending machine. Don Curry was not alone on either occasion. Inside the church, the masses of visitors dispersed relatively well and fell silent in the face of so much monumental splendor.
In the nave
In the nave
Frescoes on the dome by Karl Bryullov
Frescoes on the dome by Karl Bryullov
Columns made of semi-precious stones
Columns made of semi-precious stones
The final part of the ascent
The final part of the ascent

The crowds on the dome were much stronger, even though it had to be climbed up countless steps. Despite the gloomy day, wide views opened up in all directions.

Admiralty and Hermitage
Admiralty and Hermitage
Gazprom Tower and World Cup Stadium
Gazprom Tower and World Cup Stadium
Panorama with bride
Panorama with bride

From here, Don Curry could also see his next destination: the queue in front of the Hermitage was significantly shorter today.

Descent

After a successful descent and a short visit to the famous monument of the Bronze Horseman, Don Curry lined up again.

The Bronze Horseman
The Bronze Horseman

But the queue in front of the Hermitage this afternoon was only one third of yesterday's length.

Hermitage
Hermitage

And when Don Curry reached the ticket vending machines after a 20-minute wait, he simply left the line, printed out his ticket himself, and entered the museum. Here, there was another queue in front of the security checks, but then Don Curry had access to this absurdly enormous museum, which offered an immense spectrum of human creativity and the desire for representation, from stone tools of ancient humans to Egyptian, old Siberian, and Caucasian art, medieval paintings and furniture from Germany, Italy, France, etc., Russian home culture through the centuries to the palace rooms of the Tsars.

Jordan Staircase
Jordan Staircase

Don Curry tried to limit himself and initially walked through the rooms of the old Winter Palace, always followed or overtaken by numerous Chinese groups. Don Curry knows many palaces of past rulers of this world, where the wealth and claim to power of the respective monarchs are extensively and enchantingly displayed, but the unreserved wastefulness of tsarist Russia surpasses everything: huge vases made of malachite and other semi-precious stones, rooms with completely gilded walls, precious wall and ceiling paintings, tapestries of the finest quality - each subsequent room should surpass the previous one.

In the Hermitage
In the Hermitage
War Gallery of 1812
War Gallery of 1812
Great Church in the Winter Palace
Great Church in the Winter Palace
Small Throne Room
Small Throne Room
Boudoir
Boudoir
Golden Salon
Golden Salon
Vases made of lapis lazuli and malachite
Vases made of lapis lazuli and malachite

One highlight is certainly a gigantic mechanical clock, on which a golden life-size dragonfly, owl, rooster, and peacock display the passage of time in lifelike movements.

The mechanical peacock
The mechanical peacock

After three hours in the Hermitage, Don Curry's brain signaled information overload and further refusal to absorb anything. Satiated with art, he left the Hermitage. For his dinner, he had made a simple plan: he would go to the famous pierogi bakery 'Stolle' on Nevsky Prospekt and get a piece of rabbit pierogi and a piece of potato-mushroom pierogi, and consume it all with Russian strong canned beers in his hotel room. At least here, no one would monitor him - or so Don Curry hoped...

Toilet bus on Palace Square
Toilet bus on Palace Square
Canals everywhere...
Canals everywhere...
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg


Odgovor

Ruska Federacija
Izvješća o putovanju Ruska Federacija
#sankt-petersburg#eremitage