Oto in Motherland: a (huge) photo log

[Otohiko]

Bottle at the monument


Tiny streetlight


St. Isaac’s Cathedral, 2nd largest Orthodox church and one of the largest in the world, and certainly one of the more impressive mostly-granite structures in the world


I didn’t get to go inside this time, but it as impressively rich from the inside as it is huge from the outside.

Interesting Oto fact:
My great-great-grandfather, a remarkable artist and eventually the first president of the Russian Academy of Arts under the Soviet regime, designed some of the mosaics in this cathedral.



*to be continued*

[Otohiko]

St. Isaac’s Cathedral



Sign reads:
“These are the marks left by one of the 148478 shells fired by the Fascists at Leningrad in 1941-1944” (Leningrad is St. Petersburg’s Soviet-era name)

The marks:

(these columns are MASSIVE pieces of solid granite, mind you!)

The 5-star Astoria hotel on the opposite end of the square, favoured by the city’s important guests, like Bush for example.




*to be continued*

[Otohiko]

Construction, with the Admiralty spire in the background


Street



These things supposedly prevent people from driving/parking on sidewalks


Old building


*to be continued*

[Otohiko]

Street


Technology and Design University (formerly a Soviet agricultural school, note the insignia)


Stroganov palace, again


Parking


Random?


*to be continued*

[Otohiko]

Boats on the Moika


Nevsky Prospekt


Kazan Cathedral


Nevsky Prospekt with the main bookstore


*to be continued*

[Otohiko]

Kazan Cathedral, main facade


The lawn enclosure at the Kazan cathedral


Flower bed at the Kazan Cathedral


Blue building on Nevsky at the Griboedov Canal, housing the entrance to the subway. I went home from here.


*to be continued*

[Otohiko]

Another day, another excursion to the same place – we didn’t see everything in the Fortress quite yet, so we did another take.

Back at the Spit of Vasilievsky Island


If anyone tells you there are no bears on the street in Russia…


Back to strategic-coin-placement


Restoration work at the fortress walls


Original state of the walls


*to be continued*

[Otohiko]

Fortress Wall


Gosudarev Bastion (King’s Bastion)


Drain


The even more… original state of the walls


One of the Cathedral’s cupolas under restoration


*to be continued*

[Otohiko]

The Restoration Machine?


Back of the cathedral


Lens Flare’d Spire


Back home… OMG

Best food lunch evar. Smoked trout sandwich + Kvas, the drink of pure awesome

*to be continued*

[Otohiko]

Another day, more wandering around.

Nalichnaya street at Nakhimov street, Vasilievsky island


Tram rails on the pavement


What does this building say on it?

“ORLY”

ya, rly.



Anyone who guesses what movie this is a reference to… will laugh, I think.

*to be continued*