The goal for today was to find something to do that didn't require much walking. We investigated a "hop on hop off" bus tour, but the tickets were not good for 24 hours like in other cities, so we decided to leave that for tomorrow, when we could get moving earlier ad make better use of the tickets.
I decided to find Gostiny Dvor, a large indoor mall, built over 200 years ago. The big funky Russian church, the Cathedral of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, is just across the canal from the hotel, so we passed it on the way. We also took a quick look through the souvenir market between the hotel and the church. It should only have been a 10 minute walk from the hotel to the Gostiny Dvor, and I expected some benches where we could sit and watch the crowds, so I thought this would be a good plan for little walking.
But, it turns out that a 14 acre mall is hard to find. I was expecting it on the opposite side of the street. And from the outside, it looks like yet another royal palace. So we walked several blocks past it, down Nevsky Prospect, the busy shopping street of the downtown core. Once we found it, we discovered that it's more of a department store than a mall. You have to walk through each store to get to the next. We ended up doing the full loop of the ground floor. I saw a couple of souvenirs I'd like to buy, I'll pick those up when we go back for the second floor. So much for limiting our walking!
Along the way, we found another location of the fancy grocery store from Moscow. I was excited to go in and get the souvenirs I didn't get in Moscow. Unfortunately, this one is more of cafe than a store. Lots of sweets and baked goods, a few tables, but only food souvenirs. Nothing special. But we will be back for the baked goods, I'm sure.
UG is coming down with a cold, so he picked up some drugs from the pharmacy at Gostiny Dvor. He's not exactly sure what he bought, so he had 3 people translate it for him (besides the woman at the pharmacy who sold it to him) and Googled it. It seems to be a very strong ColdFX which is sold only in Russia and China and is not approved for sale in any western country. If it works, we'll be bringing home a case. He also looked for deodourant, unsuccessfully.
We then walked back to the hotel for a rest before dinner. The weather today was bright and sunny, but there was a cold wind. I had an opportunity to sit in front of the church for a few minutes while UG went back to the hotel to get a warmer jacket not long after we left.
For dinner, we went to another well reviewed inexpensive place near the hotel, the Cafe Bagatelle. It was okay, food was good, but it's a small room in the basement of an old building, which allows smoking. So it was a smelly, uncomfortable place to sit for a meal.
A statue on one of the bridges.
Yeliseev's Food Hall
The subway station at Gostiny Dvor. How effective do you think this metal detector is?
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