The thirst for seeing the city as much as possible pushed me to wake up early and to go outside. Indeed, the empty streets of Saint Petersburg is something incredible. I believe, I would repeat this experience during the next days of my staying here.
Still, after a short airing I need to think about providing my body with some energy. The breakfasts a la buffet are included into the room price, so I cannot miss it. Honestly, the breakfasts at Ibis are not excellent, but they are varied enough not to get bored during three days. Unfortunately, the coffee is terribly miserable.
After packing my stomach I am ready to set off for another walking around the city.
The place, which I definitely cannot but visit, is Kazan Cathedral, located on the Nevsky Prospect. The cathedral with impressive stone colonnade was built between between 1801 and 1811. In fact, it was inspired by the Basilica of St. Peter's in Rome.
Initially, the cathedral was intended to be the country's main Orthodox Church. However, after winning in the war of 1812 the church became a monument to Russian victory. Captured enemy banners were put in the cathedral, and the famous Russian Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov was buried inside the church.
Honestly, I am not a religious person, but I usually burn the candles in the churches, just in case it would help someone I care about.
Almost opposite of the Kazan Cathedral, if you go along the Griboedov canal, there is another remarkable sight located. It is the Russian Museum, to where I have bought a ticket this morning. I have purchased the ticket with excursion for the specific time, and it was a really good decision, because with excursion I could skip a very long queue of tourists wishing to see the amazing collection of the masterpieces from the best Russian artists.
It was for the first time when I took the excursion in the Russian museum. To my mind, it is always a good idea to be accompanied by the professional, who is aware of some amusing facts from the author's life and details about their creations. However, at this particular time our guide was a little bit in haste, so she skipped much information, which could be quite interesting for the spectators. But personally, I wanted to know more and asked so many questions that at the end of the tour our guide was a little bit annoyed by my extra activity. Still, I enjoyed our walking.
The biggest disappointment was about my favourite hall with the grand paintings by Karl Bryullov and Ivan Aivazovsky. As it turned out, the masterpieces of Aivazovsky, including the well-known "The Ninth Wave", were sent to Spain and were not returned on time because of the COVID events.
In general, I was satisfied with visiting the Russian Museum, and next time I also will try to book an excursion. I hope, the speaker will be more friendly and talkative.
At random, I have chosen a very nice place for the evening meal. The restaurant Merula is located on Mayakovskaya street. Nice interior, reasonable prices, excellent selection of wine, tasty cuisine and friendly service. Definitely, it is my day today.
Tomorrow I will continue observing the fine art in the place, which was not visited by me before, but it was strongly recommended by my new friend from Saint Petersburg.
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