St. Petersburg, Russia

I've been trying really hard to like Russia, precisely because I know its people don't want me to. It has beautiful women and techno music, so I have to like it. Before I left I joked about finding a Russian hat with the hammer and sickle on it, thinking it would be a rare item. Turns out that they sell them en masse to tourists at Red Square, and I'm now the proud owner of one of these stupid souvenirs. You can also pay to have your picture taken with some big fat guys wearing Cold War era generals' uniforms and a big Soviet flag. Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks the whole USSR thing is funny, and the fact that the Russians are making a profit off of that fact shows that they are learning about capitalism. I had some other tourists take my picture wearing the hat with the onion domes of St. Basil's in the background. I think I'm going to call this image "Comrade Mastromatteyovsky." Last night I ate at an Italian restaurant. It was kind of expensive, but I think that if one can afford it the presence of Italian restaurants is a good thing to keep in mind when traveling in regions of the world that use a strange alphabet. Why? Because every Italian restaurant in the world, from Angelo's and Vinci's on Harbor in Fullerton to Ristorante Pizzeria on Arbat in Moscow thinks that it's cute to list their dishes first in Italian, then in the local language. So as a consequence, Americans can read the menu. Tipping is not done here - it's just not very communist. However, the waitress I had last night was actually nice for a change, so I tipped her almost to American standards. I just hope that the restaurant actually let her keep the money and that she didn't take it as an insult or as an example of Americans throwing their money around. Being American, I just feel like a bad person if I don't leave a decent tip. Russian trains are awesome. Seeing as it's what they're known for, I would have been pissed if they sucked. But it was surprisingly a very pleasant experience. St. Petersburg is usually considered to be Russia's most beautiful city and I guess I would agree. It's less grim than Moscow, but it's still Russia. There are lots of good things to take pictures of, and I had been taking a few pictures but then my hands were just frozen solid so I had to stop and warm them up inside my jacket. St. Petersburg is a lot colder than Moscow. There is also a much stronger police presence here, like triple that of Moscow. Strangely, the quality of Svetlanas seems to be slightly lower here than in Moscow, though still very high.

One month ago I was in Muscat.
Two months ago I was in Alexandria.