An adventure restaurant

April 2013

I brought an ocarinas, which is in a shape of owl, and
one of my friends brought the other one,
St. Petersburg, 2013

When you travel aboard, you probably want to explore the local culture and have some adventures.  I am not a person who likes taking big risks.  But you have to eat something during the trip, and I think trying the local food is an exciting experience.  Also, I quite enjoy eating. 

 

Russia is famous for caviar, vegetable soup, and vodka, so I tried some traditional cuisine while I was there. 

 

The starter, St. Petersburg, 2013

The welcome drink and snack consisted of caviar with a cracker and a glass of sparkling white wine.  The starter was fresh tomato with egg mayonnaise, cold sliced meat with fresh sliced cucumber, chopped beef with yogurt, basil and cranberries on top, pickles-tomato, cucumber, garlic and asparagus.  There was vodka, red and white wines to drink.  The most delicious dish was mushrooms in cream sauce.  This was eaten with bread, then we had vegetable soup.  However, the main course, pan-fried chicken with rice was not very good.  The chicken was not too bad but the rice was quite dry and solid as if it was a week old.  The dessert was a pancake with ice-cream and a hot fudge sauce.



Vegetable soup, St. Petersburg, 2013

Delicious mushrooms in cream sauce,
St. Petersburg, 2013

Chicken with rice, St. Petersburg, 2013

Pancake with ice-cream,
St. Petersburg, 2013



Singers with the band, St. Petersburg, 2013

One of the singers holds a percussion instruments,
St. Petersburg, 2013

In general, the food was not my kind of thing, but the mood in the restaurant was distinctly joyful.  This was because there was singers with a band, who lent customers percussion instruments.  Although we did not know what they were singing, we just played in a long time with the music.  When they finished, they sold us the instruments, such as mandolin and ocarinas were in shapes of different birds.  The percussion was a string of ten long pieces of plastic.  You held the first and the last one and shook the hold thing from side to side and make a noise.

The restaurant was in a beautiful wooden house, and had four or five slopping roofs and a round tower with a weathercock made of metal and several pieces different colours of glass.  Beside the restaurant, there was a huge wooden slide, more than four metres high.  Regrettably it was closed. 

 

The restaurant, St. Petersburg, 2013

The huge wooden slide, St. Petersburg, 2013

Inside of the restaurant, St. Petersburg, 2013

Back inside the restaurant, their furniture made of wood from the top to the floor.  It was full of animals specimens - bears, birds, deer, squirrels - They looked alive as if they could make noises.  I thought if the place went dark, they wold walk around or flutter their wings, or even eat in the kitchen. 

Not only did I go far the gastronomic adventures, I felt I could go hunting in the house. 

 

A welcome bread

April 2013


 



A river cruise with dinner, but I didn't take this one,
Moscow, 2013

When I was in Moscow my guide arranged us to go on a river cruise that included dinner. 


 

Before I got onto the boat, the waiter asked me to wait at the pier.  He got back into the boat and then held out a dome shape load of bread about 15-inch diameter, decorated with floral patterns, there was a handful of salt on top.  It is an old custom in Russia for welcoming guests.

 



The welcome bread, Moscow, 2013

He pushed the bread towards me as a sign to take some.  I did not take any but smiled at him and took a picture of it.  He did not know what to do and offered me the bread again, and indicated I should take a piece of bread and dip it in the salt.  Since a lot of people were waiting to take a picture of him and the bread, I did not dare to touch it, I stepped aside and watched them.  The waiter smiled at us and spoke to the captain.  I do not know what they were talking about.  But I think they could not understand why we kept taking photos instead of eating some of the bread.

 

At last a man did what the waiter wanted and took a piece of bread, then everyone else did the same thing.  I had some too and felt the bread was still warm.  I told myself I should have had some when it was just baked.  It would have tasted so much better, I like hot food very much.



The tasty welcoming bread, Moscow, 2013

The most tasty food at the cruise,
except the side of the bun, Moscow, 2013

 

I thought we kept the bread waiting for so long, its feeling toward us was cooled.

Ballet, Swan Lake

April 2013

One of the sculptures in the theatre, St. Petersburg, 2013

Which country has the best ballet?  I do not know.  I was told that it was Russia, but I still do not believe it.

 

While I was in Russia, the local guide sold me a ticket for one of the great classical ballets, Swan Lake.  The price included transport to and from a historic theatre.  The story was about a prince who fall in love with a beautiful white swan at first sight.  Unfortunately, the devil want to marry his daughter, the black swan, to the prince.  Therefore, he imprisons the white swan and takes the black one to the prince's ball and pretends it was the white one.  For some reason, the prince cannot tell the difference between the black one and the white one.  In the end, the prince rescued the white swan and they lived happily ever after.

 

The hall at the theatre, St. Petersburg, 2013

The entrance to the theatre was well worn and narrow - more like a back door.  But the hall, the stage and the stalls were in good condition.  I was eager to see the show.  Maybe it was because it was the first time I had watched the balled, or maybe because Russia is famous for ballet, or maybe it was just because the ticket was very expensive.

 

However, I was very disappointed.  I felt only the prima ballerina was any good; some of the ballet dancers made mistakes, or could not follow the music, or get stage fright. 

 

When I got back to HK, I found out from the web that the theatre was a part of an educational institution.  So the dancers must have been students.  Also, the price of the ticket shown on the website was a third of the price I paid!

 

Our Russian guide had seemed very trustworthy, so I believed her when she said the ballet was worth watching, but she tricked us in to paying a lot of money to see drama students.  She must have swanned off home happily at the end of the evening.

This is a scale model of the theatre, St. Petersburg, 2013

The band at that night, St. Petersburg, 2013

There were many beautiful pictures hanging in the theatre.
This was one of my favourite, St. Petersburg, 2013

 

Tricks in a circus

April 2013



A lot of people were going to the circus, Moscow, 2013

I have seen a circus twice, but this was the first time I have seen one with animals.  Unfortunately my seat was next to the entrance, whether the performers and the animals come on the stage, so it blocked my view and I could only see half of the stage. 

 

The stage, Moscow, 2013

In the first act we saw tight-rope walkers, trapeze artistes and people jumping up and down through ladders.  Two clowns amused the audience with their tricks while they were setting up the next acts. 

 

This consisted the five or six dogs jumping on to the back of a horse one by one.  I was worried the horse would kick the dogs into the air.

 

In the final part there were four elephants - three large and one small.  They stood on one leg for around a minute, and then rolled onto their backs.  They also walked on their hind legs, and put their fore legs on the shoulders the ones in front.  I could see these were very difficult for them.  When I saw the small one crowing in between the legs of the others, I felt sorry for it.  It was difficult for it to bend its legs and it had to bear its body weight.  It did not have to crawl very far compared with its body length, but I was sure it would have been happier if the path had been shorter. 

 

On the other hand, they were running their daily bread and proving that they were not white elephants.  The elephants are one of the animals that can do tricks. 

A statue of the father of a circus, Moscow, 2013

You could take a picture with these animals, if you paid for it. 
Moscow, 2013

A corner of the circus, Moscow, 2013

 

The Moscow metro

April 2013

The map of the Moscow metro, 2013.

I wanted to go on the Moscow metro, because I had been told the stations was splendid and each one was different. 

 

When I stood at the entrance I could only see the well worn swing doors.  I walked into the gloomy old-fashioned hall.  It was simple and small, but the escalators, carrying the passengers down to the platform, were very long.  When I arrived the platform, I realised the station was decorated in reddish-brown and grey marble.  So, it looked old and dark.  It was impressive but it looked outdated - the hall, escalators, ticket machines, trains, lights - they all looked as if they were the grandfather of the one in HK.  It was completely difference from the last station I saw where I got off.  This one had white marble columns, and the floral-patterned-cornice just below the ceiling.  It was magnificent. 

The hall of napk noge?bi station, 2013. 
(Sorry I can't spell Russian.)

 

The platform of napk noge?bi station, 2013.
(Sorry again I don't know Russian.)

I was crazy about the next station which had lots of exquisite mosaic depicted scenes of revolution history and soviet industries on every single of wall.  The paintings were fine and detail and set in ornate floral frames.  The ceiling was hung with chandeliers, whether they were crystal or glass I do not know.  This station was sumptuous decorated.  I felt I was walking in a palace.

 

The platform of KNEBCKAR station,2013.

The next station was all decorated with bronze statues in a repeating sequence.  Some of these was clearly popular, and the bronze were shiny where people had touched them, thinking it would bring them good luck.  The most popular statues seemed to be those of dogs and cockerels, I touched these too.
 

 

The Moscow metro is like a big art gallery and is well worth visiting for its own sake. 

One of the most popular statues at
nnowa?b peborhounn station, 2013.



One of the most popular statues at
nnowa?b peborhounn station, 2013.

  

The platform of CMAEHCKAR station, 2013.

It's taken from CMAEHCKAR station, 2013.



One of the metro routes, 2013.

 

Russian dolls

April 2013

 

One of the things Russia is famous for is dolls, sets of hollow figures that fit inside each other.  The most common ones are simple drawn figures of young girls, but there are also set of special characters; such as politicians, there is one included - Vladimir Putin, Barack Obama, Xi Jin-ping, and David Cameron - There were also sets of characters from Winnie the pool, NBA basketball stars, and so on. 

 

A set of Russian doll with floral patterns and holes,
Moscow, 2013

The first time I saw them displayed in a shop, they were line up on the tables, on the shelves, even and on the floor.  I almost gave a whoop of excitement.  I liked the ones most which were made of wood and cost around ten thousand HK dollars.  I vaguely remember they were five dolls in a set.  They had sweet smiling faces and their bodies were decorated with floral patterns and holes.  They were gorgeous, but I did not think they were worth the money.  I think Chinese ivory and jade ornaments are better value. 

 

I saw various Russian dolls.  What impressed me most was one of the HK tourists.  He was drawing a picture onto a doll.  It was an old man who carrying a baby in a sling on his back.  It took him about 30-minutes when he finished I told him the hands were wrong.  So he corrected them and then it looked cute and real. 



The front of a Russian doll
- an old man & his child, Moscow, 2013
Special thanks for giving me to take pictures of this doll.

The back of a Russian doll,
- an old man & his child, Moscow, 2013
Special thanks again.

 



 I had a chance to learn how to paint a doll too.  The figure was already sketched onto the doll, so I only had to paint in colours and patterns.  It was easy, but not very pretty.  If I ever have time, I will repaint its and dress it in the latest fashion, you see I like to doll up my Russian doll. 

The workshop of painting dolls, Moscow, 2013.

Samples of dolls, and painting materials, Moscow, 2013

 

Speak the same language

April 2013



Kolomenskoye Wooden Palace, Moscow, 2013

I had a nine-day holiday in Russia - Saint Petersburg and Moscow -  There were a lot of beautiful historic buildings.  However, Russian rarely smiled or showed any kind of facial expressions.



Peter & Paul Fortress, St. Petersburg, 2013

Their mother tongue is Russian and they do not understand Cantonese.  Sometimes I like going to places where people do not understand my language, so I can say to my friends what I like without any dangerous being understood.

I had imagined that as English is a language throughout an international.  It would be understood by Russians and I was excited that I would be able to speak with them in my fairly simple English.  However, I discovered they could speak very little English, spoke it worse than me.





A restaurant in Moscow, 2013

When I ordered some hot water in a restaurant, the waiter did not move, so I thought I had spoken too fast, I spoke slowly and used only simple words - hot, water, aqua.  Some waiters never responded and others just walked away, some spoke to me in Russian waving their arms, giving me a blanked expression, but I still did not get any hot water.  I knew it was time to learn 'hot water' in Russian.  The pronunciation was something like 'keep-it-dot'.  These magic words sometimes did not work, I thought it must be my bad pronunciation.   

For the last two-days of the trip, I lost my voice.  I could communicate with gesture and this did work.  I made signs when every I wanted to know a price in dollars, or ask for clothes in my size, what I wanted to ask for direction, order drinks or simply say thank you.  To my surprise, they smiled and were very helpful.

 

So I learned that after all, we do speak the same language, sign language.