Cultural Bread and Butter.

The museam for bread in St. Petersburg? This I must see. I had heard two things about food under the USSR. The first being that when Khrushchev visted New Yrok and was taken Super market, he was so impressed by the selection and prices that he demanded "Who is the man responsible for food distribution in New York State." The evil empire was never, ever, ever going to win.

The second crumb of knowledge I knew about Soviet bread was that in the Battle of Stalingrad, corn had become so scarce that they  replaced flour with sawdust. All of these things could have been revealed to me at the Bread Museum. But, when I went to the address it had been replaced by a Bank. Bread to Banking, now thats capitalism.

I was disappointed so I cut off a thick crust of culture and went to the Hermitage. In the Romanov's former winter palace, it houses one of the worlds finest selection of art. Its tremendous, there is no denying it. From Ancient Egypt to the Impressionists, this is one of the definitive collections of western civilization. The building too, is beyond impressive, the scale enormous, It is next to the Admiralty, the reason St Petersburg was built and right at the end of Karensky Aveneue.   I wandered round the Dutch and Spanish art. I saw too many famous oils that they all blend into one. A mass of canvas and memory, intersected by a few names.  On the way out, I saw him though, his ugly head peaking out of me. I'd recongise that face anywhere. Challenging me with his constant questioning. The bust had no sign, but the ugliest man in Athens is instanly reconginisible. "Socrates! My old friend" I cried. I took a snap and made my way out.

Half way down Karensky Avenue, there is a sign in Russian which is a relic from the war, about the only visible sign, I saw of the the siege. It reads  "Citizens! When the shelling starts the other side of the road is safer". That's very practical advice. In the Hostel there was a further sign, in a similar friendly tone the west has taught me to associate with soviet Russia "Dear Friends! Please to not flush comdoms down the loo" Sturdy advice also.

Kazan cathedral is a little further along, it has sweeping, stone collonades that gather pilgrims into its interior. Id seen this design before, despite the Neo-classicism of it, the features were unmistakably based on Bernin's exeriour of the St. Peter's Basilica. As an aside, across Eastern Europe I had seen just shy of a score of cathedrals all domed. None were as impressive as the Haga Sophia. It is still the worlds largest unsupported concrete dome. Its elegance is only enduring, its memory forever, magicly and mystically engraved on my mind. The Muslims would say "You will never build a dome as grand as the Haga Sophia" And as far as I can tell that's exactly right.

The Scale of St. Petersburg is over large, all its public buildings, pre and during communism are inhumanly grandiose. But while the communists, and the fascist only sort scale, the level of complexity and beauty in the imperial work is astounding. Floral relief on everything. Statutes on all corners. Gold guilt everywhere.

Just of set from Karansky prospect is the Church of the Saviour on Blood. Its a candy cane store, of onion domes and liquorice All-sort towers. The interior is colourful to the extreme, its so garish its transcends awful and managed to turn full circle back into beauty. Outside I brought a corn on the cob. I was picking bits out my teeth for the rest of the day. I had purchased it of a relic of the USSR. An old Baboshka who looked mean, but cooked well. They seem to be all over Russia, selling tickets for trains, collecting money for toilets, sweeping up and manning desks. Everything these women do is done with an attitude of dignified irritation. Its as if everything of trivial importance but monumental convince has been given to these gate keepers with zero toleration of other human beings. Its not my lack of Russian either, I spoke to a Russian couch surfer about it, and they have a word for them, but it has slipped my mind.