Day 9 - A history lesson, winter grips and time to move on

St Petersburg - My City

2,408 Miles GMT +3 Temp -10

We've previously done art and literature and today we've done history. Our first visit was to the Museum of Political History, which is housed in a building that Lenin once made an impassioned speech from the upstairs balcony to the citizens of St Petersburg. Some of the information was interesting, although a lot of it felt like it was more an ex-communist curiosity shop than useful comment on history......... I can now say I've seen Mikhail Gorbachev's video camera, but I still have a lot to learn about Russia.

The Siege Memorial

From there we walk to the museum of the Siege of Leningrad. It opened just 3 months after the siege ended in 1944, and had 37,000 exhibits, including real tanks and aeroplanes amongst them. However just three years later during Stalin's repression of the city, the museum was closed, the director shot and most of the exhibits either destroyed or re-distributed. It re-opened in 1989 following campaigning from people of all backgrounds and the displays are now made up mostly of donations from survivors. What really impressed me is that some of those people act as voluntary guides, and the lady pictured above, Irina, took us through her section, which was about how the radio and the newspapers kept people buoyant with news and words of encouragement. Some of the personal accounts are truly harrowing. Lena read me some of the children's diaries, but it didn't take long before she couldn't read any more and we couldn't listen to anymore.  One of them, a diary of a little girl aged nine, who recorded simple statements each day, such as 'mummy is dead'. In the space of two weeks she lost both parents and two brothers. There were accounts of acts of random kindness too, and an immense sense of courage as well as defiance from the civilian population. The part I can't comprehend is that more civilians lost their lives in the defence of St Petersburg during the 872 days of the siege than the combined forces of the USA and Britain in the whole of WWII.   

It was kind of appropriate that when we left the museum there was a blizzard waiting for us. Coffee and a stiff vodka bolstered us for the walk back the apartment. We are moving onto Moscow tonight, so it seemed more sensible to prepare for that journey than fight our way anywhere else.

Political Art

Time to leave St Petersburg, sniff, sniff. I have loved being in this city. Four days was just not enough, I feel like I've only just scratched the surface and will return some day. If you have ever thought of visiting then I'm sure it would live up to expectations. I'm told by Lena that in the summer it gets very crowded but comes to life with the added bonus of beaches and parks. Personally I think I prefer the winter, it may be cold, ok very cold, but it's quiet and beautiful to walk around in the snow.

We are now safely on the overnight train to Moscow, so bid you a good evening.