After a sleep-in, a late breakfast and some time to catch up on sorting photos and blog and diary entries etc, it was time to get out and about.
It was a shock to go outside today, no snow, just about all the snow has melted and there is patchy rain about with blustery cold winds. It feels colder than it did when it was snowing. We were glad we climbed the dome yesterday when the world was still white.
So we headed off in a new direction this time just to see what we would see.
What we saw was disturbing to say the least, everywhere the actual grass showed through along the footpaths, was dog doo, it was everywhere, yuck, talk about tip-toeing through a minefield.
We followed what we thought of as a small canal for a while, turns out it was the Moika river. There was a small pedestrian bridge over the river so we just had to get over it, it bounced alarmingly as we walked on it. I wouldn't give much for your chances if you fell in the river, both from the cold and from the pollution. We were told that even cats won't eat fish caught there.
There was a curious sight near the car bridge over the river, a tall iron grid box in the middle of the footpath with hundreds of padlocks locked on to it. Actualy on the bridge was a smaller grid with more padlocks on it. More research needed.
It was time for a coffee so right on queue, around the next corner was a coffee shop. It was very cosy, ( I'm not sure how anything gets done, it takes ages to peel the spacesuit off whenever you go indoors; you cannot leave it on as all indoors seem to be kept at a comfortable 30 degrees, regardless.)
The coffee shop was at an entrance to the Metro, (the subway) and of course has a news stand nearby. This one was the size of a phone box and was fully enclosed against the weather, it had a little sliding window you tapped on to get service. I just had to buy a Russian computer magazine, I wonder if I can claim it on tax?
We had decided to head down Nevski Prospect and look for a place for dinner as the light was going, so we headed in the general direction.
In spite of the snow and rain, the air here is very dry so we had a look in a small "hole in the wall" 7/11 type shop for some moisturizer, no luck, couldn't tell if what they had was hand cream or hand cleaner. the shop was more a deli type of shop.
Further on Kat had the brilliant idea, "why not get some bread and cheese and have that for dinner?" so I knew where the bakery was then it was back to the deli for cheese.
Of course there was a language barrier, but Kat to the rescue! "le fromage" and the lights came on. It was the first time since 1971 that Kat has needed French, so don't discount high school French, you never know when it can be useful. Those Nuns knew!
We have just had a delightful tea of bread, le fromage, and salami.
Well I am sitting in my favourite seat, finishing my beer and looking outside. There is no snow, the road is dry and the sky is clear, the weather here is as changeable as Melbourne, who knew?