The Subway…
I love getting emails from my friend Karen. She has such a colourful way of describing her life, her surroundings and is always appreciative of the things in life that really matter. In closing she often says ‘lucky, lucky Karen’ and ya know, I have come to realize that I too am lucky, lucky Carrie. I have found some good people here on the ship, I am looking forward to going home to good friends and family and I have had an amazing experience. That’s not to say there haven’t been lows, and moments when I wonder what in the hell I am doing, but then there are the times when I look around and realize there isn’t anywhere else I would rather be.
This past St. Petersburg, I took in two tours. The first the Subway ~ I mentioned my friend Karen as she is a resident of Toronto and her colourful descriptions of the TTC and it’s riders make me grateful my morning commute is down the hall and up one floor. As we started the tour and started to check it all out, she was the first person to come to mind and I thought about whether or not her ride would be different if she had this incredible décor around her.
A group of us left the ship on a mission to hit the underground. We arrived with our guide, inserted our token (10 Rubels = less than 1 US dollar I think) and we made our way to the escalator. It was a quick moving thing and once you step on it, you are wisked into the darkness.
OK ~ we are going up the escalator, but you get the idea of how long it is...
We had 5 stops on the tour, each with their own distinct characteristics and beauty. The subway was originally opened in the 50s and the beauty of the stops was done purposefully, to give the people of St. Petersburg the sense of richness. So despite they were not well off, the state was able to afford to give them beautiful surroundings in their Public Transportation. The intention was to boost the moral of the people ~ hey Karen, perhaps they can paint your station!!
Stop 1:
The first stop and a cool statue of Puskin before the garden. A great poet who I had never heard of before travelling to St. Petersburg on a regular basis... Gosh, sometimes I think I may need to expand my cultural horizons!!
Stop 2:
This mural was made of marble and depicts the story of life in earlier Russian times. This is when I wish Liz was around as I know she would remember more of the story ~ I was a bit too busy looking around to take in what the guide was saying. Liz is good for that type of multi-tasking...
Stop 3:
This was one of my favourite stops. Each column had a different sculpture. I could have spent a long time just looking at them. The lights play a huge theme in the subway ~ with each stop using a different type of overhead lighting. It does leave the platform a bit darker, but in contrast to the flourescent glow, it was kind of nice...
Stop 4:
This stop was rather cool in that there were a number of columns and each of the columns were covered with cut glass. It is hard to appreciate from a photo, but the work was very detailed. The other amazing part was that there was no damage done to these. I'm not sure how hard it would be to break, but it was truly impressive to see that people respected them enough to not damage them.
The riders:
Part that was quite unbelieveable was that folks are able to drink on the subway. Note the gal in the photo below holding the bottle. Hey Karen, maybe she is onto something!!
This past St. Petersburg, I took in two tours. The first the Subway ~ I mentioned my friend Karen as she is a resident of Toronto and her colourful descriptions of the TTC and it’s riders make me grateful my morning commute is down the hall and up one floor. As we started the tour and started to check it all out, she was the first person to come to mind and I thought about whether or not her ride would be different if she had this incredible décor around her.
A group of us left the ship on a mission to hit the underground. We arrived with our guide, inserted our token (10 Rubels = less than 1 US dollar I think) and we made our way to the escalator. It was a quick moving thing and once you step on it, you are wisked into the darkness.
OK ~ we are going up the escalator, but you get the idea of how long it is...
We had 5 stops on the tour, each with their own distinct characteristics and beauty. The subway was originally opened in the 50s and the beauty of the stops was done purposefully, to give the people of St. Petersburg the sense of richness. So despite they were not well off, the state was able to afford to give them beautiful surroundings in their Public Transportation. The intention was to boost the moral of the people ~ hey Karen, perhaps they can paint your station!!
Stop 1:
The first stop and a cool statue of Puskin before the garden. A great poet who I had never heard of before travelling to St. Petersburg on a regular basis... Gosh, sometimes I think I may need to expand my cultural horizons!!
Stop 2:
This mural was made of marble and depicts the story of life in earlier Russian times. This is when I wish Liz was around as I know she would remember more of the story ~ I was a bit too busy looking around to take in what the guide was saying. Liz is good for that type of multi-tasking...
Stop 3:
This was one of my favourite stops. Each column had a different sculpture. I could have spent a long time just looking at them. The lights play a huge theme in the subway ~ with each stop using a different type of overhead lighting. It does leave the platform a bit darker, but in contrast to the flourescent glow, it was kind of nice...
Stop 4:
This stop was rather cool in that there were a number of columns and each of the columns were covered with cut glass. It is hard to appreciate from a photo, but the work was very detailed. The other amazing part was that there was no damage done to these. I'm not sure how hard it would be to break, but it was truly impressive to see that people respected them enough to not damage them.
The riders:
Part that was quite unbelieveable was that folks are able to drink on the subway. Note the gal in the photo below holding the bottle. Hey Karen, maybe she is onto something!!
posted by Carrie @ 10:05 AM
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