St. Petersburg, part XXXI - Open market, tax-free souvenir shop, more St. Isaac's cathedral and St. Petersburg port

Plov, a popular Uzbekh dish

This was our last meal in St. Petersburg. We went to a largely Muslim open market, where there were a lot of Uzbekh restaurants. St. Petersburg, and by extension Russia, is home to a sizeable Muslim community mostly from the 'stans', which used to be satellite states in the Soviet era.

I'm not a huge fan of kebabs but the mutton samsa was great, and of course anything and everything tastes good when you're ravenous. Then there was plov, which I had a lot of in the ME - it seems to be a staple dish for Semitic people.

After that we went to the tax free shop, and I got myself some furry black Soviet caps a la Marko Ramius, and we sat around the souvenir shop and had a nice chat with the shop girl, who offered us lots of free vodka and cinnamon, much to my pleasure.

A quick look at St. Isaac's cathedral, and then off to the port.

Dasvidanya for now, my beloved St. Petersburg. You are never lost for too long.

Gulf of Finland

St. Petersburg, part III - St Isaac's cathedral

I didn't mention something extremely important, but when I was queuing to go through customs at St Petersburg, a lovely elderly couple from the States told me that they thought I had lovely hair. I turned around and smiled, and thanked them, and we started talking, and it was a very nice encounter. The wife in particular was very sweet, and very motherly. They were extremely impressed with how I carried myself, and my English. I know I've been told this innumerable times, but it's still nice to hear. I had to take my leave of them once we'd arrived at the right side of customs, but they left me their email, and I'm happy to say that we have corresponded once or twice since.

So there is that.

St Isaac's cathedral - isaakievsy sobor.

St Petersburg was blustery and grey and very Russian and I was in love; with the city, the wide streets, the pastel buildings, the Neva river and the men and the women and the Orthodox cathedrals.

How do you measure things when so much of life cannot be measured, or quantified, or limited to a few adjectives?

To be continued.