Day 14 & 15 Tver - St. Petersburg, the longest day 600 km
Today was the hardest one... 600 km straight up to St. Petersburg, not
much is going on there as you can see in the picture below.
We reached St Petersburg 4 p.m. as the sun was going down in the waters
surrounding the city. Team A again welcomed us with a handful
of beer
and we had dinner with all 183 competing Volvo nuts.
Just as I thought we'd carried 20 kilograms of medication, a trauma
kit and stuff with us for nothing, someone was so kind to hit the sink.
It was the only time we had to open the bags and stitch the poor guy.
Robert, my paramedic said " We could have done this easily with your
oldie "(he was referring to my P 1800, the very same car he used two
weeks later to get married)
St. Petersburg and Moscow are one of the two most beautiful cities
I've
seen but the Hermitage is something else.... it's not from this planet.
I'm telling you, go and see this in your lifetime.
We did only the Old Dutch masters and the Mediterranean ball room,
or
was it the glass of champagne we drank, with all the cars parked in
front of the " winter palace "?
This time the sun was shining and boy did we have some Russians....
Even the local dealer showed up with his very handsome P130 Amazon
in
kirsch red (colour 46).
Some famous last words from the director and we where off to see the
centre of this former capital and home of the Tzars, they were right,
I've seen it, this is the place to visit.
Day 17 Walking St. Petersburg Squares
Finally a resting day, something else to do but driving....
Even our most fanatic Volvo drivers needed this day off, at least
"one day not at the races" (I borrowed that one from Queen)
We were lucky, the sun was shining and there where not many tourists
in town.
We walked most of the day, alongside the riverside in front of the
Hermitage and on towards the city centre, very beautiful squares and
palaces.... and then it hit me.....
The Russian revolution from 1917 started here, with the immense wealth
the Tzars had and the suppression of the people who no longer tolerated
it and fought for a better world.
It was all too cruel to be true, the ordinary Russian man didn't
benefit one inch from over 80 years of Russian effort and the blood
of
so many, the very same gap between the rich and the poor still existed.
It was September 2000, nothing had changed.... I felt sorry for them.
Ed
