Saint Petersburg is my lovely home, I’ve known every nook and seen every hole. I live under warm theater dome,me, This place has a hint of a roughgh Scottish soul. I know all the roofs, bridges, andnd laneslanes I walk through the aisles with lionsions of stone,stone, I’ve visited streets and smallestt terrains Where mystical parks and gardens have grown. The Hermitage cats are best friendsends of mine,mine, As well as the poets, the wizardss of words,words, The venturous guards salute me inin line, Atlantes keep safe the castles off lords. If your deepest wish, my dearest friend,friend, Is to see Petersburg in all splendidid charm, I promise you’ll have the greatest weekend, Grab me by the tail, stretch out yourour arm! Hello,llo, mymy youngyoung friend!friend my young friend, that walking with me and exploring the main sites of the city LetLet me introducein myself: my nname is Waffl e will make you love it with all your heart thethhe Cat. I was and come here again and again. You, bornbob rn in Saint probably, wonder what we’re going to Petersburg,Pete but my start with. ancestorsannce came First of all, I’d like to tell you why it’s fromfromo Scotland.S me who will be your guide. Cats play I wouldwould like to show an important role for Saint Petersburg youyoyou my beloved city. and are closely linked with the city’s I’mI’I m suresus re thatt you’ll love history and culture. Do you know that travelling withwi me. the Hermitage has been guarded by dedicated cats for over 150 years? What,What, in youryo opinion, Or, that once the siege of Leningrad encouragesencourages a person to (Leningrad is the previous name of travel?trravel? WhyWhy do many of us Saint Petersburg) was over, the city fi nd it important to visit new was inhabited by crowds of rats and places, communicate with people only cats from Yaroslavl managed to who diff er from us, or taste foreign free the city from the rodents? food? What do we feel once we have achieved our goal or climbed a new You can fi nd numerous monuments to peak? We feel delight, start believing cats on the streets of the city! Thanks in our abilities, discover previously to one of them, the monument to the unknown sides of ourselves and cat Tisha Matroskina, we celebrate other people, learn to respect foreign the World Day of Saint Petersburg cultures and reveal ours. I really hope, Cats on June 8. Petersburgers have DDAYAY 1 been recently acknowledged to be the period of white nights starts in late May biggest cat lovers in the country. and ends in mid-July. That is why, I will accompany you during Saint Petersburg is a real pioneer our tours about this beautiful city. Be among Russian cities. It is where the sure, you’re in good and soft paws. country’s fi rst museum (Kunstkamera), the fi rst fountains (in the Summer You certainly know that Saint Petersburg Garden), and the world’s fi rst rail is the Russian capital of culture. Many road appeared. Are you willing to see outstanding Russian scientists and the main points of interest in Saint artists lived in this city. Cats played a Petersburg? Then take your parents by remarkable role for some of them, too. their hands and get ready for a walk! As far as a number of names goes, While walking,walking, trytry to paypay attention Saint Petersburg holds a record among to details;etails; iiff yyouou happen to notice cities. It had three offi cial names: Saint somethingthing unusual, make sure youyou Petersburg, Petrograd, Leningrad. The show it to youryour parents. And city had been the capital of Russia for shouldd youyou see anythinganything over 200 years, so, nowadays, it is often interestingsting that is not in called the Northern Capital of Russia. the booklet,ooklet, use It is also referred to as Venice of the your imaginationmagination North: the City of Forty Islands, Eight to createreate youryour Hundred Bridges and Three Hundred own adventureadventure Floods; or the City of White Nights: the route. 3 3 4 DDAYAY 1 Tour time I, like nobody else, understand that walking all day (including stops long may be diffi cult at times. So, our journeys will and rest): 120 minutes be short and we’ll make stops so that you can both Distance: 5 km enjoy the sites of my home city and try something Number of signifi cant sites: 10 tasty. Be certain, I’ll show you the most worth-seeing Number of and delicious places. Ready? See you soon, then. catering facilities: 2 To start with, I suggest we meet at the very heart of Saint Petersburg — Nevsky Prospect — opposite the Alexandrinsky Theatre, just several steps away 5 from Gostiny Dvor station. Look closer and these days, and its interior is restored to be you’ll see a large glass window... With a chef just like it was in 1903. grabbing a cat by its tail in it... Have you spotted it? The Kupetz Eliseevs Foodhall stands out at the background of Nevsky Prospekt. It So, you can see me, too. Here I am, right in keeps astonishing with its magnifi cence, front of the entrance. Meow... sculptures, unusual shape and huge stained-glass windows. If you look at it from This is one of the best-known Russian stores Nevsky Prospekt, you’ll see a statue of the opened in the previous century. You and I noble god Vulcan who incorporates Industry must visit it. When launching it, the Eliseevs, on the left, and the god Mercury, the patron merchants (kupetz, as we call them), decid- of Commerce, on the right. There are two fe- ed at once that they would sell only unusual male statues — Science and Arts — on the goods of the highest quality. side of Malaya Sadovaya Street. This is the fi rst location where metal sculptures of that I’d like to tell you a legend about the birth size were installed. Impressive, isn’t it? of the Eliseevs’ trade empire. On Christmas Eve 1812, a gardener named Peter Eliseev, And on a stained-glass window of the Kupetz Count Sheremetev’s serf, delivered fresh Eliseevs Foodhall, Mihail Chemiakin, a well- strawberries for his master’s amazed guests known theatre painter, accommodated char- on a saucer. Having come to his senses, the acters from The Nutcracker. That chef and Count asked his serf how to thank him for the cat were also created by him. Ssh... The such a treat. He didn’t hesitate to answer: entire composition moves day and night; an- “Set me free.” The Count kept his promise. gels fl y up to colourful stained-glass windows He set Peter free and awarded him with one of the Kupetz Eliseevs Foodhall, drawing by- hundred roubles as start-up money — a huge passers’ attention. amount at that time. The former serf and his family set off to Saint Petersburg. He bought The building of the store is a monument of a sack of oranges, went to Nevsky Prospekt architecture of the early Art Nouveau. The and began selling them. 90 years later, de- style was designed to demonstrate the part- scendants of the fi rst Eliseev established a nership’s wealth and draw attention of poten- grocery store at the very place, where Peter tial shoppers. The stained-glass windows on started his commerce. The store functions the side facing Nevsky Prospekt unite sev- 6 DDAYAY 1 erall fl oors andd create a sense of one large it had at the time of the Eliseevs merchants, shop window. It lets light from Nevsky Pros- early 20th century: cast-iron chandeliers with pekt into the store through its reconstructed forged leaves, ceiling cornices, stained-glass colourful glasses, and the inside of the shop windows, mouldings, counters. Except that, is illuminated by fragile crystal chandeliers. where cash registers used to stand, a palm The main façade of the Kupetz Eliseevs tree grows these days with tables around it: Foodhall decorates Nevsky Prospekt and is we can sit there and have some tea and lo- admired by residents and visitors of the city. cal pastries, and you can buy some milk for me. Let’s have a snack and listen to clas- I can’t wait to get in, can you? Can you see sical music played by a mechanical piano, how extraordinary the inside of the store and, afterwards, I will introduce you to my looks? It has the very same appearance as cat friends. 7 Let’s hurry outside! Go out and turn right, now you’ve found yourself in Malaya Sado- vaya Street. Here, monuments to cats Elisey and Vasilisa were installed in 2000. Raise your head higher and you’ll see them on the cornice! Look closer, Elisey made himself comfortable on the side of the Kupetz Eli- seevs Foodhall, and there is Vasilisa walking along the cornice of a house on the opposite side of the street. The cats made in bronze symbolize animals who rendered priceless help to the city at war. There were no cats left in the city during the siege of Leningrad resulting in crowds of 8 DDAYAY 1 round and changes the direction of its move- ment every hour. By the way, the fountain has two kugels: a summer one and a winter one. The fi rst one is shiny and rotates from spring to autumn. It is removed for winter and replaced by the second, “rougher” one.