Depeche Mode in St. Petersburg or baby girl dreams

As I was eleven I went with my parents in a bookstore and I was allowed to choose a book.
I found a book with the title " Nijinsky". The next week I didn't speak anything, I read the whole time
about the life of the best dancer in the world, " the God of Dance", Vaslav Nijinsky and the "Ballet Russe".
I was so fascinated by this man and his life, his education in the imperial ballet school of St. Petersburg, his first appearances in the Mariinsky theatre in St. Petersburg, my burning desire, my baby girl dream was to visit St. Petersburg to see with my own eyes all the places of the young Nijinsky.
I needed 37 years until my dreams came true....

We flew again with a small propeller aircraft, from Riga to St. Petersburg. We arrived late and went by taxi to our hotel which is located at the Mayakovskaya station.
We looked for a restaurant at the biggest boulevard of St. Petersburg, the Newskij Prospekt and found a small one where we had a late dinner and some beers before we went to bed.

So, first time in Russia for me and I came with certain pictures of Russia which we have in West Europe and after this journey I knew Russia only casually, but all I can say is:" Go, visit it!" It is better than its reputation. The Russians are more reserved than the West Europeans but very helpfully.
In St. Petersburg I saw many young people in eccentric styles. No one looked at me like I was from another planet, what I know from small cities in Germany.
In St. Petersburg you can get menues in Roman alphabet, the street names and names of the subway stations are written in Roman alphabet, too. Not only in Cyrillic script like in Moscow.
Some people in St. Petersburg spoke English and I saw a lot of modern cafes and restaurants.
I think in 10 years the city will be like a city in West Europe. A basic change needs input.

I had only two days in St. Petersburg and it was to short to see all what these wonderful city offers.
I visited two times the Hermitage, one of the biggest museums in the world, wow, how monumental!!
I walked through the city to find the Mariinsky theatre. Unfortunately I could not go in, because there were rehearsals. But I saw so many impressive buildings, big places and streets. The city is a kind of small Venice with lots of canals and bridges.
The subway stations are so deep under the earth, because the canals and the big river "Neva", weird!!!

Enjoy the pictures of my tour through St. Petersburg:

             
                                         The Jelissejew House, a wonderful deli
                                         

                                               The Singer House, an old bookstore

The Palace Place 

                                                           with the Alexander Column

and the Hermitage

and Winter Palace

a sculpture of the German artist Markus Lüppertz in front of the Hermitage

The church of the rising of the Lord

the Mariinsky theatre

The church of the Mother of God from Kasan

One day I will come back to St. Petersburg, visit a ballet,

visit the theatre museum and regard some churches.

And I'm looking forward to this, maybe in midsummer!

You asking you, what is with the concert of Depeche Mode?

It was the worst concert of the whole tour.

The audience slept most of the time, they couldn't sing to 

" Just can't get enough", if you know what I mean.

No one at the seating places stood up, a little applause after every song, that's all.

And the band, I have no words for that.

I got the impression that they had a massive conflict, they kept a straight face.

I thought on " Precious" Dave wanted to beat Martin.

Cruel.

On " Enjoy the silence" it became a little bit better, but no jokes, no smiles,

it was no fun!

After the concert we spent the night with talking, drinking, racking,speculating,

but with enjoying to be together, too.

                                         

                   

On the third day we left St. Petersburg in the early morning by train

in the direction of Moscow!!!