Back once more in Saint-Petersburg, I had quite a deal of time to myself, which was good for me and you lot benefited by way of a couple of postings. I also walked about the neighborhood, visiting coffee shops, the bank and similar mundane things, still a little weary from travels. On the last day in Russia, I was all settled down, my stuff packed for the return flight, and thinking that I would write up a last posting, when Bazhena texted me...Would I like to meet her at the end of her working day and go walking the neighborhoods of The Hermitage Museum. Why not? I thought, so I caught the Trolley Bus around to meet her. We had such a fine time, she telling me stories and showing me notable sights.
Here is one: This is the Church of the Blessed Blood. As you can see from the exterior shot, the church is alongside a canal and occupies extensive grounds beside a large public park.
The interior is wonderfully beautiful with paintings and frescoes. Unlike the Catholic Churches you may see in Europe, there is only small space to accommodate worshipers, who stand during ceremony. This opens the floor as opportunity for religious art.
There are many churches to see in Saint-Petersburg, while the population generally are not so very religious. However, interest in religion many be increasing as the stance of government toward the Church seems more favorable. I would like to have seen inside the Cathedral Church, the tall spire of which is visible from many parts of the city. We had walked by, on an earlier evening, but it had already closed. I had thought to come by the next day, but needed to relax and wrote emails and postings instead. There the remains of the Czar and his family are interred, venerated a thousand miles from those mine-shafts near Yekaterinburg where they were discovered.WHY RUSSIA? or: WHY TRAVEL?
Back here in Corning, before I left, some friends asked my why I was going. It seemed an easy question to answer. Then it seemed just to be about deepening friendships made here and finding out about the lives of my friends in Russia. Long ago, in my first University studies, I had studied the emergence of the Soviet Union, so knew a little about its history. I had also read some of Solzhenitsyn's writings relating to the time of Stalinist Terror.
Until now, most of my travel has been targeted, related to maintaining family ties, professional interests, or personal interest (such as French language). Even so, I experienced moments when meeting folk in foreign places, of understanding how very different but equally sensible are the views and cultural character of those who live in places far away, compared with one's own; and, at the margins, how some may be more so.
In Yekaterinburg, while visiting the Stone Museum, I met Olga. She was telling my host, Natalia, of her visits to India and other places in Asia. My guess is that Olga is in her 70's. She was confiding that she considered love and travel the most important things in life, and that she had not had enough of either! Can there be travel for its own sake? I began to wonder. Here in Corning, I have a friend whose target is to visit 100 countries. One way or the other, she is almost 90 percent to attaining her mark! Has travel a gift not available in any other way?
When I returned home, I resumed reading 'The First Scientist: Anaximander and His Legacy', by one of my favorite authors, Carlo Rovelli. His daytime job is as a leading theoretical physicist but he also has a deep knowledge of classical or ancient authors.; besides which he is absolutely a most wonderful writer! Anaximander, who lived during the Sixth Century BCE in Miletus, happens to be one of his favorite thinkers and widely regarded as one of the originators of scientific thinking. Miletus , situated in the northeast corner of the Mediterranean, was a center of trade and scholarship. From there one could travel easily to the four corners of the Earth, even as far a China, in pursuit of profit or learning.
Not surprisingly, Rovelli has some thoughts on how travel affects thinking. That is does affect thinking and understanding is hardly in doubt. We have a saying the 'travel broadens the mind'; Rovelli remarks that '(what ) opens our minds and shows the limits of our ideas is an encounter with other people, other cultures, other ideas.' and 'Each time we open ourselves to diversity and ponder that which is different from us, we enlarge the richness and intelligence of the human race.'
This can be astonishing or more subtle and hard to define quickly. There is much in Russia that is astonishing, or deeply moving, as I have related. However, I am aware of a more subtle effect that I am gradually realizing.. When complete, I will let you know,
Meanwhile, as ever, watch this space.
