A great souvenier from RUSSIA - Page 3 - Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers

Stanj · 02-07-2006, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texashorselady

When we were there a few years ago I saw them all over the place. There was a huge range in quality from one to another. I bought a few of the inexpensive ones as gifts and then splurged and spent a lot more on one really nice one for me. The difference in quality is striking, with the nice one being much better quality, with the gold trim you mentioned, and signed by the artist.

Here's a photo (don't you love scanners?) of the box I bought. I don't know how clear this will appear when I upload it, but all that yellow is gold.

Hi THL The image is great. The scene indicates it is from Ukraine which is famous for its boxes both lacquered and inlayed wood types. Even the cheap boxes are beautiful, I have several around the apartment for collecting stamps, paperclips and pencils. I think they make better gifts for back home than nesting dolls but the dolls outsell everything else. The boxes are a recent addition to St Petersburg and do not relate to the city as much as the other items I suggested but regardless, they are very attractive. Another big seller here is Amber. There is good amber here but from my experience, it might be a better deal in Talinin or Gdansk, both ports after St Petersburg. Both cities are less expensive generally than St Petersburg.
The real bargain here is original art. if anyone is interested I can tell them the procedure to export art they find at the sidewalk galleries or artist co-ops. It is easy but some people are firghtened by the documents required. It is quick and cheap to get an export permit. The Ministry of Culture wants to make sure no old masters are being smuggled out so they require are to be authenitcated and a permit issued to take it through customs. A glance by the experts at the Ministry is enough to determine if it is an old heritage piece or modern creation.

Stanj · 02-13-2006, 02:06 PM

Hello THL...As promised I went to Dom Knigi to look for the medals and awards booklet. I did not find it there but they knew what I was talking about and gave me an address of a store what might still have it. I did find two other books however that were very interesting, both large format hard bound volumes with 400-500 pages each that had a wealth of information about all the civil and military medals issued from 1917 to 2001. One had black and white photos, thousands of them and very detailed stories about each medal with the background and history. Most of the photos were of the events the medals were for, in addition to the actual ribbons and medals. The other book was equally impressive with many glossy close up photos but less history and back ground information. They both list the numbers of each awarded. Unfortunatelly there are two problems, 1; they are expensive, one was 700 Rubles and the other was 825. $24 and $30 respectively. And 2; they where both inRussian only. I might get one of them for myself and translate parts of interest but I will look in the other stores for the English thin pamphlet I saw before. I also found a new general tourism interest English language photo book in soft cover for 400 Rubles, This was a copy of the same publishers 1100 Ruble hard bound volume that as stunning photos of all over the city. That is the one I want to get for my collection. I already have dozens of different photobooks on the city.
One book I saw there, in a glass display case with simple title of "St Petersburg" was in a leather case and had a price tag of 24,500 Rubles ($870) I would love to see the images in that one. The dollar is pretty weak right now 28.10 Rubles to the Dollar now, was 29.00 2 weeks ago so I'lll wait a few days before buying anything to see it my dollars recover any. Euros are down also against the Ruble.
I'll keep looking or translate and scan the important parts of one of the first books I described.

Texashorselady · 02-18-2006, 12:27 PM

Hi Stan, just got back from Hawaii...sorry for the delay in answering you. Thanks for looking for the book. The one with the descriptions sounds great...or the original one you mentioned. But it would have to be in English, since I think I can say hello, yes and no in Russian and I can't read anything at all in it! Thanks again for checking it out and let me know if an English language one comes up...

Stanj · 02-19-2006, 12:45 PM

Welcome back to the forum, I assume you have the required tan to show from your trip. It is a warm day here, the warmest in 2 months and caused me to sweat from the heat of -4C when I walked to the office this afternoon. Everyone was out filling the sidewalks and parks today, the sun was out and more than one person said it felt like spring was here.
I offered a box of French chocolate to one of the girls in the office to translate some of the text in the Russian only so now all I have to do is get the book for myself. I have been working so hard with the new season coming up fast that I have not had a chance to get to the other book store where the English book might be.
It DOES feel like spring, the sun was even out today and I can see more energy in people, the sure signs of spring here this far north. We are only 500 miles from the Arctic Circle so the number of daylight hours vary dramatically from winter to summer, from 3 1/2 to 22 hours.
Talk to you later THL

Texashorselady · 02-19-2006, 01:35 PM

Hi again Stan,

Yes, I am tan alright...it looks like I have either been to Hawaii or spent a few weeks in a tanning salon!

We came home to cold weather here in Texas - it's now in the mid 20's and sleeting. I consider that way too cold, and the contrast from where we just came from makes it even worse. I don't know how you made that adjustment from CA to Russia...I think the cold would get to me after a little while. I thought it was interesting that so many buildings in St Petersburg are painted bright colors...lots of yellow...to combat the dreary weather. Are you living in a yellow building yourself?

kcurrin · 02-27-2008, 04:28 PM

Great find! What a good way to remember your trip!