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Gostinny Dvor, bazaars with arcades, stall against stall,
a spectacle which is anything but modern. You catch a
glimpse of old Russia in the bearded peasant (muzhik)
with his bast shoes, and his patched caftan or sheepskin,
and then you see the priests in brown robes, reaching
to their feet, a black cap over their long hair, and with
an embroidered belt to which the beard almost reaches.
They trade with the merchant, who stands there in
antique Russian fur cap, while his wife, with real pearls
about her neck, stands by and listens.
Nevertheless, if you really wish to see old Russia you
must go to Moscow. It is easily done; for, though St.
Petersburg and Moscow are two separate worlds, it is
arranged by the modern means of conveyance that by
leaving the first in the afternoon the other is reached
the next morning. The two capitals are united by the
only really express train in Russia.
On the more elevated land in the interior, surrounded
by a wall which here and there rises into towers with
green roofs, lies a city which, in its different quarters,
alternately possesses the characteristics of a great
capital, a provincial city, and a country town. Here there
are fine streets, with tall houses and passages, as in Paris,
and there interminable ranges of low houses with
spacious gardens. You can drive from this fine quarter
into one which is almost wholly without pavements. In
some places, it is like the country in this city of eight
hundred thousand inhabitants and four hundred churches.
There is open ground enough, but hardly any place
where people can walk,—no promenades except in the
outskirts. Yet everything is laid out on a broad scale;
everything has the stamp of repose, just as in St.
Petersburg everything seems to be planned for keen and
immediate enjoyment.
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