St. Petersburg, part 4 / Trans-Siberian, part 1

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A nice oil portrait of the best and most provocative novelist in history (in my humble opinion).
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This is a copy of the famous Jesus painting (the original is in Switzerland) that depicts His mortality in death. The depiction of Jesus as a cadaver made Dostoyevski (temporarily) lose his faith in the theological premise of Christianity... a theme which plays in many of his novels.
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Crime and Punishment is set in St. Petersburg. This is the first edition translated in English.
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Dostoyevski's top hat
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Dostoyevski lived a meager life, and his dedicated wife ran the accounting of his literary efforts at this desk.
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This is the room in which Dostoyevski died while he was still working on finishing The Brothers Karamozov.
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The nearby Dostoyevski statue is built in his honor around the corner. For many years, Dostoyevski was a banned author under the Communist censor board.
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Continuing my Dostoyevski journey, I encounter a man taking the windshield wipers off of his Lada. (In communist times, they were stolen reguarly and difficult replace.)
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In this ghetto'ized region of Sennaya pl1, Dostoyevski set many of his probing novels. I'm on my way to Stolyarny per ("S... Lane" in Crime and Punishment).
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When Dostoyevski was alive, Stolyarny per was an unsavory street full of drunks, thieves, and all sorts of anti-socials... which he considered a necessary, though dangerous, prerequisite to true religious conversion.
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It's a little more touristy these days. My main problem is how to get past this gate so I can find Raskolnikov's apartment, the main character of Crime and Punishment.
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After sneaking through, I find that the landing smells like cat piss and seems derelict enough for a pathetic murderer like Raskolnikov.
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On the fifth floor is Raskolnikov's landing. The grafitti indicates I am one of many visitors.
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"Raskolnikov Forever!"
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The door to his apartment is bolted shut...
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...but through the crack, you can see into his grim old room.
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A French tourist pleads "Do not kill, Rodya!"
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My ironic (Brothers Karamozov's inspired) contribution "All is permitted!"
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Further wanderings around Sennaya pl1 indicate people's adoration of Dostoyevski's central message.
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Around the corner on Srednyaya Podyacheskaya is the pawnbroker's flat. As usual, it's blocked.
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I wander around and blunder my way through enough mistakes to find an alternate entrance to pawnbroker's flat.
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Up we go to the primal scene!
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Apartment 74 is the spot where Raskolnikov murders the pawnbroker.
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Just as I take another picture, the resident walks out and starts yelling at me!
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After the murder, Raskolnikov would have run past this area... now spraypainted with a new message (in English)!
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An everyday scene of beauty in decay...
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...with a bust of Lenin in the window.
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I hurry (and barely make it) for the first part of my Trans-Siberian adventure across Asia. My first leg will go from St. Petersburg to Yekaterinburg (formerly Sverdlovsk), a trip that takes about 55 hours.
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The #72 train is one of the nicer trains one can take across the country.
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Everyone in my couchette is Russian, including Sergey.
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The military officer Dmitry accuses me of being a spy!
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The other man is from Perm, which had one of the cruelest Gulags (concentration camps) in Soviet history: the dreaded Perm-36. He likes his hometown though!
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There is not much to do but gaze into the infinity of the railways. This is timber from Siberia.
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After a day, Dmitry warms up to this American spy.
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The slightest alteration in hours of landscape prompts immense thrills! It's great to be so bored!
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The Russian teacups are provided by the train, and are quite stately.
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Hot water is also provided from the traincar's samovar.
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Every four hours or so, the train stops for 5-20 minutes. The babushkas come out in full force with their wares (which vary from place to place).
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It's a time to walk a bit and have a smoke!
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Back on the train, we pass a typical city with rows and rows of block housing.