театральная (Theatral’naya bus stop)
Mariinsky Theater Bus Stop
I was a bit shocked though not particularly surprised to see open hostility on social media today with this headline:
“Facebook, Instagram to allow calls
for violence against Russians”. Subhead, read: “Meta’s social media platforms
have eased their hate-speech policies to permit calls for the death of some
Russians.”
In other words, it’s OK to kill Russians.
At the risk of getting bashed myself, I will tell you a little
story about an experience we had in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
A few years ago, we stayed in a rental apartment in St. Pete for a month while
attending various opera and ballet shows at the Mariinski and other theaters in
that beautiful city that has suffered so much in its history. After a visit to
the Winter Palace, we were waiting for a bus on невский проспект [Nevsky
Prospect] to return to театральная [Theatral’naya] the Mariinsky Theater bus
stop which was near our apartment. We boarded a bus that said театральная, but
we weren’t sure it was going in the correct direction and began discussing it
together. I was sitting next a young man with long hair and pleasant features,
my wife across the aisle.
All of a sudden, the young fellow spoke in excellent English and
said that we were on the wrong bus. I replied that the sign on the bus said театральная.
He said that yes, it was going there, but the long way around; it would take over
an hour to get there. He said you should take the bus going in the opposite
direction on Nevsky Prospect. That would take only 10 minutes. He offered to get off the bus with us and
show us where to take the right bus. I protested that we couldn’t possibly inconvenience
him on his way home. He said: "It’s no problem, my stop isn’t far and I can walk home." I knew he wasn’t being entirely truthful, but we let ourselves be taken
by the hand. He even spoke to the bus ticket taker and asked her to return our bus
fare, which she did.
He was a very engaging and friendly young man and we enjoyed chatting
with him while waiting for the correct bus. When it arrived we thanked him for his kindness and
boarded the bus while he disappeared into the night.
We got to театральная in 10 minutes, just as he predicted.
