I wasn't the only one in our tour group that was sort of creeped out by the .... well.... whatever they were - guarding the door of .... whatever it was. Although after about three seconds I fell in love with them. I mean really - I've never seen anything like this before, and won't again.
Anyhow, one of the ladies asked the tour guide what the heck these things were - and she answered with a perfectly straight face: they are sphinxes. (As if to say like duh, couldn't we tell??) St. Petersburg has a few beautiful authentic mysterious and downright fabulous sphinxes around the city, but I'll do a separate posting on them. So don't go thinkin this is what the Russians think a sphinx is but damn - I actually I like these better than the real ones.
I mean hey - in Finland, this is the kind of decoration they have outside of their stores and restaurants, but you see what I mean? Not that I don't like this, but it got nothing on the two ragamuffins that the Russians came up with.
