ST PETERSBURG DAY 3, DOSTOYEVSKY APARTMENT

This is the Road Scholar Treasures of Russian Arts and Literature tour, and now it is time for literature.  Dostoyevsky, to be precise.  We visited one of his apartments -- he was poor, so he moved around a lot, but he lived in this apartment for some years.  This was the apartment he lived in while writing Brothers Karamazov.  And while we were told that he was poor, it looked like he had a reasonably comfortable life.

His hat.

  His children's playroom.

His actual pens.  He wrote at night and slept during the day, so his children left him notes.  the paper to the left is a note from his son at about age 4.  We were told it said "Daddy, please bring me sweets."  

A letter and sample of his manuscripts. 

 His office.  We were told that he was obsessed by neatness and orderliness, and would only invite close friends into his office.  If anyone moved anything he would quickly set it back in its rightful place. And perhaps that person would not be invited back.

I was impressed that they had so many of his personal possessions -- the hat, glasses, pens... and I wondered how long they will manage to keep them with a steady stream of visitors, even if all of them have a guide.

Dostoyevsky apparently liked his tea, and drank it constantly.   We were told that each day the ladies at the museum leave a fresh half-cup on his desk.  A mug on sale in the tiny gift shop has a quote attributed to him.  Reportedly he said it frequently when the tea was not instantly provided by hos doting and adoring wife: