Possibly my new favourite city - St Petersburg (July 10-14)

I really didn’t know what to expect from St Petersburg, or Russia in general. I was thinking it was going to be rather grey and soviet, cold and bleek, inhabited with unfriendly people and not tourist friendly. I couldn’t have been further from the truth.

After reading and hearing from many sources that Russians could be rude and unhelpful, we were slightly worried as once we were off the bus in St Petersburg, we had no idea where to go. All we were equipped with was a crappy google maps print out only covering about a 200m radius of our hostel and some basic Russian. Luckily though, a travel angel appeared and guided us on our way to the metro and enlightened us with directions to where we were headed. Without her it may have been a lot worse. This was the first of many friendly Russians we met.

We arrived at the hostel without too much drama, and checked in but couldn’t get into our room as it was 5am and the people were obviously still asleep. So the three of us had to curl up on the couch and try add some extra hours to the 2 we got on the bus.

Eventually we rose from our broken slumber and decided time to explore. So we loaded up with our cameras, rubles and photocopies of our passports and set out to be tourists. We walked for about 20 minutes down Nevsky Prospect, the main thoroughfare of St Petersburg, and were amazed. Beautiful buildings, clean streets and weather in the high 20’s. We literally spent the whole day wandering the streets, taking in the scenery and visiting a few historical sites. And not to mention enjoying the bluebird weather!

The first site we saw was the Russian Museum, an old, huge building home to the largest depository of fine art in Russia. Then we made our way down to the impressive Hermitage, which it is said that if you spent a minute looking at every piece of art in there, you will be in there for 11 years. Then we headed to St Isaac’s Cathedral, climbed to the top for an amazing view of St Petersburg, and then checked out the inside of the cathedral which was like nothing I had ever seen before, especially the 11tonne pillars (which actually weren’t that big, they were made from some crazy heavy marble). And then my favourite site for the day was The Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood (interesting name I know). This building was amazing; it was what I had expected to see in Russia. Colourful, drop shaped roofs, detailed architecture and just an overall impressive structure, which of course now there are a million photos of. Inside was just as impressive with the whole inside of the church was covered with mosaic artwork that would of taken years to do. Besides these few we also saw a bunch of other buildings and sites, but if I went on listing them all you would get bored. So we ventured back to the hostel, chilled and got some much deserved rest and an early night.

The next two days I may as well tie into one paragraph as they were similar days. We spent the days literally walking 10-15kms around the city just taking it in, people watching, being tourists and falling in love with the city. On day two we planned on doing a boat tour around the rivers and canals. Didn’t go too well and we missed the boat and then the other trip we were going to do was full. So fail on that part. In the end it probably worked out better as day two there were two one hour periods where it poured, and not just your everyday bearable rain, but hardcore pouring rain that caused us to take refuge in one of St Petersburg’s many archways. So day two was not to successful but still enjoyable. Day three we did the boat tour originally planned, except James got the tours mixed up and we went on one that we didn’t really want to, and had a speaker blasting Russian at us the whole time so we couldn’t hear our headsets, but still was nice chilling on a boat cruising round St Petersburg…hard life! Then the afternoon checked out some more sights (including an extremely long hour or so walk to see one building, The Holy Trinity Cathedral) ate some Russian pancakes (which really are just the same as crepes) and a sneaky beer or two.

Jimmy and I out front of The Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood

The roof of The Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood

The Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood

Inside St Isaac's Cathedral (each green pillar is 11 tonne)

The Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood

The Hermitage

The Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood

The Hermitage

St Isaac's Cathedral

Nevsky Prospekt

Statue of Alexander (I think)

A monkey wearing clothes

Holy Trinity Cathedral

Hermitage

Another impressive building

Nighttime antics from nights two and three were rather enjoyable nights. Night 2 we were just having a few beers at our hostel and were thinking of maybe going for a quiet drink somewhere so we were fresh for a big Wednesday night, but this plan soon turned to sh*t. Our hostel receptionist finished at ten and decided she wanted to go for a drink and we all thought oh why night, few quiet beers with the Russian can’t hurt. The few quiet beers turned into an impromptu pub crawl and vodka shots. First bar we went to looked so sketchy, in a little back alley and a tiny door saying Feelin' Good. There was barely anyone in there, but we soon made friends with a table full of Russians who were only too happy to share some conversation, and vodka, with us. One guy who was in the army (and took a liking to Ryan) provided some entertainment and good stories.   

Then the next bar we moved onto, Mishka Bar was a tiny little bar just of Nevsky Prospekt and were greeted with some random vodka shots to kick start the night. This also kick started the dance floor and soon enough the group was regulating the dance floor and were making friends with the locals. A break dance battle between a Swedish and a Russian guy was one of many highlights to Mishka Bar. Final stop for the night was some random little bar that was really intimate and rather cool. I only stayed there for a bit as my exhaustion had kicked in and I called it a night around 3am.

Night three, a very good night. It kicked off at the hostel with a few beers and then a few drinking games, followed by some vodka of course. Heading to Mishka again just for some free shots and a beer. Then we moved onto another pub/club not far away, and again, more free shots. The night started getting messy from then on in. This club/bar was pretty chilled but we met a fair few people and a couple of birthday girls, who James quickly stole their limelight and claimed it was his birthday too, which it wasn’t, and I think maybe even managed to get a free drink from too. So we drank and chatted (and James bit) with our new friends and then encouraged them to join our posse and come party with us. The next venue (which from memory was the last one) was fun. Multi level club/pub, old soviet feeling to it, exposed staircases, rough cement walls and filled with Russians. So we all got drinking and within 30 minutes, we all seemed to disappear and go our own ways. I met random locals, male and female all who were really nice and interested in where I came from, my travels etc. They told me their stories I told them mine, by the end of it I had a bunch of new best mates. Again we tore up the dance floor, dancing to English tunes and also some Russian tracks too. The Russians loved our enthusiastic dancing to their songs, and our attempt to sing along, even though we had no clue what was going on. Ordering my drinks in Russian paid off, with the bartender thinking it was cool that I tried to learn Russian and gave me a beer for free. Think I called it a night around 430am and it was broad daylight. The sun literally never goes down, it starts getting dark around midnight and then is completely light again by 3am, its mental and really confusing when you’ve had a few

.

11:45pm and still daylight

Shots to start the night

The gang

Me, Ben and Sushu being special

The Scots and James biting the Scot

Now James biting a Russian

The gang

Shots

The Brazillian, the Scot, the Australian and
the Russian, very multicultural

Our final day in St Petersburg a few of us ventured via hydrofoil to Peterhof Palace, which was amazing. Over the top? Just a little, but still it is an amazing palace! The grounds were immaculate, the location (on the water) was beautiful, and the palace and its 532 fountains were truly amazing! Hopefully the photos can do it some justice! We spent the whole day exploring the grounds, soaking up some sunshine and aweing at the Palace. The ride home though was not so enjoyable.

We missed the hydrofoil and didn’t want to wait another hour for one, so we opted for getting a cab to the metro and then getting the metro back to our hostel. So we found cabs easy enough and we heard the station was only 2kms away, so after we were in the cab for 5 minutes we started questioning where we were actually going. We drove for ages, and at times we were in the quietest, sketchiest looking areas I think I have ever seen, and the thought crossed my mind, we are going to be taken somewhere and robbed, and I wasn’t the only one thinking it. Our driver looked like an army reject, and the driver of the other cab had jail tattoos and reeked of vodka, so we had definitely chosen two legit looking lads. So our journey continued dipping in and out of suburban Russia, Russian ghettos and Russian motorways, and with some erratic driving, we were all thinking ‘where the f**k are we going’. After more then 30 minutes, he finally pulled over, and to our delight in a busy street right out the front of the metro, and then we realized our instructions we gave him were wrong, we said metro, and should of said train. Oh well what can ya do, we’re all alive and well.

So next stop, Moscow. Have an overnight train from St Petersburg leaving at 1140pm and arriving around 6am. A sleeper train with Russians…should be interesting.

Things learnt in St Petersburg, Russia:

• It doesn’t get dark there

• Smoking indoors is still allowed

• All the girls there wear stilettos, all the time, and can even navigate cobblestone roads 

   and gravel with them on

•  Russia apparently celebrates New Years twice a year

• Vodka really does taste better in Russia

• The roof of The Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood is painted by hand, and holds around

   5,000-6,000 at one time and is the tallest Eastern Orthodox church in the world and currently

   the largest operating Orthodox Church in the world.

• The Russian word "sad" has nothing to do with emotion or mood. It is the word for "garden”.

• Russia's Cyrillic alphabet contains 33 letters, 2 of which have no sound, but the 2 with no

   sound do have names and are important for grammar.

• There are over 100 nationalities throughout Russia

• People on the metro stand facing you and really close which is slightly akward.

• You can’t drink the water

• That I love Russia

Peterhof Palace

Peterhof Palace

Peterhof Palace

Red Squirrel

One of many fountains in Peterhof Palace 

A building within the grounds of Peterhof Palace 

A Russian lady admiring the sea