Ups and Downs in St. Petersburg

An early morning arrival into Saint Petersburg saw us landing at 03:24am, too early for a normal person. After getting through passport control (a little scary), then getting our luggage we headed for our transfer vehicle, one problem… It wasn’t there… Calls to and from the hotel and language barriers meant we were on our own. Luckily after our frustration had already set in, we found a lovely lady at the taxi booth who spoke pretty good English and she helped us out. The taxi driver, not so great with English, but that didn’t matter, he flew through the streets to our hotel, and we got to take in some of Saint Petersburg’s sites. Then it was onto the hotel, checking in and up into bed at about 5am’ish. The sun was already up by this stage, it was up when we arrived into Saint Petersburg!

Breakfast was our first real look at the hotel and the people of Russia. Great omelete for breakfast, freshly cooked. After not eating a hot breaky for weeks, it was a delicacy.

From here we headed out for the sights of Saint Petersburg, actually get a chance to see them, not just fly past them. We started at the start of the Nevskiy Prospekt and walked our way down from there. This is like the main street of Saint Petersburg and houses a range of shops and restaurants. We reached the end of the Nevskiy Prospekt and took in the sights of the Admiralty and Alekandrovskiy Sad (Sad is Gardens in russian). In the distance just a little up the road we could see St. Isaacs Cathedral. 

One of the buildings along the Nevskiy Prospeckt

  

Kazan Cathedral

  

A closer shot of Kazan Cathedral

  

A look back down the Nevskiy Prospekt

  

The Admiralty

 

Next stop on the list was the Hermitage Museum and Winter Palace – one and the same. Part of the Hermitage Museum is held within the Winter Palace. Out the front of the Winter Palace is the Alexander column and then behind that the Main Headquarters building which houses a beautiful arch. We’re pretty sure we missed a heap of information and sights in the museum and we’ll put that down to lack of sleep and a little annoyance. 

Winter Placae (and part of the Hermitage museum)

  

The gate to Winter Palace

  

The Alexander Column

  

Main Headquater arch

   

One of the ceilings inside the Hermitage museum

  

Library and ceiling inside the Hermitage museum

  

Another emblishment from inside the Hermitage museum

  

A sleigh showing St. George slaying the Dragon

  

The Peacock clock

Part of the flooring in the Hermitage museumm, there were so many like this

  

One of the surrounding building being held up by giants

 

Side note: You know what really shits me… having to use a cloak room for my bag, when heaps of other people don’t – do I look like i’m going to steal something? Is there a need for a double standard? My back pack is smaller than many of the handbags which are carried around – but I had to check mine, then carry my valuables by hand around the museum whilst trying to navigate a map and take photos… just bullshit. Rant over (for now).

On to lunch. We were pretty hungry by now and struggling with a language barrier, but happened to stumble into this cool little place down a set of stairs which had some broken english. It had this cool little set-up, a range of different rooms and decor, board games, good range of food and was rather warm (but, that really didn’t matter). During lunch we played a couple of games of dominos, sounds a little weird, but completely fun! 

 
Then it was onto the Cathedral of the Saviour on the Blood. Such a weird name, but such a gorgeous looking building. A quick walk through the gardens and then back to the hotel for a little rest before we try and navigate somewhere for dinner. 

Saviour on the Blood Church

  

A closer look at the Saviour on the Blood Church

We thought it might be wise to get our tickets for the train from Saint Petersburg to Moscow tonight after the problems we encountered with airport transfers this morning. We are so lucky we did, otherwise we potentially could have been stuck in Saint Petersburg without accomodation. We finally found where we needed to go for tickets, then no-one (and I mean no-one) wanted to assist the 2 english speaking tourists in trying to get tickets. Money in hand, still no help… This is where we may have though F U Russia. Then we meet a lady inside the ticket office who works for the company selling the tickets with some limited English. She was a lifesaver and so helpful, I wanted to give her a hug! About an hour and a half (maybe 2 hours) after we first hit the ticketing area we had tickets to get to Moscow for tomorrow. 
Next it was onto dinner… This is when we realised it was close to 10pm and we had to still find somewhere to eat and get back to the hotel, and the sun was still up, just starting to begin it’s process for sun set. Dinner for the first time all holidays was litterly reluctantly at McDonalds… We had our reasons though: 

1) We couldn’t find anything else open, 

2) We were a little over it by this time, 

3) We thought we could order pretty easily, 

4) It was familiar, 

5) We were hungry and it was late. 

Everything in our reasoning worked, excepted the ordering part! Not that easy when the staff only speak Russian. They did however find a translated English sheet which helped us point to what we wanted and a Big Mac is still known as БИГ (something) МАК (Mac)! Even the people behind us in line helped translate a little. Much more of a pleasant experience. 

 
As you can see, today had many ups and downs. Seriously it’s a very pretty place and if I get the chance I would visit again, with a guided tour. If they want to increase tourism, it really wouldn’t be hard, start with getting some English translations and setting up assistance in Metro’s. They could bring the $$$ in. Also maybe encourage people not to be so stern and annoyed looking in the streets and transport, in general. I mean it’s not hard and for someone like me, it’s been hard to be around, what did someone say to me recently – no matter what the situation is you’re always bubbly – want to know why, cause you can’t change shit, so build your bridge and get over it, make the best with the hand that has been dealt and enjoy the life you have. My crazy little rant is over, on to Moscow! (Might need some more help there!)