Day 14 ~ St. Petersburg Arrival

16. July ~ St. Petersburg Day 1

I can’t even begin to describe how beautiful this city is. The architecture is just so amazing. But, let’s rewind a bit. The city is about two and a half hours from Novgorod. I forget that this is where we flew into. The airport is about 10-15 minutes from where we stayed.

The group met at the bus stop and got into our van and there were other people on it, and we arrive and I bet these people were thinking, oh great a whole bunch of Americans. Anyways, the ride was pretty uneventful. However, I still love driving through the countryside. So beautiful, with dachas here and there.

Driving into the city was interesting, the road turns into this multilane highway with ramps and such much like in American cities. I saw a ford dealership and about three McDonalds before we got off at our stop! Makes me feel more at home, just kidding, but it was nice to see something recognizable.

So our bus stops right near the metro, in front of this huge building that has fountains and a statue of Lenin. We get out, and walk to the metro. I found out later that the metro in St. Petersburg is the deepest in the world, at 90 meters. It runs below the canals and waterways of the city. The metro was a bit of a whirlwind, having never been in one before and trying to keep up with Liza, figuring out where we’re going, meanwhile keeping in mind that gypsies could at any moment come out from anywhere and try to pickpocket you! I locked up my book bag and had all my important documents under my sweatshirt, and my money clipped to my belt and then tucked on the inside of my pants. Haha, there was no way anyone could have really stolen anything from me unless they knocked me out first. However, there were no gypsies to be seen so that was good, apparently they’ve been kicked out of the city in the past few years. Apparently they used to be a big problem about 5 years ago.
So, after a long metro ride we get back up onto the road and walked about 10 minutes to our hostel. Our hostel/hotel was located on 16 Nevsky Prospekt (Prospekt means avenue). It’s a main road and about three minutes of walking away from the winter palace.

We check in, drop off our stuff and get a bite to eat at this fast food Blini place across the street. Ordering food out is really difficult, only because of pronunciation, and not knowing what it says. So, I picked the cheapest thing and hoped for the best. It ended up being blini with syrup. Haha, it wasn’t bad, but I knew I would still be hungry. I also tried some blini with salmon and then kashi, which is like porridge. I loved both of course.

While at this place we ended up sitting next to this lady and her son who spoke English. Come to find out they had been traveling around Europe and were spending 6 days in St. Petersburg. They were from Greebay, and the son goes to Mercyhurst College and has taken three semester of Russian. Of course we would find fellow Americans right away!

After chatting with them and eating we all head out for our walking tour, a three hour walking tour. I most likely walked 5 hours when all was said and done.
St. Petersburg has many canals running through it as well as the Neva, Big Neva, and Small Neva Big Nevka and Small Nevka rivers which basically split the city into five plus islands. These rivers eventually run into the Baltic sea. The city was founded by Peter the great, and was used as a major trade center. It was and could still be the major city for shipping and contains many shipyards.

There are over 500 bridges and the main bridges that cross the Neva go up at 2 am so that large boats can pass. It’s a good thing to remember so you don’t get stuck on an island overnight.

When the city was founded Peter the great wanted it to have European style architecture because he said it had to be more European. Therefore the city doesn’t feel Russian at all in its architecture. The cathedrals throughout the city are the only Russia looking buildings. It was very strange to be in this big city and feel that you aren’t really in Russia anymore.

Perhaps this is why I love the city soo much because much of its feel reminds me of when I traveled in Europe, and I love Europe!

So, our walking tour started with the Winter palace, crossing one bridge and then touring St. Peter and Paul Fortress. Storm clouds were coming so we quickly went back over another bridge and found a place near our hotel to eat.

Go here for info on the Winter Palace: Winter Palace
Peter and Paul Fortress

Oh, on our tour, we saw many newlyweds getting their pictures taken, after leaving St. Petersburg I think the count was 23 witnessed newlyweds since arriving in Russia. Apparently it’s Russian tradition that after you get married you go and have your picture taken at the nicest place in the town, preferably by a well known statue, monument, or building. We ended up running into a couple having their first dance by the river, it was really neat to watch and you feel like you’re indirectly taking part in their special day. I first thought it would be neat to be married in this city, but we saw about 20 couples in four days.. not as neat since soo many people come here. There were times where you’d see more than one couple and relatives on the same street only feet from each other. It’s quite comical. One bride seemed kind of jealous of the other couple when her husband didn’t carry her over the bridge they were near so they could take pictures.

The restaurant was some Russian place pronounced Yolki Palki. I felt like I was in a forest in some fairy tale. The restaurant had a tree in it (not real) and just very folk looking decorations. I was neat, and the food was good. However, when the whole group of us came in, two Russian couples got up and left. Haha, opps. I guess a whole group of Americans is intimidating, or disruptive.

For dinner I had fish soup. It was really good! However, we had to wait a while, and again ordering in Russian is fun only because pronunciation of new words is tricky! We basically try to say the word and end up pointing to it. I haven’t had much fish or soup at home for dinner so I thought I would try it.

The checks are never split, and it always takes more time to figure it out then to eat the food itself. All was figured out and we went back for the night to our hotel.

Masha and I had our room on the 4th floor and everyone else was above us in this apartment looking room that had a kitchen and living/ dining area and then four rooms with beds. Masha and I were up on the 4th floor hanging out until about 3am. It was neat, the sun was coming up again when we went to bed. It had been pouring much of the night, it was nice and cool and I personally love the sound of rainfall so it was nice. Most of the group just spent the night talking and drinking (expect myself, Adrian, and Doug). At 2am a few people went for a beer run and I went along just to see the city at night.

I really think that many cities are more beautiful at night when they are all lit up! The city was pretty quiet; the liquor store was just around the corner and down a side street. All in all it was a fun night. Colin is hilarious and there is never a dull moment when he is around, I spent most of the time listening to everyone.
It was a good night. PS – I did not bring the computer on this trip so I had to wait to get back home to Novgorod to write this. Additionally, I’ve taken a ridiculous amount of pictures, so it’s going to take a while to upload them all, so I will post a few here and there in these posts to hold you over until I slowly get them up. Limited access to internet and many pictures leads to not the best opportunity for a mass upload of photos. Sit tight, they’ll be up!
Love,
Sasha.


Photo Link : Russia Day 14 ~ St. Petersburg: The Beginings

Photo Link: Russia Day 14 ~ St. Petersburg: Day one continued