Last leg of the trip; St Petersburg, Moscow and Dubai the only stops now.
Up at 04:45, across to the station and onto the train. Wifi and power points, so watched some downloads. There wasn’t much scenery. Trip took 3.3 hrs and we had our passports checked 3 times.
Lost another hour with a time zone change.
We were going to get a pick up by the hotel, but they wanted to charge $30, so we decided to use public transport. Apparently the taxis can be a bit dodgy, and there is also a tradition of flagging down any car and asking the driver to take you somewhere for a price, but we weren’t game to try that.
We took the metro, down the longest escalator I’ve ever seen, I half expected to end up back in Melbourne. There was a stern lady in a booth at the top and bottom of the escalator (not the same one I think), whose job, it appeared, was to sit there and stare at the people and some CCTV screens all day. No wonder they looked miserable.
They did have a jaunty red hat though, so they had that going for them.
Outside the metro we asked a taxi driver how much to our hotel, he said 300 Roubles (about $9), Song offered 200, he declined so we got on a tram and hoped it was going the right way. Luckily they still employ conductors so I was able to point at the map, to which she replied “da”, which means “yes”.
I actually studied Russian for 2 years at high school, and “da” is about all I remember. To be fair, it was 30 years ago. I can still read Cyrillic though, so hopefully won’t mistake “restaurant” for “Mafia den”.
Got off at the nearest stop and dragged the cases up the worst street so far – past a couple of abandoned cars, people smoking in doorways, a woman drinking beer from a large bottle and a dead pigeon.
Luckily the room was ready so we could collapse for a while. The hotel was quite trendy – the walls of the corridors were decorated in what I believe youngsters call “street art”.
Rested for a few minutes, and still feeling a bit woozy, headed out and opened the lonely planet map, and immediately discovered we had a lot to see. Weather was good – clear skies and about 17C.
Went into the Grand Choral Synagogue, walked past the Mariinsky Theatre, then along a canal, past the Yusopov Palace. Took some photos of Saint Isaac’s Cathedral (didn’t go in), round the corner to the Bronze Horseman, past the Admiralty, took pictures over the river of the Academy of Arts Museum, the Menshikov Palace, the Kunstkamera and the Rostral Columns. Ambled a bit more and came to the side of the Winter Palace and the Hermitage (I think it’s the same thing) , into Palace Square, photos of Alexander Column, through the Triumphal Arch and into Nevsky Prospect. And this was all before lunch.
Found a place in the Lonely Planet guide and sat down in a heap. The waitress took us through the menu then said the magic words – all you can eat buffet. Now I like a challenge, so we went for one of those each. My strategy was to try a small piece of everything to determine what was edible and what was “a local delicacy”, which I have found to mean “crap we can palm off on tourists”.
Once I’d found what I liked, it was back to the buffet to load up on the nice things, elbowing the other customers out of the way.
Disappointed there was no dessert included, we finished up and went out again. Past the Singer building and down to the Church on the Spilled Blood, perhaps one of the most recognisable buildings in St Petersburg. Decided to go in, and were rewarded with an interior decorated completely in mosaic. Very impressive. It was a lot warmer now so managed to take off the jacket and just wear a t shirt.
Out of the church and made the bad decision to get a cup of coffee from a street vendor – a very small, watery, bitter latte for $4.
Sat in a park, looking at the Russian Museum, then past the Armenian Church of Saint Catherine, into another park to see a Statue of Catherine the Great.
Having now seen more sights in a day than in the last week, we felt a bit fatigued and decided to head back. Luckily we were on the right street to catch the tram so stood at what we thought was the tram stop and waited. 20 minutes later and no sign of a tram we flagged down the first bus that passed and did the pointing at the map trick again which solicited a “da”, so we were happy.
A quick trip to the supermarket for supplies then back to the hotel.
Didn’t wear the fitbit again today but we walked a long way.
I looked at some photos that Song had taken and there was some fat bloke in a lot of them. So despite all the walking I seemed to be balancing it out with the food intake.
Haven’t decided what to do tomorrow yet, but the plan for tonight is to sleep a lot.
