Saint Petersburg

What ever made me arrange a 6.30am flight from Heathrow, London, was beyond me. Ian and I left Bournemouth, on the south coast of England, at 3.30am! Nice surprise at the Russian airport though of St Petersburg, to have a transfer waiting for us, due to some changes in our hostel arrangements for the first couple of nights before our 21 day VodkaTrain tour commenced. Interesting communication between our Russian non-English speaking host, with hand signals, and nodding even when you weren't quite sure what you may be agreeing to. The breaky though was great with an unusual combination of frankfurt (hot dog) sausages, cold corn and peas, bread, cheese, tea, yoghat and a sweet cake! And the sight seeing commenced!!!! And the walking!!!! And the bloody blisters!!!! The Peter and Paul Fortress / Museum, the city's first stone structure, was built in 1703 to keep the Swedish invaders out, was a good introduction to learning about this country. A ear shattering noon day cannon fired and scared the shit out of everyone even though you were anticipating it. At this time Ian and I were sharing our flask of tea on the overgrown lawn. Yes, Ian has a flask, and I must say that it is going down a treat! The Cathedral (as our book says "the highlight of the fortress") is where most of the Russian rulers from Peter the Great to Nichollas 2nd are buried. There was also a Cosmonaut Museum, of which Ian was quite happy with, having his photo next to the stone head of Uri (first man in space). This was our first experience of tourists being charged anywhere from 3 to 10 times as much as the locals! The Resurrection Temple, otherwise known as the Saviour of Spilt Blood, was really interesting. It was modelled on the 17th century styles, and reminds you more of Indian mosque domes on the top of the building. It was where Alexander the 1st was killed, and was later used as a wharehouse during the Communist era. Most churches were, which is unbelievable, considering how much money were put into them. This one had amazing mosiac art covering the whole inside, of approx. 7,000 sq. mtrs. Other grand Cathedral's were Kazansky and St.Issacs. Changed our accommodation to dorm rooms, in a small but very comfortable hostel. Met our city guide Ivan (17 yr old) and our one other tour participant. Yes that's correct, there is three of us! Me, Ian and Kym from Perth. Most of the people that apparently go on this tour happen to be Aussie's. The company is actually based in Melbourne. Had a traditional Russian meal. Took the easy option of Beef Stroganoff which was fantastic. All the meals since have been really nice. Went to the Vodka Museum with a 3 in 1 deal of a history lesson, a meal and vodka shots. It appears that Nichollas 2nd (Tsar - King) tried to band all alcohol, which for a country used to drinking a HUGE amount of Vodka was not a good thing, and during the Revolution the whole family was killed. My Vodka drinking this night was quite impressive with 6 shots in total, and a number of beers. The flavours experienced was a plain Russian one called Pushkin (the nicest one if you can say that about straight vodka), one with ginsing, port, and lemongrass. We then killed some time before our 2am boat cruise to experience the bridges up on the Neva River, in an English pub drinking beer and watching the entertainment of skantly clad women, much to the boys delight. One of the many Palaces of Peter the Great, was his Summer Palace called Peterhof. It was amazing with its 3 cascades, 144 fountains, golden sculptures and huge grounds. One of the fountains acutally flowed all the way into the Gulf of Finland. The Winter Palace is the Hermitage. It is the worlds most monumental art collection housing 3 million pieces. We skipped the huge entry line by paying more for a tour of the Winter Palace, with an informative and very over enthusiastic, theatrical woman. By the time this had finished (1 and a half hours later) we were too tired and couldn't be bothered looking much around the art works. We had done so much walking in our five days that I ended up with the biggest blisters that you have ever seen!! A heart felt thank you goes to our other tour buddy Kym for giving me the skills to undertake surgery on my blisters with a sewing needle and squeezing all the liquid out, which enabled me to walk some more, without limping. The Metro (Underground trains) were really impressive. Due to them being used as bomb shelters in the 2nd World War, they are so far under ground that the escuators are so long, and it feels like you are on them for such a long time. They are really clean, some have mosaic art, marble, and are quite impressive. You can buy beer on the streets at little kiosks and people walk around drinking it. They even advertise gin as an energy drink. There are funny electric buses and really old looking trams. When you first arrive in the city from the airport there are lots of dirty, old looking houses that you could just imagine would be from the communist times, rations and bread queues. The more you look around though, there are a number of nicely painted buildings, although they do tend to be important buildings. The books relate the city to Venice, as it is situated on 42 islands at the delta of the Neva River where it flows into the Gulf of Finland. It was named after the Patron Saint of its founder Tsar (King) Peter 1st The Great. It has a population of approx. 4.6 million. It reminds me more of Amsterdam, as the rivers that wieve through the city are not as small as the ones in Venice. The history of Russia is really interesting. St Petersburg was the 1st paved city, as a legacy to Catherine the Great. The prostitutes who were picked up the night before would sweep the streets each morning. Catherine the Great wasn't even Russian, she managed to marry into royalty, get her lover to kill her husband, contained much power, and managed to have young toy boys as she grew older. She is one of those strong women that you read about, like Mary Queen of Scots. There is so much money wrapped up in the Palaces, Museums and Cathedrals its unbelievable! It is also interesting to think that Communism only fell 12 years ago. The water here is infected with Giardia! So we always had to have bottled water, even to clean out teeth. That's a big tip for anyone wanting to visit. Next stop is Moscow. Hopefully the overnight train is comfy!