St Petersburg

We arrived in St. Petersburg on 21st September after an overnight flight from Dublin with Balkin Air. There was a stop over in Riga along the way and it was late afternoon by the time we got here. First night was spent in the Pushkin Park Hostel who had provided our Visa Invitation Letters and were Registering our Visa's for us as well. Place was nice and clean but a wee bit expensive so we only stayed one night.

The second place was a bit different, they had a cat that had the run of the place. It lay and excreted where it wanted basically. So as you can imagine cleanliness wasn't top priority. That aside we met some nice people and the atmosphere was pretty good. I got eaten alive with Mosquito's here, I have a feeling they are going to plague me on this trip...

Anyhow enough rabitting on about hostels, St. Peterburg is extremely easy on the eye. The skyline is dotted with fantastic church spires and the buildings themselves would remind you off the architecture of Paris. Very pleasing on the eye!! The main street is Nevsky Prospekt which we trailed for 2 days solid. All the main sights are based in or around this street. Notable among these were the Church of the Spilled Blood where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated, St. Isaacs Cathedral for great panoramic views of the city skyline and the Hermitage, which is basically like the Louvre. The interior designs are fantastic, we took some shots but it doesn't match up. You could spend weeks here as we felt we only scratched the surface.

The people themselves seem quite surly and grumpy at first, but it just seems to be their way. As we got used to them we have found quite helpful and nice. The few have met that spoke english really went out of their way for us. So yes the are grumpy sods but likeable grumpy sods...

If any of you are ever here you have got to take the Marhrutka, basically Yellow Transits that scoot around the city like mad. Basically you can hail one anywhere and go anywhere in the city for about 50 Cents. Always entertaining to say the least.

We left on 26th on the overnight train to Moscow. We shared our kupe (4 berth cabin) with a nice Russian lady, who snored the whole night. She gave us sweets so we'll let her off

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