Russia - St. Petersburg - DAY 1

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We spent 3 days in St. Petersburg and so much happened that its easier to split it into 3 days.
We kept having to remind ourselves, that.. WE'RE IN RUSSIA. The country I was the most apprehensive about was met with very different expectations. It was pretty daunting at first, our tour guide told us that we had to fill in an extra slip of paper to hand in at boarding control, we were told don't get it wrong! Being that one person that usually gets something wrong made me quite nervous! But it was crazy, we had to underline our purpose of entry (in our case, tourism) and if we lost our departure card, well, we'd be stuck in Russia..

Thankfully though, the hostel looked after our passports overnight. 'Look after' was basically, 'we'll keep your passport so you can't leave St. Petersburg'.

So on day 1, we put our luggage on board our tour bus, and spent the day on a guided tour of the city of Saint. Petersburg. If i had to describe Saint Petersburg in one word, it would be.... MAAASSSSSIIIVEEEE. It has a main street known as Nevsky Prospekt, and is the largest and longest main street I've ever seen! It went on forever, and everything (including our hostel) was linked to it. Likewise to other places, the roads were crazy and you had to be really careful when crossing because cars wouldn't wait. The traffic lights worked differently though, waiting for the numbers to go down until you cross was quite strange.


We travelled across 'Basil's Island' (or Vasilyevsky Island in Russian) which apparently gets its name from Peter the Great sending letters to Vasiliev Ostrov and it was on this day that we saw the Winter Palace and Hermitage Museum for the first time (we would go and see these properly on day 2).
For me, the best night in Saint Petersburg and perhaps the whole trip came when we travelled along the River Neva at midnight, seeing the illuminated city in an open topped boat with champagne and blankets. Our guides told us of how this time of the year is known as 'White Nights', and many graduating students go out in the nights and celebrate, doing what any typical student would do, and raise a glass (or 2) ! The views were beautiful and I don't think I've said, 'amazing' or 'lush' or 'wow' so much in 3 hours in my life! All rumours of Russian's disliking singing went away on the boat trip, as one of the members of the crew joined us in drinking and singing songs, from Queen 'We are the Champions', to Abba and various forms of rock music. It was amazing!

For me the most interesting bit was the return journey, not necessarily on the boat, but when we walked through Saint Petersburg and Nevsky Prospekt back to the hostel. We were told by our tour guide that the city would maintain its business even at 3 in the morning, and she wasn't lying! Though the roads were slightly quieter, it didn't stop locals walking around, or roadworks and builders.



So day 1 in St. Petersburg was truly epic, we would not get too much sleep on night 1 in Saint Petersburg, but still, we had got into Russia and our first experiences were incredible.

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Photos

Winter Palace from the Boat trip
Winter Palace from the Boat Trip

Nevsky Prospekt Sunset
Nevsky Prospekt Sunset

First view of the Winter Palace
First view of the Winter Palace

First view of Saint Petersburg
First view of Saint Petersburg

Boat Trip down the River Neva
Boat Trip down the River Neva

Friends and I on the River Neva
Friends and I on the River Neva