Санкт-Петербург, Российская Федерация

St. Petersburg, Russia June 17th - 21st, 2009

After heading east for nearly 3 weeks, and a final 2 hour flight from Warsaw, we arrived in our destination of St. Petersburg, Russia. We are glad we decided to fly as we got a great deal on 3 flights, and to take the train would have taken us probably another two weeks to get here. True to form, it pissed on us as soon as we got off the plane. We were thoroughly soaked by the time we reached our hostel in the heart of the city on Nevsky Prospect, a stones throw from the Winter Palace. You know that you are in a Russian hostel when there are more shot glasses then coffee cups in the cupboard! As soon as we unpacked, we went out to get food and vodka, and put the shot glasses to use. We purchased two bottles, one being Diplomat, and the other Putinka, together they cost us about 9 CAD. To my pleasant surprise, the vodka was not as bad as we heard they would be (as long as its frozen).
As the guidebooks say, everyday in St. Petersburg begins with a slight hangover, and this is how we began our first day (and every following one) sightseeing the city.

St. Petersburg is a city rich in history, from its founding by Peter the Great, to the Bolshevik Revolution, to the Blockade of the city by Nazi troops, traces of its troubled past can be seen everywhere. We started at the Winter Palace, once the home of Russian Tsars, it now forms part of the Hermitage Museum, a collection of art second only to the Louvre in Paris. It was also the last holdout of the Provisional Government during the Bolshevik Revolution, finally falling to Lenin's forces on October 27, 1917. Other cool stuff we saw there:

* Peter and Paul Fortress, the first settlement in the city.
* The cruiser Aurora... this ship fired the first shots of the Bolshevik Revolution
* Church of the Saviour of Spilt Blood... one of the city's best landmarks, built on the very spot where Tsar Alexander II was murdered in 1881... hence the name.
*The Blockade Monument... Huge monument and museum dedicated to the victims of the 900 day Nazi siege of the city.
*House of Peter the Great... one of two built for him from where he supervised the construction of the city.

Sightseeing aside, we had a great time in St. Petersburg. Purely by coincidence, we happened to be there during the longest days of the year, the White Nights as they are called. The sun rises at 4am, and does not set until 12am, and even the 4 hours in between are not really dark, the sky becomes a kind of dark blue color. Really cool to see for the first time, but it does screw with your sleeping. We managed to meet some new friends who lived at the hostel while teaching English, and they showed us around some of the less known parts of the city. We went to a local basement bar with no sign, just a doorbell, where they have some very "interesting" drinking traditions (i don't care to elaborate, see picture). Our new friends also took us to see a "secret garden" where local artists displayed some work. Again something we would not have seen on our own. On our last night in the city, the Russian kids were celebrating their graduation. This is not the silly little prom and house party that most people back in Canada are used to. The entire stretch of Nevsky Prospect is closed, and the street is flooded with people... drunk people... everywhere. The party lasts into the early morning hours, complete with fireworks and a parade of boats that swim into the Neva River.

As we were leaving for Moscow at 6am the next day, there were still plenty of drunks in the streets, and you could not take a step without kicking a can or vodka bottle. Big mess to clean up, but well worth it. Unfortunately, as we had booked tickets to Moscow in advance we had no choice but to leave, we would have liked to stay a few more nights, but it was not to be. Next stop Moscow!

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