http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Russia , Northwest , Saint Petersburg en-us Tue, 21 May 2013 14:05:28 +0000 Tue, 21 May 2013 14:05:28 +0000 Ive always wanted an excuse to visit Russia so when I was invited to give a paper at Saint Petersburg State University I couldnt resist. Mark was more than willing to jump on the bandwagon so we sorted out our visas an entirely corrupt process which involves paying any random Russian company to invite you into their country before dishing out a notsosmall fortune to the Russian e http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/Pushkin/blog-786789.html I arrive at my first stop in Russia. When you enter Russia you are required to fill out an immigration slip with two parts part A is taken by the customs official at the border part B you have to keep and is collected when you leave Russia. I39d been warned that the Russians are very strict about this slips you must keep the original part B of the slip in order to leave the country and fill http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/blog-785497.html Overnight trains are an interesting and costeffective means of travelling between cities in Russia but one of the downsides apart from having to hang around neardeserted stations close to the dead of night is that the day leading up to the overnight journey can be a long one. Today we had to leave our hostel by 10am but the train did not depart until 1120pm meaning a lot of time to fill o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/blog-781387.html Preparing for a day at the Hermitage is like preparing for expedition. Large breakfast comfortable shoes map in hand and mentally ready for a long day of absorbing information.With sensible pacing we managed 6 hours and covered about 34 of the whole which we were pretty pleased with though some parts we did little more than glance through others we spent much longer in. It is a palace museu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/blog-780912.html More like a halfday in St Petersburg by the time our overnight train had arrived and we39d found our hostel and recovered from the overnight journey.We had hoped to take a boat tour but whilst the river was flowing the canals are still frozen over.We weren39t keen to commit to heavyduty sightseeing by that point so walked almost the full length of Nevsky Prospect as a way of getting a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/blog-780811.html The Bears hit the Baltics. Total carnage. On a scale of 110 this was an 11 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/blog-779746.html Gestern Abend haben wir in einer Banja Russisches Bad mit einem entfernten Bekannten verbracht. Raus aus den Kleidern Leinentuch um Filzhut auf ja wirklich und schon verbringt man die naechsten 1015 Minuten in schier unfassbaren Hitze kein Vergleich mit finnischer Sauna auf einer Holzbank sitzend. Mit ein bisschen Pech bietet sich einem dann folgendes Schauspiel 34 eher vollschlanke Ru http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/blog-770275.html A few words about my favourite budget hostel several times I booked a room for me and beds for my friends in this n adorable place. I stayed at Friends on Griboedova but they have some other location in the center as well somewhere near Nevsky prospect and on Vosstania street. The one on Griboedova is clean cosy and very comfortable. The staff is really friendly they just act as friends http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/blog-769943.html Einfach machen sie es einem nicht die Vorankndigung etwaiger Schwierigkeiten erhielten wir schon wahrend des Checkins in WienSchwechat. Wo ist die Buchungsbesttigung fr den Rckflug Gute Frage Auf jeden Fall nicht bei der Hand gute Dame... . Daraufhin wurde uns versprochen dass man uns sicher nochmals auffordern wrde diese vorzuweisen. Ca 2 Stunden spter das Flugzeug hatte g http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/blog-769570.html So its taken a while to get this written and typed up for you guys. Last you heard we were in Tallinn getting ready to leave for St. Petersburg. Wed stocked up in Rima a large hypermarket in Tallinn with supplies for the journey. We let our hotel in Tallinn know in advance that we would be leaving before breakfast and they made us each a packed breakfast for the journey. They also called u http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/Pushkin/blog-766490.html Bonjour tousDepuis un certain temps javais russi tre assez constant dans mon criture. Maintenant que les longs dplacements de trains sont termins je me rends compte que ce nest pas aussi vident de poursuivre sur ma lance. Ceci tant dit avec le dlai depuis ma dernire correspondance vous avez probablement compris que la dcouverte de la Russie est maintenant ter http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/Pushkin/blog-761908.html 12 dcembre 2012 StPetersbourgJe suis tellement due Je suis au pays du ballet au pays de Tchaikovsky et je ne suis mme pas alle en voir un Pire encore une reprsentation de Sleeping Beauty et de Nutcraker tait le soir et le soir suivant notre dpart dans lun des plus grands et prestigieux thtre de lEurope. Quel beau cadeau de nol a aurait fait En plus le muse http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/Pushkin/blog-761274.html Tsarskoe Selo a former summer residence of the russian tsars is probably the most visited suburb of St Petersburg. Most people think that if they have been to the Catherine39s palace and visited the Amber room that39s it. Fewer tourists know that there is another very interesting palace nearby it39s Alexander palace the last home of Nicholas II and his family before their exile to S http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/Pushkin/blog-749625.html We left Helsinki for St Petersburg Wednesday the 12thon a Finnish VR train which took about 5 hours during the journey the Russian border control inspected our passportvisas etc and after some nodding and grunting they give us our immigration cards and we were on our way minus anymore nose bleeds lol.After arriving we stepped out of the train station into the madness that is St Petersburg. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/blog-744240.html Well all of the visa confusion worked out after four different visits regarding the application and I arrived in Russia Moscow and then St. Petersburg today. The part I was most anxious over security customs and navigating the plan transfer in a foreign airport went remarkably smoothly. In reality the only airport moment that was any problem at all was in the United States apparentl http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/blog-743792.html Monday September 6thSaint Petersburg RussiaFrom the meeting with Polina we learned that there was a free shuttle bus that operated every half hour from the ship to the subway. She had given us the prices for the optional tours to be available on Monday and we thought they were very expensive. We had also had it with being herded around the previous day with 10 minutes stops not giving you enou http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/blog-742238.html Sunday September 5thSaint Petersburg Russia After breakfast aboard the ship all of Polinas charges boarded a tour bus at the dockside. The bus drove through the city and the local guide pointed out the various buildings churches historical places etc. and told the history of the city. She kept saying to look at the yellow facade on the right or around the next cornerthe buildings were http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/blog-742002.html Monday September 5 2011The second day of our adventure in St. Petersburg began with an open air narrated cruise along the Neva River and other waterways bordering downtown St. Petersburg. It was a beautiful blue sky day. Champagne was served. After the cruise we were bused to the Hermitage a grand museum founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and open to the public since 1852. We spent two http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/blog-741201.html SundaySeptember 4 2011 finds us in St. Petersburg Russia. With a 500 A.M. wakeup call and breakfast behind us we were going through customs on the pier by 730. Of all the countries we39ve visited while on a cruise Russia is the only one that has required a customs check to enter.Our tour today began with a drive through downtown St. Petersburg founded in 1703 by Peter the Great and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/blog-741054.html The entire day before the long early morning was eventful.I witnessed a celebration of The Day of Knowledge The first of September when all students start school saw Van Gogh and other amazing artists paintings up close at the hermitage walked around St. Petersburg a lot took a nap luckily ate at Stolles and tried the cabbage and the white fish perogies and borsch of course and got to h http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/blog-740537.html