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The Winter Palace
The Hermitage Museum was inside. Well this update comes to you from China where we have arrived a liitle ahead of schedule (all will be revealed).
We did not do an update from Russia as the Internet cafe's there do not allow you to plug your camera into the computer, they try and charge you if you want to download photos.
We last left you in Helsinki just before we were due to leave for St Petersburg on the train. The journey was very comfortable and the train had loads of leg room and the seats were very nice, not at all like travelling by train in the UK.
The journey did involve getting across the Russian border which led to the train being stopped 3 times totalling about an hour while passports and visas were checked by the border police who looked very stern. We wanted to get a photo but were scared of being arrested and sent to a labour camp!!
Our arrival in St Petersburg was interesting to say the least. The train station was absolute chaos, people everywhere, no signs in English and it was very hot and dusty. Vicky thought it would be a nice idea
Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood.
We assume it is nice inside but it was closed the day we visited. to walk to the hotel after being sat on the train for 5 hours, 2 hours later and with a trail of sweat on the pavement behind us we found the hotel!!
Our first impressions on arrival at the hotel and then having a wander about were that everyone was miserable and rude, not a smile to be seen anywhere, not even from one Russian to another. It was quite late so we had a shower and went to get something to eat in the hotel restaurant. What a mistake, I wouldn't have fed the food we were served to a rat!! The service is also appaling, Vicky had finished her main course before mine was served!
The following day we spent exploring the city aiming towards the Winter Palace in the centre. We went into a beautiful Cathedral called Kazan and saw a live service taking place. The service is conducted entirely with singing and with no pews. The congregation all stand in no apparent pattern around the clergy who stand in the middle. The singing was very haunting and the entire interior was decorated with gold, various paintings, tombs and candles.
The Winter Palace was
next on our tourist hitlist! The building is quite stunning and the Hermitage museum inside is jam packed with every type of treasure, artifact and painting you can imagine. There were several works by Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh, Renoir and many others who we have no idea about!! The building also has many ornate and highly decorated state rooms, some of which you will see below. It is however a bit of a maze and took us a long time to go around, getting lost on more than one occasion.
Todays foray into the world of Russian cuisine was varied. After the previous nights experience we had a slice of pizza and some cake for lunch. In the evening we were more adventurous and went to a Russian restaurant which turned out to be ok, although the waitress did remind us on at least 4 occasions throughout the meal that we should leave her a 10% tip, we gave her 9%......
The next day we woke a little tired due to being woken up at 3.00am by an almighty thunderstorm with huge cracks of lightning right over our hotel. We spent the day wandering about and looking at
Cat woman!!
One of many people on the streets but at least she had all her arms and legs. a few more Cathedrals and Churchs most of which were shut! After trying to find a lunch venue recommended by our lonely planet guide which doesn't seem to exist we had to 'hit the hut', yes folks we visited Pizza Hut in Russia!! It is the first time we have been to a western food place since we left and hopefully the last for a while.
On our last day in St Petersburg we decided to do a River Cruise despite the fact that they are all conducted in Russian... The cruise was nice though and anabled us to see many places that we wouldn't have seen otherwise and it gave us a different perspective of the place. It was also a lot calmer and cleaner than walking the streets.
The above all makes St Petersburg sound pretty nice but it is actually a very difficult place to visit as an independant traveller. Almost every other foreigner we saw was part of a package tour holiday and for good reason! The language is very difficult, no signs are in any other language and hardly anyone speaks any English. We did feel very isolated, vulnerable(someone tried to nick stuff
from Jason's daypack as we were walking down the street) and not particularly welcome. There is no dount that St Petersburg has some very beautiful buildings and wonderful history however there is also a very poor side to the city with lots of beggars and amputee war veterans on the streets.
All of this has led to us questioning how much time we want to spend in Moscow and indeed on the trans Siberian. Unless you walk getting around is very difficult and not particularly safe judging by the look of some of the buses and taxis! Because of all this we have decided to only have one day in Moscow and then fly to Beijing.
We have not made this decision lightly and we are very dissapointed that we are not taking the trans-Siberian train as previously planned but we have not enjoyed very much of our time in Russia and see no point spending more money staying any longer.
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clive and sarah
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what a shame
what a shame about St Petersburg but sounds as if your having great fun!