Saint Petersburg

Our flight from Kiev to Saint Petersburg (Санкт-Петербург) went via Moscow. The flight left 50 mins late from Saint Petersburg so in turn our change over in Moscow was reduced from 2 hours to 1 hour 10. As with all flights on the plane they assured us that ground staff would be of assistance. As with all flights, they were not. What would have been useful for example, would have been supplying the landing cards on the plane (that way Sean and I wouldn't have missed the tiny counter where they were dispensed and wouldn't have had to queue at passport control twice). We were saved from missing our flight by the ever so helpful check-out staff who allowed us to check-in even after the check-out was officially closed. Our whole rush was of course topped off by the fact that we arrived on the plane hot and sweaty and the chap we'd sat next to on the first leg was sat next to us on the second leg having sauntered all the way.... of course!

We were picked up at the airport by a wonderful man who spoke perfect English and was kind enough to teach us a few key words of Russian and also give us a quick history lesson on the things we were seeing as we drove into the city. This type of greeting always tends to influence your initial reaction to a city.

Regardless, though, we loved St Petersburg. It was full of fantastic buildings and churches, so a really visual place to be. It was nice to be by water for the first time on our trip and the walks in the hot sun were lovely along the river. It's a big navy port, so of course a main attraction were the moored submarines and battleships. Lots of men in uniform about too!

And also lots and lots of weddings! It seems to be that after their formal Orthodox wedding (most of which appear to be open to the public as we bumped into a few in some of the churches we visited) that the 'done thing' is to wonder the city looking for good photo opportunities. The whole guest list seems to follow with picnic baskets full of champers. There are also two main players in an Orthodox wedding that swap the crowns over (the best man / maid of honour types) and after the wedding they seem to don "Miss World" sashes so you can identify them. Was really quite a site watching all these brides and Miss World winners wondering the streets followed by lots of 'happy' people - quite like the Pied Piper!

It wasn't also as expensive as we were expecting it to be. At least we managed to buy beer for a mere 40p a can. They even have these kiosks alongside the canals, with views of the fantastic buildings, with nice tables and chairs under umbrellas that you can sit on to drink your cheap can of beer so that you don't feel like a tramp! How nice of them!

We also chowed down on some nice pancakes and hotdogs as these seem to be the staple fast-food of choice in Russia.

In general the streets were filled with people playing music (really high quality classical or funky jazz), there was artwork everywhere. I don't know if the weather influenced us in anyway, but it was a very romantic experience, and quite 'continental' almost.

BT4_St Petersburg 22-24 July 2010