Ibis St Petersburg Mos Vokzal St. Petersburg

... and then tsking and shaking her head, she rolls up into bed. I later gather that she is his mother. Youth hostels - not just for the youth anymore.<br><br>I'm not going to sit around with a deranged policeman and his equally mad mother, so I head out into the kitchen. I'm just about falling asleep over my new editions of Ermitazh art magazine and Russian Reporter when I feel somebody pulling on my arm. It's the Kyrgystani doorman who had taken quite a shine to me ...

... parade." We ran for shelter in a nearby doorway where we were able to see the remainder of the parade and the poor parade-ers brave out the wet weather. After the parade the streets were sheer chaos. It was wet, cold, and everyone was trying to find shelter or transportation. It took us over 2 hours to find a bus home since the subways were closed and the bus schedules were irregular, not to mention the fact that every means of transportation was spilling over with ...

... no beer only vodka" straight of course and washed down with a slug of tomato juice and some red fish salad with bread. In fact the only time we saw them eat was when vodka was being drunk. breakfast was a beer followed by a beer for lunch then food and vodka for dinner! Fantastic people though...they took great pleasure in showing us around St Petersburg which was very nice of them. Went to the Hermitage on our second day which turned out to ...

... you are free to <br>walk around the towns on your own if you want, just carry your passport with <br>you. Even on the organized tours, they review and stamp your passport and give <br>you a little red card that identifies you as a tourist on an organized tour, <br>which they charge you $50 if you lose their stupid card. More of their <br>paranoia - believe me, I don't think many people are trying to sneak into <br>Russia. <br> <br>

... called her two days before and mentioned we hadn't yet organised a hotel, she generously said we could stay with her. Unable to resist the chance to experience Russian life first hand, we agreed. Alexi had an ancient Volga which excited Mike no end, it being a classic Russian car from Soviet times. We somehow managed to fit in all our luggage as well as us, but one of kids had to keep ducking down when went past a policeman as Katerina explained ...

Here are some photos of the St Petersburg metro. It's the deepest subway system in the world and takes approximately one and a half minutes from top to bottom on the rapid escalator. The first time down was very nerve wracking for me but it was all ho hum by the end of our trip. The decorations on the ...

... palo diverse volte, ma francamente e' un po' eccessivo per i miei standard. Per finire capitolo lingua (no, non e' collegato all'argomento precedente, prima che ve lo chiediate): il primo giorno avevo il mal di testa a forza di cercare di tradurre tutte le insegne che vedevo per strada, stile parole crociate o, meglio, rebus. Dopo tre giorni direi che sono passato da livello "pessimo" (e questa e' una dedica ad una persona che sa di cosa ...

... Vor 16 Jahren stand ich mit meiner Mutter auf diesem Platz, vor dem Winterpalast, zusammen mit 300 Tausenden anderen Menschen, die gegen Putsch in Moskau und Absetzung von Gorbatschow protestiert hatten. Der damalige Bürgermeister Sobtschak hielt eine flammende Rede für Demokratie und Pressefreiheit, hinter ihm stand sein persönlicher Referent, ein Oberst des KGB. Die Demokraten gewannen damals, die Presse wurde frei, und das Land auch. 16 Jahre später, dasselbe Platz im ...

Pskov... They took us to Pechory Monastery. Once again this monastery was founded in caves, so we had a walk around there. That afternoon they took us to a traditional Russian Banya (Sauna/steam room) basically you sit in a very small very hot room until you can't stand it anymore, then you run down to the lake and jump in. Was a nice relaxing way to spend the afternoon, except for the big mossies outside that all wanted a ...

I am sooooo glad that was our last train trip - for some reason we always cop the annoying woman in our cabin, she has no respect for anyone else, and has an amazing ability to snore whilst awake (we had an argument over the fact she was snoring, she swears she was awake - I'm sorry you cant make those noises awake!!) BUT I'm over it now!! No more train trips for me! We arrived in St Petersburg nice and early this morning (7am) and were ...