Sokos Hotel Olympic Garden St. Petersburg

... version. We thought we might be able to conk out in the café attached to the hostel but utterly bizarrely it closed only between 6 – 9am and a very drunk man ( one of many we were to come across) was attempting slurred conversation in Russian, so we left sharpish. This left us the single option of roaming the streets for 8 hours, in a zombie state, fab. What everyone (including Lonely Planet, a stern letter is in order) had failed to tell us before reaching ...

... trying to sleep. I was a bit anxious that I wouldn't get any sleep again. I did feel the rumbles at first but i must have been shattered as I fell asleep quite quickly only waking at 6am on arrival to St Petersburg. <br> <br>At first glance St Petersburg looked much the same as Moscow but after walking around a bit you quickly start to appreciate the splendour of some of the more classical buildings mixed with less soviet ...

... Madelyn and I studied at the University of Delaware together in the Russian department and she is now here doing about the same thing I am only in Valdimir. We met in the morning to catch a matinee performance of the Mozart opera, the Magic Flute at the Mariinsky theatre. Unfortunately, we got a bit lost on the way there partially because from the metro it is confusing to get to the theatre and partially because we were so excited to see each other we ...

... is my favorite Russian author, writing Ada, Pale Fire, Pnin, and his most famous book, Lolita. It was quite an outing, not just because I was able to see his personal collection of butterflies, his butterfly net and original scribblings that he made as he was writing his books, but also because I was a hero that day. We were on Nevsky Prospect waiting to cross the street when we heard a commotion behind us. Two Asian tourists were quickly walking/jogging away from two Russian men ...

... Old and New Hermitage and the Hermitage Theatre (built in 1780). Ornate and regal facades, huge frescoed halls, marble, wood and mosaic floors, statuettes, figurines, antique furniture, all on such a grand scale that it boggles the mind. The staircases, ceilings, floors and walls were all extremely elaborately decorated - beyond imagination. Within this largest art collection in the world we saw works by Gauguin, Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci. Words don't do ...

... see his body), the Armory, the Cathedrals, the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great, the Tsar bell and cannon, the decorated metro stations with statues and 80mph trains, and even Red Square. It's amazing that that only 20 or so years ago this is where essentially most of the 'action' took place that prolonged the cold war during the days of communist Russia. At night we went to a typical Russian Circus and it put similar acts back in the states to shame. I've never ...

... smeared kiss on my cheek. I got pulled up a second time, to play an instrument and once again display my distinct showmanship. Since there was extra vodka Imogen got our table another free bottle which we welcomed. It was an all around fun evening cruising through the canals and enjoying the lighted city. We opted to go back to our hotel after stopping off to load up on more good cheap vodka. After another very long day out on the town it ...

... it was my apartment (not my room, just the hallway/kitchen/bathroom area) that got affected. Seems that a pipe burst somewhere in the attic area (I'm on the top floor of apartments) and it caused water to leak through the ceilings of my apartment and of the neighbors'. Anyway, won't get into too many details here, but I was the only one home in my apartment and had to deal with it, but it seems to be OK now. OK, that's it for now.

... ages. Life is really really hard. Hell, this is as bad as the garbage that is continually sold to people in the U.S. about how we are fighting (take your pick) terrorists in Iraq or communists in Viet Nam, or whatever lies are necessary to make the patriots and religious right support the economic opportunists that are making tons of money out of the current war. The only true war that we won was the cold war when economic freedoms simply squashed the societies ...

... They didn't even want our form. We decided, instead of a cab, we would take the bus to the city. It took a bit of effort to figure out how much to pay for the bus ... but amusing the locals is one of the things we do best. Thank goodness the ticket-taker was honest or we could have paid vast numbers of kopeks (which still works out to be pennies, of course). Departed the bus at the Moskakaya station, in order to take the Metro. Keegan ...