Moscow, St Petersburg and into the Baltic

  St Petersburg, Russia
Saturday, June 11, 2005

Sunday 5th June Moscow
In the morning, down to pick up our passport, but the desk is busy, so straight up to level 21 for breakfast.
It's no wonder that travellers have different reports about hotels. After our first stay here, we'd say that the position is GREAT, the views from the room are great, but the place is run like it's at the height of the Cold War, and terribly inefficient and difficult to get around. This time round, the reception area, Intourist Office, our room and breakfast restaurant are all on different floors, but near to, and accessible by, the one lift. The staff are also helpful.
Out before 10 to look at the queue for Lenin's tomb, but find it too long, so walk on to the Kremlin ticket office, where, after a short wait, and handing over R650 (300R each plus 50 for camera) we are in for everything except the armoury and the diamond fund exhibition. The Kremlin is somewhat different from what we've been led to believe from Cold War reporting. Stalin did live here and direct operations from here, but there's a lot more here. Kremlin simply means "citadel" in Russian, and any medieval Russian town had one. Moscow's is huge - in effect a walled city. It was first built in the 1150's, and in 1320 it became the headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Church, which shifted here from Vladimir.
We find out early that the guards standing round are for more than show, and at any transgression, across either marked or implicit boundaries, or stopping in the middle of the road, they blow their whistles and wave the offender back to where they should be..
The Tsar cannon, one of the first exhibits, cast in 1586, has a very big bore and a relatively thin barrel wall for such a big projectile. The lion's head cat on the gun carriage is looking up apprehensively, as well he might, as the gun has never been fired.
All the area north and east of the central plaza is out of bounds, as is the great Kremlin Palace and the Palace of Congress, apart from its restaurant, but we manage to see a fair bit.
There are four main cathedrals (the 15th century Assumption Cathedral, the burial place of the heads of the Russian Orthodox Church from the 1320's to 1700; the Church of the Disposition of the Robe built between 1484 and 1485; the 1508 Archangel Cathedral which for centuries was the coronation, wedding and burial church of tsars - the tombs of all of Russia's ruler from the 1320's to the 1690's bar one are here; and the Annunciation Cathedral). The inside of the churches photograph well, but you have to like mediaeval formalised icons and frescoes. The tombs of dead heads of state and church trumps are interesting.
The Patriarch's Palace had some surprisingly good exhibits - a range of intricately worked precious metal utensils and nick-nacks, including gold and jewel decorated clockwork gizmos for the kid who has everything. Took photo of the 202-tonne "world's biggest bell", which cracked before it ever rang, and is on the ground, and what must be one of the biggest that is in use, hanging in the bell tower above.
Took photo of the well kept garden in the grounds, and views out toward the town and our hotel. Departed by the South West gate to walk back along the river to our room, where we were going to spend the rest of the day vegging out.
Unfortunately DP read in the notes that the State Tretyakov Gallery, the main art Museum for Russian art, is open Sunday, but not Monday, so we were forced to get back on the go and get the metro out to Tretyakovskaya and walk the 3 or 4 blocks to the museum. We'd seen some Russian paintings from the Realists school when we were in East Berlin in 1976, and were impressed with them, and interested in seeing some more.
Book in our bag and coats, pay our 225 rouble each entry (pretend we didn't have a camera, as don't want to trust it in their security) and walk and stand for about 3 hours looking at Russian art. The portraits were ok, but still just portraits. The more recent, circa 1880 portraits were quite life-like and full of character, but the earlier ones tended to be very formal. There were excellent large, historical canvases, and good land and sea scapes by expatriate Russians in the Mediterranean. Excellent, though bloodthirsty series of painting in Asia and the 'Stans around the turn of the century.
By the time we got to the icon and religious paintings, for which the gallery is famous, we were almost up-to-date with Russian painting, and made a break for the exit. Back at the metro, we decided to keep going to Ul Arbat, the long pedestrian mall with restaurants, bars, buskers, and music and sunglasses stalls. Also people with unusual animals in cardboard boxes selling the right to have photos with them. The whole atmosphere of the street is very upbeat, and very different to old Russian stereotypes.
We found the recommended My My (or Moo Moo in English) restaurant with a big black and white cow outside. The self-serve system was a lot better than our previous restaurant as the menu was in English as well as Russian, and we got a good meal of borsch, pork steak and mashed potato, pelmeni and sour cream, vodka and orange, plus beer for a good price, and a predictable result.. Took photos of our meal and interesting architecture.
MP almost has a mafia incident by walking through a security gate outside a flash restaurant to look at some old cars. Suddenly three large burly security blokes quietly converge from different directions. Murray retreats gracefully. Called it a night and caught the metro back to Kitay Gorod. Had planned on a supermarket visit, but it closed early because it was Sunday, so had to settle for Pepsi at a kiosk and a chocolate marshmallow from the hotel fridge. Some diary before an early night, relatively.
Walking 20 kms
Monday 6 June Moscow - Novgorod
We're getting the overnight train to Novgorod (190 kms south of St Petersburg) tonight. Early breakfast without hassles, and across to the queue for the Lenin tomb by 9.30, even after detouring around GUM because it and Red Square were closed. There is no queue yet, and we make to line up at the break in the rail, but we get a very negative reaction from the young policeman. Sounds like it is not opening, but hang around until 10, hoping for a queue to start. Various other people get sent on their way, so we give up (later read our notes more carefully, and find it is closed TWO days per week, and we only knew about one). Walk home the long way, via the Hotel Metropole, a very flash building. Have ALL the big-name brands around here (such as Bentley, Maserati, Zegna, Gucci, etc etc) and plenty of security. Continue on, and over the top of Lubyanka Hill, home of the KGB, to hole up in room till 12 noon checkout. Leave our bags till 7 pm for R100, and catch the metro to Kuznetky Most to try and find an alternative internet cafe. Walked around the block a few times before finding the Netland sign in a large building. Walk in to a stairwell with walls painted black with bright swirls, hear violent disco music, and can see blue light through the steel mesh decor, but can't find a way in. We are about to leave in disgust when a woman and a couple of girls emerge from a lift into the dark stairwell. The lift is the way to Netland. It is a big operation, dozens of computers, and a control station with a master computer. Like the other internet, all the computers are enclosed in tamper-proof boxes, but they are linked to the master, so they can take the diary file from the SD card, and also, later, the photo files, and send them to Dianne's computer to upload. They can also burn our pictures to CD, which is important, as we are down to 12 photos. The whole operation costs R350, not cheap, but it helped get us up to date with our diary and photos, and it killed a few hours (we are attempting to have an easy day, and give our feet and bodies a rest). It was getting late, so we leaned into the strong wind and headed for MacDonalds for a fill-up before the train journey. DP saw someone ordering a Strawberry shake, so we had a change from Coke. Had a late walk across Red Square, checked out our bags, managed to get them through the turnstiles and onto the Metro without getting stuck or chatted by security. We get the line that takes us further into the city to change lines, by mistake, but it worked well, with not too many stairs, and relatively uncrowded carriages. At Komsomolskaya, managed to find a Leningradski Vokzal sign which got us up to the open air in front of a station with a lineup of trains. It wasn't our station, but acted as a landmark so we could look around for a large building. The station was short of obvious names, but our train number and time on the board is pretty encouraging.
By now, it was only 7.30, for a 9.50 train, too early for DP but OK for MP, who still wasn't sure about the seat numbers 71 and 72 for a carriage with no more than 48 berths. We're going to use the time to get diary completely up-to-date, but were thwarted when the palm pilot battery runs out (had forgotten to recharge it after using it earlier in the day). Dianne looks all over the station for a power point, without success.
Out on the station platform beside the carriage with an hour to go. DP resisted the urge to go wandering looking for somewhere to recharge the Palm Pilot, but did take a walk down to the station and came back with some Novgorod information gleaned from a traveller's lonely planet. This was pretty important as we have the name and address of our hotel in Novgorod, but no other information. Didn't even know if it was a large or small town (find out has a population of 240,000).
As soon as the attendant, a large woman with dyed red hair, opened the carriage, MP presented the ticket, and was given berth 6 and 7 without any discussion required, and was loading bags aboard when DP returned. We had a top and bottom berth, facing forward, and shared the compartment with a young Russian executive who had a good grasp of English. He was very similar to a young executive from anywhere in the West- ambitious, hard working, conscious of his own ability, intolerant of old style management. However, he had enough tradition in him to believe that a man should be the main breadwinner, and said he wouldn't be able to handle it if his girlfriend, also a high flier, earned more money. He said that the environment was not a priority in Russia because they had a relatively low population density, a lot of unused open land, and a lot more pressing problems than "the environment".
We shared a beer, and had some of the airline type meal, supplied by Domodedovo airport food facility, and included in the cost of the ticket. Tells us that although this is 2nd class, it is the most expensive carriage, and is more like 1st class (which may explain the A$107 each cost - this was booked from Australia).
His program was to go to the hotel in Novgorod, clean up, do a day's work, and catch the 9 pm return train to Moscow, so he hit the sack at about 11pm, with us not far behind. MP took the top bunk, and sort of slept through till about 5, DP took a sleeping pill about 12, and slept through till about 5 too. Walking 15.5 kms
Tueday 7 June Novgorod
The train arrived in Novgorod about 6 am after a morning run through misty green woods and fields.
Novgorod is one of Russia's oldest cities, founded in 859, and is included in UNESCO's World Heritage List.
The area around the station looked a long way from the centre of anything. Walked across the road to a quite modern bus station to check it out, as we have to find our own way to St Petersburg tomorrow. Could see St Petersburg on the list of service, with a few starting times, and there were long queues, so we figured out we could get some kind of start tomorrow.
Outside to see the lay of the land. At the bus stop, MP discovered a map of the town and was just sorting it out when DP saw a #4 bus pulling up. We jumped on and paid up, then sat down and waited for the bus to take us to our hotel, as per the advice DP picked up at the train station last night. However, it appeared to be taking us out into the donga. As we approached the end of the line, DP showed the conductress a photo of the hotel, and asked for "Hotel Volkhov". He came back with a different pronunciation, and started talking to the driver. After a consultation, they let us stay on the bus, rather than get off and start again, and we retraced our route back into town, then past the station and in the direction we were hoping for. Most of the way in, she "told" us to get off, and go left then right (take note that in the Russian section of our diary, whenever we say someone told us something, there is usually no exchange of understandable language - all the explanations are done with charades). We did so, and eventually stumbled on a hotel a lot larger than the photo in the brochure, but it was, indeed, the Volkhov.
We were surprised to be greeted in a pleasant manner, in English, have our reservation proceed quickly, and be given our key to proceed straight to the room, although it was only 7am. This changed our plan completely, as we had imagined with difficulty persuading them to look after our bags while we roamed the streets and sights waiting till we could check in. The room was very pleasant, the water hot, and the bed comfortable, so we caught up on lost sleep till 10 am, when MP thought we had better make a move, or we would sleep all day. It may be significant that the hotel was being run by a management company. Service in Russia ranges from excellent to abysmal - think it depends on whether you were trained in the "old school", or the new, global standard.
We walked toward the river and the Kremlin, passing a giant Soviet era admin building, and entering the green wood around the Kremlin. Took photos of the impressive wall and genuine moat, the gate house and the impressively sculptured Russian 1000 years anniversary monument, a present to the town for its involvement in Russian history. We then passed out the river side of the Kremlin, to see a surprising sandy beach and a curved pedestrian bridge over the Volkhov River. DP wanted to go look at the other side, which had some interesting church domes, mainly to track down a supermarket and get some breakfast. The far side was a much poorer area, mainly residential with a few churches, but no sign of food. We stuck our nose inside a convent, and 3 women immediately sprang into action to open up the church, turn on the lights, and sell us some tickets. DP is embarrassed when MP decides we don't need to pay 4 dollar to see the iconography in yet another church, and we beat a hasty retreat.
Down towards the river, we stumble upon a small, Soviet era commercial area, with run down supermarket, hardware and machinery shops, all so poor, it was quite depressing Outside, we found a kiosk with reasonably priced fruit, bought some apples, and walked towards the ferry dock area to have a look and sit and eat. Told in no uncertain manner that we were not welcome, so moved along to a derelict river wall structure, across from an almost as derelict non-tourist hotel from the old days.
There was a rowing club on the bank, and a lot of boys and youths were rowing, others fixing boats for the summer season. Further along, DP noticed a man cleaning a fish. Had a closer look, and saw that it was a big fish, carp-like, and 3 kilograms, according to the proud fisherman.
There were good views of the town, the Kremlin, beach and a war memorial across the river, and there were ferries tied up downstream of the bridge. DP was determined to give one a go, but there was no information at all on timing, destination, cost, etc, so after almost boarding, she gave up.
Walked upstream past the beach to the war memorial Took it easy for a while, then walked home around this side of the Kremlin, stopping to buy Pepsi and an only-fair local mini-pizza. Had another rest till about 5pm, then out again to look for "Detinets" the traditional restaurant in a gallery on one of the bastion towers at the top of the Kremlin wall. Walked all over the Kremlin before finding it. Tried the downstairs dungeon-like bar, but opted for upstairs, reached by a double-spiral staircase and various passages. Quite a nice setting, with views over the Kremlin, and an interesting menu. Settled for cold Borsch, pork, sour cream and mushroom casserole, beer, and medovukha, the local mead, all for R380. Quite reasonable, considering the setting. After, we walked out to the bridge again, then around the downstream end of the walls, and through this end of the city. Walked a fair distance to get back to the hotel, ready to call it a day. DP had a bad fall in the slippery shower, and lands on her back on the sharp, raised hob, but manages to survive ok. This is her 3rd fall in a few days so far with no ill effects (all these falls are due to circumstances, and not any feebleness!! - Dianne's comment).
Walking 13 kms
Wed 8 June Novgorod - St Petersburg
Up at 7.30 for breakfast at 8. Fairly ordinary breakfast, keep most of it for later. Out by 8.15 to wait for the #4 or #29 bus to the station. The #4 is there and we run for it, but, even though a lot of people get out a lot get in, and it is pretty difficult to see room for us, so we wait for a couple of buses, then decide to walk. It isn't all that far, and we get there by 8.30. We sussed out the bus platform area, confirmed that at least one man at the #2 platform was going to St Petersburg, as indicated by the sign. Proceeded upstairs to the first ticket window. Got a semi-positive reception, but told to wait at one side after confirming there was a 9.25 bus, and we wanted it. The woman behind the counter then proceeded to process a couple of dozen customers, bar code checking their ID with each purchase.
DP meanwhile proceeded to check out the rail station, which seemed almost abandoned, and any other possibilities, but by then, we were back with the woman, paying R382, and not having to show our passports. Downstairs, we set up on a bench near the #2 platform, to wait for the #941 bus. We had to shift while a babushka with a whisk broom cleaned the sunflower seed husks from under our bench.
The bus with the right number arrived on time, and DP went in to claim the #1 and 2 seat shown on our tickets, but was directed further back. MP supervised the baggage storage under, and we were off on time. The system might be a clunker, but it works once you can drive it!
Russian scenery is pretty easy on the diary writer, as it doesn't change much - dilapidated high-rise housing blocks, run-down industrial areas and workshops, centralised heating pipes, small, old wooden houses with fading, or no paint, cape-cod roofed dachas, green fields, green trees, some with white bark, others dark, running streams and rivers. Repeat this for 200 km, and suddenly you are in another large town, this time St Petersburg (population 5 million).
In 1703 Peter the Great (1682-1725), declared he would build a city in the swamps at the mouth of the Riva Neva, and this city, St Petersburg became the capital of Russia in 1713. Lenin moved the capital back to more easily defended Moscow in 1918.
We arrived in the rain, and the bus proceeded to drive straight toward the centre of town. We had even seen a Metro sign, and a lot of people got off in a busy commercial area. Then things changed for the worse, and we headed away from town, then back to town, then stopped at a large, modern, un-named bus station. There was an Eurobus in the yard, which encouraged us to try to book a ticket to Tallinn, but didn't have enough money, and couldn't crack the code, so went outside to catch a taxi.
The only taxi, a van, wanted R600, and spurned MP's counter-offer of R200, so we went back to the bus station, put raincoats on ourselves and our bags, and set out walking towards the metro, on the assumption that we were at the official bus station, as shown in the map. The first cross street confirmed that we were on the right track, and we continued in light rain to the Ligovky Prospect metro station, where MP divested the raincoat from the bags, and DP tried to get a multi-fare ticket at a buy window. She is re-directed to a kiosk, where she is given tokens.
We cannot find a metro map for sale, so write down the route from the wall map. Are considering our options when an official comes up to us and says "baggage", and indicates that we should buy something, and use the baggage bypass door. We were expecting an extra charge, but he was just trying to get a magnetic card, as the baggage gate doesn't work on tokens. Eventually gets us to put two tokens into the ordinary gate, then opens the bypass manually. There is an argument between the man and a local who has a large handcart stacked with cartons, but he gets them onto the escalator, so we don't feel too bad about our baggage.
It's a bit scary being in the metro with only hand written notes, but we are old hands now, and handle the two changes to get to our line and out at Chernyshevkaya, which is a pretty formidable name to recognise in Cyrillic in the time it takes for a metro train to stop. This metro, with only four lines, is a cinch after Moscow, with its eleven different lines, with lots of criss-crossing and changes needed.
We have an address and a map, so we arrive at the hotel a bit wet, tired, but in pretty good shape, and R580 better off than if we had taken the taxi.
It is a battle trying to find the front door of the hotel, in spite of the large sign in front - not helped by renovation going on. The woman behind the desk in the hidden-away, run-down reception takes her own sweet time, but at least we get our passport straight back. She then becomes helpful, and we get a map and an excellent English language guide to the city, including the invaluable Metro guide. We present our guest card to the key woman, who gave us a key, and we look for the lift, not expecting the bottom of the lift to be up one flight of steps. The lift is doubtless an add-on, but has been done in such a way that it serves no floor directly, just the mid-floor landings, so you stop short and walk up, or go long and walk down to your floor.
Through not using glasses, MP thinks we are in room 320, and unlocks the door to 320/321, to find an anteroom with primitive bathrooms off it, and two doors. We are not at all impressed, but can't unlock the door. A closer look shows we are 329, but can't find this for a while, as the sign to these rooms has been masked for painting.
When we get to our room, it still has an anteroom with a primitive bathroom but at least we don't have to share. The room itself is large and bare, with two small single beds, a fridge, TV, desk and cupboard. The floor is ancient herringbone parquetry, somewhat historic, but rough and squeaky, with large cracks and gaps. The ceiling is very high, probably 4.5 metres, and there are two large round topped windows with long drapes. Sounds like it could be quite nice, but it is just depressing, particularly after our nice (and relatively cheap at $A98) room in Novgorod, and the nice Suzdal hotel at $A182. At $A166, it is the worst value for money deal since New York in 2001. At least, in true Russian fashion, the water is hot, so we shower and sort ourselves out to go and look at St Petersburg while there is still light. (till 11.30 PM, that is). The local paper says sunset is at 11.15 pm, and sunrise is at 4.39am. Some other snippets from the paper - 1. to simply reproduce the current population level, every Russian family must have eight or nine children. Otherwise, migrants will eventually dominate the country.
2. Credit card use has been slow to take off in Russia. One of the legal reasons came from people not officially declaring their salaries (our friend on the train told us that everyone is paid much more in cash than shows in the official records - this is done even by the big multinationals). Interest rates on rouble loans range from 17-18%, while consumer loans cost 20-25% and express loan 25-28%.
Out about 4 pm. Walk out to the river, then down river past the Summer Gardens. Did some hairy road-crossing at the bridges, and took photo of the big tide through the bridge, and the far shore. Walked as far as the Dvortsovy Bridge, at the Hermitage, or Winter Palace. Had a look at the size of the crowd around it ( didn't look too bad). Walked across Dvortsovaya Place, with the Alexander Column, and a lot of work going on preparatory to the 12 June Independence celebration. Walked down Nevsky Prospekt, the main shopping thoroughfare, keeping a lookout for pickpockets and Romanys, and looking for recommended eating places, and the street where the hotel receptionist told us we could get bus tickets to Tallinn (Estonia). DP had also confirmed her information with other info in the St Petersburg city guide. Although there were interesting buildings, and bridges over the canal crossing it, the street was too long, straight and wide, with uniform height buildings to be all that impressive, and it certainly didn't live up to our expectations, or descriptions in guide books. We thought Moscow was more impressive.
After photographing Kazan Cathedral with a curved colonnade like a mini-St Peters, we found the street we were looking for, and a picture of a train engine on a sign on a building. The info we had indicated the correct ticket window for international buses were 80 to 85, on the upper floor, but there was a sign in Russian on each of the blocked-off stairways. DP, in bloodhound mode, followed a local who had also been thwarted by the sign, and headed purposefully elsewhere, but it looked like he had disappeared into a toilet. After investigating all possible doors and passages, found a route to the second floor, where the right ticket window lived.
It was getting toward the 8 pm closing, and we didn't have enough cash for the ticket, but we waited to go through the question-and-answer, but all we could get out of a woman behind the counter was - not here (or Russian to that effect) - Baltiskaya. We retired in confusion, then DP had another look at the city guide info, and found that there was a business centre on the ground floor. This was still open, and a facilitator type asked us what we wanted, in English! He directed us to a window, primed the girl behind it, and the transaction took place in less than 10 minutes, including checking passports, paying R900 by Visa, which left us with enough money for tea without going to an ATM.
We had a look at the recommended Chaynaya Lozhka restaurant, but just salad and sandwiches, so returned to a Sbarro Italian restaurant which we saw in a basement by looking through ground level windows You also find medium size supermarkets this way. Tried for the economy combo, but was not on, so got a couple of tasty pizza-like pie sections and a pepsi for a reasonable price. Walked as far as the Lityny Propekt which leads up towards our hotel, passing some interesting but not historic architecture on the way. Went to bed without toothbrushing, as forgot to buy water. DP had an accident trying to draw the 4-metre high curtains. One is now hanging half off. Pretty good sleep with mask on to counter the "White Night" shining through the gap in the curtains. Walking 16 kms
Thursday 9 June St Petersburg
Light comes in pretty early, but we manage to sleep through to about 9 before going down for a pretty ordinary breakfast. The sun is shining brightly and the sky is blue, so decide it is a day for outdoors, so put off the Hermitage till tomorrow. Up to the Metro to do a couple of changes and end up on the Petrograd side of the river at Gorkovskaya metro station, for the Peter and Paul Fortress, which was built in 1703, but was mainly used as a political prison up to 1917 - Gorky, Dostoyevsky and Trotsky, as well as Alexei (Peter the Great's son) were all prisoners here. Walk through the park in the general direction, surprised we cannot see the tall, skinny spire of the church, but reach the moat and bridge across. Nearly end up paying for the full tour, but look through the grounds first and find a ticket booth for the rampart walk for R 50 each. Walk along the top, looking down into the fort and out over the river to the Hermitage and the main monuments of the town. It is almost 12 noon, so hang around for 15 minutes, waiting to photograph the smoke and flames from the firing of the noon cannon, but they go 3 minutes early. Pretty scary, but at least we were sort-of ready for it.
After, we walked around the ground, looked in the door of the cathedral, looked at the beach with relaxing and sunbaking (in swimmers) locals, a lot with babies and small kids.
Walked across a small bridge to the main road, took photo of tacky-looking floating restaurant disguised as a square rigged ship, then across the first main bridge to Vasilevsky Island, with two Rostral columns (historic oil-fired navigation beacons) and a curved sea wall. Talked briefly to two Dutch women we shared a seat with after both groups made a bee line for it.
Over the side of the sea wall there was a lower section, and we noticed a brightly coloured old VW bug parked there with people milling around. Turned out to be a wedding party taking photos. A big black limo, plus other cars were nearby. The bride was a very glamorous Barbie doll look-alike. Further in, we crossed the bridge to the main tourist area and headed for the Admiralty, and the park with the bronze horseman statue, then to the St Isaac's Cathedral, where we bought a colonnade ticket for R120 each plus R25 camera ticket. Quite a climb up the spiral stone staircase, plus a steel ladder to the dome itself. Passed an elderly woman just about expiring halfway up.
The view is pretty good from the top, but is so wide it needs a lot of photos to put together into a panorama, or the video function. Video function seems to do it OK, but remains to be seen on the computer. We go back down a second steel stairway, and pass a worker fixing up the copper cladding of the cathedral with a mig welder and sheet of copper.
Down at ground level, we cross to a nice small park in the intersection, and are sitting taking it easy when a large group of vehicles with flashing lights comes up the road to stop outside the Astoria hotel. The vehicles include two ambulances, but no press contingent, so figure it is a very heavy hitter going for lunch. They close off the road in front of the hotel, creating a major traffic jam all around. Walk around the Astoria to pick up the canal, then back to Nevsky Prospekt. Start looking for surprisingly elusive ATM machine to get enough money to have lunch, as well as get enough for the big Church on Spilled Blood. Looked twice around the first block, then headed for our lunch spot. Eventually saw an ideal ATM inside a building, got R3000 to tide us through all the savage church and museum charges. At the pizza place, MP had the special, including a good borsch, DP an overpriced salad bar at R39 an etto, approx A$20 a kilo.
Walked up the canal towards the Church on Spilled Blood. Quite impressive, and getting better as we get closer. Lot of overall and detailed photos.


Almost as good as St Basil's. Have a mix-up buying ticket, find that the tickets are on sale inside, so get a sneak preview, and see that it is the fully painted, iconic style we have seen before and didn't find attractive, so headed out without bothering to buy tickets, saving the A$25 entrance fee.
Headed back to Nevsky via the Mikhailovsky Gardens, past the Grand Hotel Europe, which was just that, and into the metro to Baltikaya Station, to get the local train to Petrodvorets, one of the tsarist palaces. At the same time, want to check out the Eurobus stop. Found a Eurobus at the stop, tried to talk to the driver, but he thought we wanted a ticket. Sorted it out by showing the tickets, and asking "here?" and pointing to the ground. We got a confirmation, then fronted into the station to find a train to Petrodvorets, and the Grand Palace. Our information told us that the trip was 40 minute on the train which terminates at Kalishe. We could read Petrodvoret on the list of destinations, but couldn't work out any of the other names. Decided to buy ticket for our destination, which would give us some more clues as to which line, platform etc, so fronted up to the ticket window and bought two tickets. We then stood aside and tried to decode them, without a lot of luck. The ticket lady eventually took pity on us, beckoned us back, took back one of the ticket and wrote Kalishe, and 5.17 on it. This was enough to let us find the right train, but there were heaps of people getting into it when we arrived at the platform. Walked the length of the very long train, slightly more free seats near the engine. Managed to get two together on a 3-seat hard bench. Set off heading west, while we tried to chart our progress by reading the station names, keeping check of the time, and checking our tiny map of the area. Fortunately the station signs were large, and our station had a distinctive long double name. As the trip time approached forty minutes, we also showed the name of the station to the girl sitting opposite us, and she confirmed when we reached the correct stop. Outside the station, which was fancier than most, there was a bus just leaving. We ran for it, did a quick non-read of the sign (that is, we tried to read it, with no success) and made an instant decision to jump on. The conductress was another kind one, and gave us the word when to get off, about 3 kms along. We passed the very flash cathedral, and she said not yet, and let us off at the gardens. Unfortunately the cathedral was so big, and so colourful, we felt we should walk back to take photo, in case we didn't come back this way. Just as well.
The fountains are turned off at 5pm, but the gardens are open till 8pm (with no entrance fee). This is OK with us as just wanted to get an overall impression of them. We walked through the lovely upper garden, taking photos of the inactive fountains, and the gilded roof of the palace. Walking through towards the lower garden, we came upon yet another wedding, with the wedding car being two black Hummers, and a black Hummer stretch limo. Gangster chic! After walking along the back of the palace above the very fancy waterfall and fountains, all shut down because it was late, we encountered the wedding party itself. Gangster chic again. Weddings provided the best example of the very different worlds the various people in Russia now live in. On one hand you have the weddings we saw in Vladimir, where you get all dressed up, and go to the park with a few friends and have lots of photos taken, and set up a table with alcohol, and stand around drinking, and then there is this wedding, with ALL the expensive trimmings.
Walked through the grounds, almost down to the sea and hydrofoil berth, then across to the Monplaisir Villa before walking back along the shore. Heard a siren blast and saw a ferry leaving. It was now 7pm, so when we saw a smaller hydrofoil approaching, we hurried out to get the last ticket, just before they locked up the ticket booth. Ran the last 100 metres to be last on, got the last card in the pack seat, right up the front, one facing backward. The ferry set off soon after, not sure it was a hydrofoil, as pretty narrow and small, but once we got up speed, the ride was pretty fast and smooth, in between big thumps and bounces when the bow plowed into the 1 metre quartering sea built up by a strong westerly wind blowing up the Gulf of Finland. At some stages it got fairly scary, but there is a problem with hydrofoils in that they are low and difficult to handle when not up on the foil, so the answer is "go for it!" At one stage, we hit such a big wave that it went right over the top of the ferry, and poured down the hatch where the staff were standing. The ticket seller copped it badly on his side, and retreated into the cabin, soaking wet. The passengers all roared laughing, and after a while, even he saw the funny side of it.
There was a lot of shipping crossing our route, and we followed buoys and markers all the way into the river mouth. There were quite a few yachts out sailing.
Entering the river, we lost most of the wind waves, but the current and the river traffic made it still pretty rough. Lots of shipping, ship building, floating and dry docks along the river. We couldn't see a lot, or photograph much from our seating positions, but the river was pretty wide, and the buildings just a thin strip between the river and the sky.
By this stage we were pretty puffed (an understatement!) so walked along the riverside road from the dock. Fortunately this ferry, the cheaper one, docked a lot closer to our home than the big one, which stops at the Hermitage, as we're exhausted. Home about 8pm.
After a rest, we decided that, as we hadn't had tea, and would probably be hungry later, had better get some, so walked the street in the gathering dusk (as it's coming on sunset!) at about 10.30, looking for food. Ended walking all the way to our Metro station. Found a pretty good basic meal in one of the semi-underground restaurants which you can see down into from the footpath. Back to the hotel in almost dark, finding a noisy wedding still going in the restaurant straight below us. Walking 25 kms (and it feels like it!)
Friday 10 June Saint Petersburg
Earlier breakfast, out by 9.45, and hotfoot it down to the Hermitage by 10.15 ( 10.30 opening) after taking a shortcut to get ahead of a group walking our way. Walk past a portico held up by about a dozen giant granite statues, so know we are getting close. Tack onto the end of a giant queue, then investigate further. These people are tour groups, and the individual entry is further along, so walk into the main courtyard, and onto a short queue within the building. MP buys the tickets, 2 x 350 roubles plus 100 for the camera, then another 280 for an audio guide in English, and a map with reference numbers to go with it. Later, DP goes back for headphone to go with it but it was no use because two couldn't use them without breaking them.
The Hermitage is definitely one of the greatest art museums in the world. Its collection has about 3 million items! Took us a while to relate the map we got with the audio guide to the actual rooms, but eventually got the hang of it. Up the fancy staircase to the 2nd floor (shown as 1st floor on some information, to "help" those who are used to having a ground floor, but only succeeded in confusing you). Saw art from Russia, France 15-18C, Spain, Germany, Britain, Flanders, Holland, Netherlands, Italy, Medieval Western European Art and Western European Arm and Armour. Also saw some of the State Rooms of the Winter Palace, which is a former residence of Russian emperors, designed by Bartolommeo Rastrelli and built between 1754 and 1762 for Peter 1 and his wife Catherine 1. The decorations in these rooms is incredible, and includes intricate parquetry flooring, gilded chandeliers and plaster decorations on the ceiling, columns etc etc. The rooms include the Large Throne Room,

Small Throne Room, the Nicholas and Armorial hall, the Malachite Room, and in the Small Hermitage the Pavilion Room. Got to see a fair bit of the second floor, including most of the grand rooms before calling a halt at about 1 pm, and went down quickly through the Egyptian exhibit on the ground floor to get to the internet cafe, where we hoped to rest for a while, only to find that the internet was down. Had a quick sandwich and a drink, and back up to do another stint, on the third floor this time, which consisted of Western European Art 19C- early 20C, France 19C-early 20C. Didn't get to see much of the China, Near and Middle East or Byzantium art on this floor as ran out of time. About 3pm went down to have a rest, and did an hour of internet, and cut a photo CD for R160.
After this, back up to see various things we'd missed the first time round (because there are various buildings, connected by various passageways, it's VERY easy to lose track of where you have and haven't been). We worked our way through the list of important rooms, finding all sorts of grand heroic style painting we didn't have time to look at closely.
We found the Raphael room, one of the disappointments as it is an exact replica of a room in the Vatican, but only done in the style of Raphael,


with two small original Raphael's. Had a quick look at the ground floor antiquities, including a lot of Greek BC statues, Egyptian mummies and sarcophagi, Egyptian statues and panels.
Art we saw included works by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Gogh, whole room of Monet's and Picasso, Matisse, Gaugin, and sculpture by Rodin and Michaelangelo. What we actually saw is better chronicled by looking at some of the 100 photos, with time and date on them, that we took!
Left just before 6pm, with the last of the stayers. We had walked 9 kms around the museum!
We were pretty beat after this marathon session, and hungry, so headed for Nevsky. The first acceptable food (price-wise, that is) happened to be KFC, so after a rest and food headed for home, via the Church on the Spilled Blood and the canals around it, which actually do look like Venice,


and the Summer gardens, plus a look along the riverfront, which gave us a view across into a channel on the far side with a historic battleship, possibly Potemkin, certainly looked the right vintage. At home met three older Australian women who were going to Moscow. Gave them some tips, but they weren't feeling adventurous, as one had had her handbag with all her documents taken from that very same KFC we'd just visited. Decided that the KFC was our tea, so packed, set the alarm, and tried to sleep with yet another wedding, with loud standup comedian talking forever, just below us. Walking 17 kms
Our thoughts about travelling in Russia
Our big surprise was how much we enjoyed Moscow. The impressions we had was that it was a cold, dangerous place with not much to see. This information is definitely very out-of-date. We had expected Red Square to be a large, cold square, but instead found it much smaller than we expected, and surrounded by interesting buildings, especially St Basil's. We were also surprised by the overt affluence in quite a few areas of Moscow, and the liveliness of some of the malls. The centre of Moscow is now no different to any other world capital.
On the other hand, we took longer to warm to St Petersburg, which we had been led to believe was THE place to see. The position of our hotels in each of these cities could have coloured our thinking. We've been to a lot of cities that purport they are another Venice, but St Petersburg is the first that really fits that description. Everyone said The Hermitage was great, but you just can't imagine any place having THAT many art works until you go there.
We found that the gloss of Moscow, and to a lesser degree, St Petersburg, soon disappeared once you got out in the countryside. Suzdal was written up as a medieval gem (we were imagining another Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic), and instead it was a run-down town, with a lot of derelict houses, but with some interesting churches and buildings, surrounded by nice countryside. The meagre produce for sale in the local vegetable market (as distinct from the tourist souvenir market) attested to the poverty in the area.
The old Soviet idea of service is fast disappearing (thank heavens), but some of the last vestiges of it are in the large, non-renovated hotels, where we tended to stay.
We tested the public transport system to see how easy it would be to travel throughout the country. Our conclusions are that you MUST know the cyrillic alphabet.
We couldn't even recognise our own names until we translated them from the cyrillic alphabet to the Roman one. Most signs were not in the Roman alphabet. It would also be very helpful to know a few words of Russian, and to have a Russian dictionary, neither of which we had, mainly because of all the other things we had to research for this trip, which encompasses so many different areas of the world.
One thing we did find out was that if you book through a travel agent in your own country you'll pay almost double for everything, and if through Intourist in the country, you'll still pay way above the going rate.
It is definitely worth the effort of finding out how to use the Metro in Moscow. Once you do, the whole city becomes accessible for a very minimal amount.
On our next trip to Russia we'll be ready to venture further afield, and get to see how the average Russian lives.
Sat 11 June St Petersburg-Tallinn (Estonia)
Up before the alarm, get hot water after running for about 20 minutes. Out by 7am for the metro, and luckily get there before the crowds. MP lifts his bag over the turnstile, but DP gets hers stuck. MP lifts her bag over. Alarm goes off, but we are through and on our way, with a seat on the train, and no changes to make. At Baltiyskaya Metro, off with no problems, and get to the bus stop by 7.30, for a 9 am bus. Have to stay in the open with the baggage without drawing too much attention. There is a park with benches, but there are people there who look like they have spent the night there, and a lot of newspaper they have probably used for blankets, and empty beer bottles, so camp on the footpath well away. Even so, we attract the attention of a young scruffy local couple, and we have to weather a lot of Russian talked at us, which we can only answer with a shrug. Eventually they get sick of it, and slope off. MP also observes a couple of women in the park who seem to have a drunk male companion, who is trying to carry one of their bags for them. Later we find it is a Kiwi woman and her daughter,and they were trying to get rid of an unwelcome friend.
DP comes back with a good loaf of bread, which we have with Vegemite while we wait. The bus turn up at 9, find we have seats on opposite sides of the aisle so opt for two together, and talk the owner of the odd seat into sitting on one of ours. The seats aren't really good, halfway down the bus, just above the toilet.
It is a long way out of St Petersburg - some interesting buildings, but mainly Soviet style blocks. Out in the country we are back to green fields and woods, small farmhouses with corrugated asbestos cement roofing, and small towns, most of which we stop in to drop off or pick up passengers. Our first long stop was half an hour, not far out of St Petersburg, where we buy a pizza and a potato filled pastry from a vendor, not too bad a breakfast, on top of our vegemite bread..
Had to take out our bags to go through the Russian border, but no trouble, no searches. Back in the bus and over the large, fast flowing river to the Estonian side. Received a SMS from Jerry while in the customs office, and answered it in no-man' land during our 10 minute stop at the duty free, where DP wasted (probably, but early days yet), $A3 on a bottle of Cherry Liqueur, which tasted a lot like cough syrup.
There were a lot of fortifications right at the border, and an impressive round tower, but difficult to photograph in a border zone. The clearance through Estonian customs was simpler - didn't have to get out of the bus, they just collected the passports, then brought them back stamped. There was an interesting incident where a woman officer came into the bus with a glass jar, and went down into the toilet area. Some minutes later, they brought a sniffer dog through, and he immediately bounded down the stairs to find what must have been a test bait. We were a bit worried, as we were eating potato crisps at the time.
The Estonian border town was distinctly European, compared with Russia, even Moscow, with understandable signs, conventional shops and supermarkets, and an absence of old Russian cars. The scenery was similar, although farms looked larger and better kept. The style of the churches changed, with more single sharp spires, and fewer multiple onion domes. Tallinn was quite large and modern coming into the urban area, with a major road cut into the thin laminations of chalk rock.
At the bus station, have no local cash to use toilet, and won't accept roubles, so use ATM to get 3000 kroons, but still only in 500 notes, too big for loo, so change 60 roubles for 15 kroons, use the loo, then get a taxi to the old town. Have trouble getting change of 500 for a 50 fare, but manage. Walk along from where the taxi had to drop us, to the information kiosk, where we scored a trainee who looked nice, but was totally useless. Ended up walking through the old town in the direction of the new, looking for a room. Heading for the B&B agency shown on our information. Saw a hostel, so Dianne went to check it out, but put off when found it had the same doorway as a striptease joint, so carried on. Tried to track down the B&B, and eventually found it upstairs, but didn't have any room, or know about tomorrow, so find a hotel nearby down an alley. It's in a prefabricated type of building, not at all elegant, and there are more striptease signs here, but are getting used to them, and see that some families are staying there. DP goes in, finds reasonable rooms for more than we would wish to pay, but this is now late Saturday afternoon, so settle for the junior suite for 1150 kroons (the standard rooms were 990, but only had small single beds, and after having these all through Russia, decide we'll lash out and have a double bed) and move in. There is room to swing a cat, lengthwise at least, but the walls are paper thin. The hot water is good, so we shower and head out to look at the lower section of the old town, particularly as we had gained an hour due to a time change. While looking for one place to eat we stumbled on Kompressor, which rang a bell with DP. Hard to find the door, and pretty dark and smoky inside, but we found a high stool with a small table and ordered soup and two Estonian pancake, plus beer and good pear cider. The meal was good, but the pancakes were each big enough for two, so ate what we could, and staggered home the long way, looking at historic buildings,


lot of restaurants, and a big Saturday night crowd of drunks, including a lot of Poms.
Checking out the late night TV, which was generally poor reception, and Russian TV dubbed into Estonian, were surprised to find hard core porn on one of the available stations. Starts to ring a bell in terms of what attracts weekend tourists, taken together with all the striptease shows. Later talk to a young English bloke, who says they can get air tickets for 50 pounds, which, when you take into account the cheap grog and food, makes for a cheap weekend. Tallinn is also only two and a half hours away from Helsinki by boat. A fair bit of shouting and late night revelry, but not enough to prevent a good sleep. Walking 12kms