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St Petersburg- Pancakes and panic
Entry 19 of 25 | show all | print this entry |
So, Simon and I were on the train on the way to St Petersburg when we realised that we actually had four nights there. By this stage we had been in Russia for a decent amount of time so we thought maybe it would be better to stay just 3 nights and catch the bus direct to Tallinn, Estonia. After a short discussion we decided this was a good idea and it shouldn't be too hard.......all we had to do was cancel our train ticket to Helsinki and purchase a bus ticket to Tallinn. I'll come back that........
Anyway we got to St Petersburg safely, caught the metro to where our hostel was located and as we were emerging from the underground station there it was.........all the splendor of one of the most beautiful cities in the world. In front of us was the Kransky Cathedral, behind us was the Church of the Spilled Blood, down the street was the Hermitage.......and everywhere around us was some of the most beautiful buildings you have ever seen. You could feel the culture on the street, you could see it in the people and you could understand why this city was (and still is) the home to so many artists, musicians and poets. For me, with my arts background, being in St Petersburg was a big responsibility. There were so many theaters to visit, music performances to see, art galleries to wander through (especially the endless collections in the Hermitage), monuments to get photos in front of and the list was endless. To be honest, there simply was too many things to see and not enough time and the guilt of not being able to see it all was enough to cause me a sort of dummy spit breakdown.
In my defence though this is where I will go back to my first story about leaving St. P. a day early and changing our train ticket to Helsinki to a bus ticket to Tallinn. It was not an easy process and just getting the bus ticket alone took up our whole first day. On day two we then had to try and cancel our train tickets and after visiting several different offices and train stations we were finally told that we couldn't get our money back. So there was our first 2 days in St. P. already gone and my sightseeing panic was increasing by the minute. So to calm ourselves down in the evening we took a walk around the Winter Palace, over the bridge to take in the view of the whole of the city and then we wandered through the St Peter & Paul Fortress and back to our hostel. We even discovered a great little pancake stall on the way back where we treated ourselves to a pancake with the lot...and I meant the lot! Back at the hostel we cracked open a bottle of vodka with our new friends Emma & Guy and toasted to many Russian traditions before heading out. We headed to a little bar/club that played Beatles music and we danced the night away. While wandering the streets on the way home we got frisked by some St. P. Police but it was actually surprisingly non eventful....I think because they liked the fact that Simon was an Australian school teacher and of course I was my usual smiling, friendly self. Anyway, it was a fun night after a not so fun day.
The next day was our last day so of course we had to visit the Hermitage. It took us 3-4 hours to walk through and that was rushing it. The elegance and sheer richness of this place was overwhelming (even with a hangover). The collections of art and historical artifacts were even enough to keep Simon's attention (even with a hang over). We agreed that we definitely need to come back to St. P......maybe I'll take a girlfriend next time and go see the Orchestra and the ballet ;-)
So that night we caught the 10.30pm bus to Tallinn and by that time I was so worn out by all the pressure of being in St Petersburg that I was glad to be leaving! For anyone planning on visiting this city, take your time and enjoy it, it's worth it. Anyway, that night we crossed the border on the bus no problems....goodbye Russia.
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