St Petersburg, Russia and home via London

Saturday 23^rd – Helsinki to St Petersburg

Today we journeyed back to beautiful St Petersburg – the city we fell in love with last year. We spent almost a week there last January – and it was a week of full-on exploring – but we still felt there was so much more to see and do. There were also some favourite places to which we wanted to return.

So – a trip back to Russia was required!

As opposed to previous visits, this time we opted to enter the country overland rather than flying in. We thought that the train from Helsinki would be a fabulous journey – lots of beautiful, diverse countryside. And we weren’t disappointed – although the train left Helsinki at 7am and it was dark for the first part of the journey!

Choosing to travel by train allowed us to experience passport control in a vastly different way. When flying it’s much like entering any other country in that passports and visas are checked at the airport on arrival. But the train was very different! Prior to leaving Finland, the Finnish passport control boarded the train and our passports were collected. We were then told that until the officers had worked their way through the train we all had to remain in our seats. The external doors were locked and we were advised that the train would be under constant surveillance between the last station in Finland and the first one in Russia. Once we crossed the Russian border, the Russian officers boarded the train. Our passports were then returned to us, our visas checked and necessary stamping done.

Our train took us to a major St Petersburg station which is also on a Metro line. It was a very familiar feeling entering the Metro station – taxi drivers touting for fares, stray dogs, massive doors that swing back so hard you’d swear you were going to lose teeth! We were organizing ourselves to buy Metro tokens when a man in uniform came over to Phil and said something in Russian. When it was clear Phil didn’t understand, the man said ‘You – come here!’ and escorted him away. This was a bit scary for a few seconds. Then it became obvious that the man was taking Phil to a sign to show him that if you have suitcases and travel on the Metro you have to buy a special, more expensive token. We already knew this! Anyway – we’re sure he was just being helpful…

Spent the evening at the Mariinsky Theatre enjoying the magnificent Swan Lake (walked the long way to enjoy the sights). This was one of the main reasons for our return to St Petersburg. It is a beautiful ballet – done very traditionally – and the dancers and orchestra are amazing. We weren’t disappointed.

A traditional Russian cathedral on the way to the Mariinsky

One of the many canals of St Petersburg - frozen, of course.

A favourite bridge, flanked by lions, over a canal on the way to the Mariinsky

Don't leave your car parked on the side of the road for too long!

The Mariinsky, however, is not near a Metro station (the nearest one is about a 20 minute walk away). Last year, we always walked back to the Metro at the end of each performance we attended – it’s a long, cold, sometimes lonely walk. This year, we decided that we would conquer the St Petersburg bus system – it was our goal! It’s also so much colder this year, so the less time you have to spend outside at 11:00 at night the better! There are so many buses in St Petersburg – little mini-buses, middle sized buses, larger buses and trolley-buses. The main route for each bus is written on the side of the bus – but in Cyrillic. We thought we recognized a name on the side of one bus – it looked like the name of a Metro station. Knowing that once you’re on a Metro you can get anywhere, we decided to take a chance. And we did it! The Metro station was on the other side of town – but we that’s not the point! Anyway, we decided that this event probably didn’t constitute a victory over the bus system, so resolved to improve on our next visit to the Mariinsky in a couple of days time.

Sunday 24^th January – St Petersburg

Last visit there were a couple of museums we didn’t get to and we were really disappointed by this, so today’s aim was to visit two particular ones of interest.

Enjoyed our walk to the museum - through beautiful parkland and past 'Spilled Blood' one of St P's most famous cathedrals

First stop was the Museum of the Siege of Leningrad, which covers in detail through outstanding exhibits the events that took place over a 900 day period in 1941 when the people of Leningrad resisted an incredibly persistent attack by the Nazis. This was just so interesting.

Our second museum for the day was located across the Neva so we enjoyed a walk over one of the many bridges in St Petersburg. For most of the year, these bridges are raised at night to let ships pass underneath, but this doesn’t happen in winter as there’s no chance of any boat getting anywhere on that frozen river! Instead of boats, though, you can see people walking across the river. We were brave enough to climb down the banks and have a small walk on the ice, but didn’t fancy joining the Walrus Club and having a dip in the Neva, so we kept our walk to a minimum! It’s just so hard to know whether you’re on thick or thin ice…

Spent the afternoon at a museum created by Peter the Great in the 1700s - his Camera Obscura. This is a fascinating collection of ethnographical items from all over the world. Probably the most popular part of the museum, though, is a room filled with a collection of medical specimens that Peter acquired to demonstrate to his people how science, rather than superstition, influences events. Consequently the room is filled with lots of bits and pieces in formaldehyde – a bit gruesome at times but absolutely fascinating. He really was a man ahead of his time.

Planned to see an ice hockey game tonight – St Petersburg versus Riga. Made our way all the way to the stadium, only to find that the tickets had all gone. Bit of a shame – we were looking forward to the game.

Finished the day instead with a traditional Russian meal – mushroom soup and pelmini (Russian dumplings). Nice!

Monday 25^th January – St Petersburg

Ventured out to one of the smaller islands that make up the inner area of St Petersburg. This one is just a really big park – completely car free. In winter, it’s a place where you can ice-skate, cross-country ski and just enjoy the snow. It was really beautiful. Absolutely freezing – but beautiful! To add to the gorgeous surroundings, it snowed while we were there. While we’ve seen heaps of snow on our trip (and it’s obvious they’ve had major falls over this way during the past few weeks) we haven’t seen much snow actually falling – so this made for a nice change.

Spent the afternoon walking around the Sennaya area where Dostoevsky lived and set Crime and Punishment. Last time we just walked through this area fairly quickly – usually on our way to the Mariinsky – but this time we decided to find out exactly where he lived. Did some research and armed ourselves with a map – managed to find all the flats he lived in and one which features in the novel.

Dostoevsky's street - when he wrote Crime and Punishment

Our last adventure for the day was to try to find Chesma Cathedral – a magnificent building we’d seen pictures of, but had no idea how to find it. Managed to find out roughly where it was and – with only a very rough mud map as a guide – set off for some cathedral spotting. Turns out the cathedral is in a very Soviet area a long way south of the centre of town. Apparently it was built there on Catherine’s orders – exactly on the spot where she was standing when she heard that Russia had won a battle with the Turks. Anyway – we found it. It was a long walk from a Metro station and we had no idea in which direction to head. We managed to get there, though, by stopping every now and again and showing someone a picture of it – and they obligingly pointed us in the right direction. Glad we made the effort – it was an absolute picture.

Soviet images - the building is covered with hammers and sickles and Lenin stands out the front

The magnificent Chesma Cathedral

Spent the evening at the opera at the Mariinsky – a fantastic performance of The Karamazov Brothers (based on the Dostoevsky novel of the same name). It was great to see such a quality production which was both written and set in St Petersburg – a real treat.

The beautiful Mariinsky Theatre

Determined to improve our own performance on the buses, we tried something new tonight – this time we weren’t going to cross town just to get to a Metro station! We came out of the theatre to find heaps of different buses outside, as usual. This time, when reading the route on the side of the number 124, we actually recognized – in Cyrillic mind you – the name of a major street very near our hotel. When we got on the bus and bought our tickets from the conductor, we said the name of the street in Russian and we were right! Feeling very proud of ourselves we made our way home – just one minor hiccup – we panicked and got off one stop too early. Oh well – a brisk walk before bed in minus 21 degree temperatures can be quite invigorating!

Tuesday 26^th January – St Petersburg

Happy Australia Day!

Our last day in St Petersburg – and still so much to see.

Walked down Nevsky Prospect (the major shopping/business street in St P) and then into the back streets hunting another Dostoevsky site – this time we were looking for (and found) the last flat he lived in before he died – and the place where he wrote The Karamazov Brothers.

Next stop was Kazan Cathedral. We visited last time, but thought it was worth another visit as it’s really quite beautiful.

From here we made our way to The Hermitage. No visit to St Petersburg would be complete without a visit to this art gallery of all art galleries. Those of you who read last year’s blog may remember that we spent two days here last time and still didn’t see everything! We spent several hours revisiting pieces that are special to us and seeing new things – very relaxing.

The Hermitage

Despite the sub zero temperatures, we enjoyed a walk along the Neva to the statue of the bronze horseman (Peter the Great) and St Isaac’s Cathedral just as the sun was setting and a full moon was rising.

Our last evening in St P, however, was not relaxing at all! Louise had decided last night at the Mariinsky that she wanted to get her mother a particular souvenir from one of the little stalls (any stall would do!) dotted around the theatre. However when she went to the stall at interval, it was closed! She tried to get one of the ladies selling programs (right beside the stall!) to sell her what she wanted but no-one could help. It’s really important to point out here that they really tried to be helpful. Lots of ladies were running around trying to find someone to open the stall, but to no avail. ‘OK,’ we thought. ‘We’ll come back tomorrow night when the stalls are open again.’ “Yes,’ they said.

So – it was tomorrow night. We were at St Isaac’s and needed to get to the Mariinsky. We saw a trolley-bus coming along – a number 22. ‘Hooray!’ we cried. We’ve seen bus number 22 outside the Mariinsky – this must surely take us there (we are such bus experts now). We piled on with everyone else (the bus was already packed – it was peak hour) and set off in the direction of the Mariinsky. As more and more people packed on and the windows got foggier and foggier – you really couldn’t see anything and we had no idea where we were. ‘I think the Mariinsky is just ahead!’ said Louise, sort of seeing some lights in the distance. ‘Yes – it could be it,’ said Phil. At the next stop, we jumped off the bus – only to realize we weren’t, in fact, at the Mariinsky theatre – we didn’t actually have a clue where we were! ‘Quick!’ we cried. ‘Jump back on the bus!’ This was easier said than done, as more people had boarded the bus than had alighted. Calling on our new found expertise, we joined the other peak hour commuters and pushed our way on. Within a few moments, Phil said, ‘I recognize the building up ahead – we’re here!’ Louise was no help at all as by this stage, her face was pushed against Phil’s chest and she was being crushed! All she could see was a big, black jacket. We got off the bus and realized that the reason he recognized the building is because it was St Isaac’s cathedral – where we had caught the bus from in the first place! We’d done one big loop and hadn’t gone anywhere near the Mariinsky! We realized later that the 22 trolley-bus has a completely different route form the 22 normal bus – and it was the normal bus we’d seen at the Mariinsky. This is so confusing! It was time to consult the map and have a rethink. In the end, we agreed that it was much warmer to keep moving than it was to stand around waiting for buses that we didn’t understand anyway – so we decided to walk (actually we jogged – as much as you can when you’re slipping and sliding on ice!). Got there in about 10 minutes – we were closer than we thought!

By this stage, Tuesday evening’s performance at the Mariinsky was due to start in 20 minutes and people were filing in through the doors. We also filed in and tried to explain to ‘security’ that we didn’t have tickets tonight – but we just wanted to go to the shop. No – this could not be done. No-one could pass beyond the foyer unless they had a ticket – not even to go to the shop! When they saw how disappointed we were (Louise was just about at the bottom lip quivering stage!), they became quite helpful. They suggested we come back at interval. Decided to have a meal at a restaurant across the road and bide our time ‘til interval. We are not leaving St Petersburg without that souvenir!! Phil couldn’t rest, however, and about 10 minutes after the show started, he went back to the theatre and tried to get in again – knowing from past experience that the shops aren’t always open at interval! After successfully negotiating his way past the babushkas guarding the front door he made it to the box office – 5 meters closer! He then pleaded with more security officers and got to the floor manager – another 5 meters! Yay – the floor manager spoke English and was really helpful. When Phil explained he was on a mission to buy a souvenir for his mother-in-law the floor manager was completely understanding (must be some international man-code) and opened the shop especially for Phil! With said souvenir in hand, he rejoined Louise at the restaurant.

And so – at the end of the meal we were faced with yet another bus journey from the Mariinsky! Didn’t do too badly this time, only caught the wrong bus once, but the helpful conductor was able to communicate that we needed to get off at the next stop and wait for the number 27. And we can tell you – it’s bloody cold waiting for buses when it’s minus 21! So – the key message from this story is – Mum… we really hope you like that souvenir!!

Wednesday 27^th January – St Petersburg to Helsinki to London

We like to call this our ‘planes, trains and automobiles day’.

Had to get to one of the major train stations in St Petersburg for a 7am departure for Helsinki. Let’s just say it was a chilly start to the day! Caught the Metro for the last time and were there with time to spare.

Really enjoyed our return train journey to Finland. Same customs and visa control process – just in reverse – and we knew what to expect this time. On the journey from Finland to Russia, we were on a Finnish train, but for this journey we were on a Russian train – and it was completely different. We were offered tea, we were provided with a free breakfast (with a choice of juice or beer!) and the restaurant car was like something out of the Orient Express. The only trouble with visiting the restaurant car was that you had to move between carriages. This required you to exit the warmth of one carriage and literally venture outside to the area where the carriages join and then enter the next carriage. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but when it’s minus 20something and the door handles are so cold it honestly burns your skin to touch them, it’s quite an exercise! Louise decided it would be nice to enjoy a wine with lunch so ventured to the restaurant car (her first visit – however Phil had already been and so had provided sufficient warning). She successfully negotiated moving between the carriages – even the part where you walk outside and see the tracks below and burn your hand – and purchased a glass of red and some chips for Phil. As she made her way back to her carriage, she did the calculations and realized she had just paid $23 for that glass of wine!! There was no way she was spilling a drop. And so with chips tucked firmly under her arm and very full (it would want to be!) glass in hand, she carefully moved between the carriages, conquered the burning handles (by pulling her sleeve down over her hand with her teeth) and the shifting plates beneath her feet and took her seat again. Mission successfully accomplished!

THE wine!

Arrived in Helsinki in the afternoon and had a few hours to spare before catching the bus to the airport for our 9pm flight to London. Spent it trying to stay warm!

Arrived in London around midnight local time. It had been a really big day.

Thursday 28^th January to Sunday 31^st January – London

Finished our holiday with a few brilliant days in London – shopping, catching up with friends, seeing a couple of shows… We love it here.