Arrive St Petersburg

The first part of the train journey was updated in previous blog, where we fell into a deep sleep. At about 1 in the morning our door was opened and we were at the Latvia immigration. The tough looking man checked our passports and then called an official who could speak English and said Roy had to come with him. I chatted a bit while Roy was dressing for the cold and he'd lived in Peterborough for a while. We'd read that Latvia border was a little dodgy, so it felt reassuring for some reason that this man had lived in the UK. He explained they just needed Roys fingerprints because of him having a shengen visa. N the end they couldn't get it together and they just stamped his passport anyway.

We fell asleep again and were woken at about 2.30 at the Russian border. A very stern lady checked our passports, staring at us, then our photos. A young guy who had some English joined her and asked to see our tickets departing from Russia. All seemed in order and they left with our forms and passports. We'd read that you must get your entry AND exit form stamped . About 15 minutes later she returned our passports with stamped exit form. Wheh, we were into Russia. 

Fell asleep and were woken when I conductor opened our room and returned our tickets. We didn't realise our stop was soon and I'd have slept right through it, but fortunately Roy checked with her.

Arriving St Petersburg station

We decided doing the metro with bags was too much to attempt when all the stations are in cyrylic, so considered walking or a taxi. We found an autobank and Roy selected 500 rubles. It wouldn't accept his choice, so he chose 800 and the transaction went through, but gave him 100, with a receipt to match. The screen then showed that only 100, 500 or 1000 were available. So we tried again for 1000. It returned 800 with a receipt to match. How random.

We asked a taxi at the station how much and it was 1500.  Not having enough cash we started to walk when soon another taxi driver approached Roy. His car was very old, and he said he'd take us for 300! He drove like a mad man, weaving through rush hour traffic and got us to our hotel in record time.

We checked in and went to the bakery downstairs for a coffee and pastry.

Went walking....

Hermitage museum and Winter Palace

This church was built on the site where Alexandria or someone the 2nd was assassinated. 

Church on Spilled blood

Had dinner in a small restaurant which advertised being vegetarian and raw. We ordered linguini with porcine mushroom and truffle sauce. It was delicious. I ordered the pea soup, which tasted like fresh peas. It was incredible. Lastly we tried the quinoa which was also good. The owner chatted with us and asked us to put a good word on trip advisor, and offered to give us any advice n St Petersburg. After eating we visited the famous shopping centre on Nevsky Prospect but it was just too ugly to photograph. It looked like a centre must have 60 years ago. Really old fashioned. I was surprised as most the ladies in St Petersburg look very stylish. I've felt decidedly frumpy most of the trip. The standard uniform for woman in Europe has been tight fitted trousers,  boots over them and a stylish, mostly puffy jacket, often with a fur collar. I look a bit like I've just stepped out from the back and beyond. I have the perfect outfits at home, but no room in my bags.

St Petersburg at night

Now we are having a drink in an underground bar. St Petersburg is not cheap. R50 a glass of red wine . Then again we paid R45 per coffee at our hotel in Paris. Europe is not cheap. So far Lithuania felt the most affordable.

Kriek brasserie, St Petersburg