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Swapping StP for MCW
OUTLINE
- Check out of Sabrina before 12, got our first smile out of our hostess. She must be happy to see the back of the English. Our bags were packed and waiting – I guess we really wanted to leave
- March to the train station (without getting lost this time) head down, record time. Still found time for a few pictures!
- Used the locker room beneath the station to store our bags for the day. The place could have been a KGB safe room. Bet experience in St.Petersburg yet
- Sightseeing can begin now the mornings work was complete. On to the Church of the spilt blood. That’s the one everyone recognises from the postcards
- Everyone splits up and I get a bit moody. I blame the Lemsip. James and I wander the streets in a really nice part of town talking and exploring
- Finally look behind the main street facades. They hide a mess of broken pipes and Ladas and frosty smashed windows. Also link ways through the massive city blocks and crumbling inner city housing projects. Kind of looks like an exciting place now, a bit dangerous though. We take a couple of snaps and keep moving
- We pluck up the courage to walk out on to a frozen pond
- Due to meet Jay and Sarah at the station we walk in the opposite direction in to a very rich looking part of town and an open area enclosed by a huge icey palace and some grand looking law courts. A great city space – finally. We bolt back down the 6 lane highway towards our sleeper train to Moscow.
- unlocking the bags from the KGB lockers is easy and so is locating our train.
- No sleep on the freezing sleeper
- Picked up by a long haired, short armed Russian taxi driver with a small beige Mercedes cab. He’s not happy to see the size of our bags
- Godzilla’s Hostel looks top. There’s a party going on when we arrive involving all the staff. The taxi driver uses a special phrase to get us into the small green door “WOMAN, PLEASE!”
- Finally get some sleep after the drunk staff force feed us beer then decide to leave us alone
Musical showers are rubbish – loads of buttons but not much water.
Bright sunshine and a new city ahead leave smiles on every ones faces.
James’ camera has battery issues.
A frozen looking couple pose for photos on a pretty little bridge covered with pad locks. It’s definitely an Eastern tradition.
The biggest snow flakes fall in great blinding sheets on our way to the train. Makes me feel like St.Petersburg wants us to stay after all. I’ve had ups and downs here and it’s not as beautiful as I had heard but it is interesting and there is lots to discover under the harsh exterior. I’m definitely glad I visited.
This sleeper, not a private train like our Vilnius beaut, had a brisk, thin Russian lady working it – she was not nice. The water was brown and dirty, the lights were never turned on and the heating was not used. One final dig for StP.
Getting picked up right off the train is a great thing especially at 3am in a big strange city. But it does cost allot.
Drunk Russian jokes aren’t so funny when all you want to do is sleep.
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Saint Petersburg’s good side?
OUTLINE
- Sightseeing starts late after a terrible breakfast at the hostel
- We walk to Moskava train station but my fever has broken my map reading skills and I get us lost. We see more of the dirty side of the city
- Book train tickets to Moscow via a non English speaking moody Russian woman who speaks English and takes commission
- We take the metro from the train station to Nevsky Prospect. 20 Rubles, about 50p – bargain. The tube is nuts, with no visible trains and loads of stirring communist imagery. Also each station is styled differently
- Sightseeing s cut short by a lack of sights and a cold biting wind
- Tea in a small backstreet cafe comes with a free drunk asking for vodka from the tourists. Eric was a pretty scary bloke – George Harrison DEAD.
- Jazz club expedition failed – too late. Quick drink at a mad bar a little closer to home instead
- Our decision to leave St. Petersburg early for Moscow is a good one. Everything here is against us; the weather, the people, the architecture, my health and my bank. Not a great intro to Russia
James downloads a virus. Internet Attack. Computer compromised.
The train station is a big pink blamonge but it has a great modernist departure hall.
Nationwide still giving me the swerve.
The tube is nicer than the streets with less people, better weather and lighting. The escalators to get to the stations are really steep too – also a good thing right?
The snow in St. Petersburg is horizontal and gets right into your face.
I load up on more Lemsip and pills. At this rate I’ll be doped up all through Russia.
The grand public spaces aren’t grand enough and are confused. The building are all painted rubbish gaudy colours, the recommended sights are dull and the only stunning thing about this city is the orange dusk light on the riverbank, oh and there are some pretty nice golden domes dotted around.
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When did I get sick?
OUTLINE
- Lack of sleep, lack of food and negative temperatures combine in an irresistible tri-fector to give me a crazy Lithuanian illness
- If I was at home I would definitely stay in bed but today that is not an option. Check out at 12. Feeling groggy and sweaty and weak
- We trek our bag up to the train station and explore the futuristic electric lockers.
- Still loaning cash of Jay, I grab allot of medication and score some pizza ’studente’ for breakfast.
- The drugs kick in and we spend the rest of the day taking snaps of Vilnius.
- Sleeper train to St. Petersburg. The exotic train journeys begin.
Fancy Pod hostels should turn the heating on at night.
Vilnius is a pretty, pretty place in the snow especially when your full of flu meds.
I found a nice souvenier of the city with cool retro cred!
Attaching pad locks to a bridge means ‘I love you’ in Lithuanian
Our first Sleeper train demands extra special treatment. Information to follow…..
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