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Russia February 2007
I don’t know what I expected of Russia when we checked into Heathrow and were having a very early breakfast at 4 a.m. in one of the airport’s many cafes. But I’m pretty sure I didn’t think it could be as good as it turned out to be. Apologies if all pictures aren’t clear and I couldn’t get a picture of everywhere I went (I was using disposable cameras).
After the three and a bit hours on the plane, we landed very smoothly (thanks to the ice) on the runway at Moscow International airport. The air hostesses warned us of the bitter weather waiting for us outside as were leaving. I think we were all stunned by the amount of snow outside the airport as we stared out of the windows. We were soon at passport control, our first real contact with our hosts. In booths, not dissimilar from forts, just on a smaller scale was a very intimidating female military officer, perched on a chair. She showed no emotion as I nervously said ‘hi’ (yeah it seems silly now, but I had to say something and I knew no Russian!) and offered a smile with my passport and soon I was too afraid to show emotion too. She stamped an immigration form and handed back my passport, I was glad to be away.
About half an hour later we were all ready to face Russia’s climate and board our coach. The automatic doors came apart and light snow and a biting wind greeted us. The coach had yet to arrive so we had to wait outside for a little while and in all honesty it didn’t feel that cold, so we were all pretty confident we could handle Russia’s ‘extreme’ weather we were warned about! The coach soon arrived and looked a bit old and there weren’t enough seats, meaning someone had to sit in the aisle, but nobody was bothered: Moscow awaited us.
After the seeing the coach we didn’t quite know what to expect of the hotel, perhaps the hotel equivalent of the bus we had – old, creaky and overcrowded. It was in fact the complete opposite. Simply it was stunning; we were soon informed that it was one of the top hotels in Moscow and had a five star rating. When we entered the lobby, there was a casino to the left, in front was reception with lifts and security guards on either side and to the right were several bars, and to the extreme right were stairs that led down to a bowling alley, swimming pool and a night club. It was pretty nice.
The hotel Kosmos in Moscow
The amazing view of Moscow from our room
We soon settled in and had a tour of Moscow, it was pretty late though (Russia is 3 hours ahead) and we had to go back for dinner, which was I thought was surprisingly nice, then we hit the streets again for the night tour around Red Square. The weather suddenly decided to take a very cold stance; the temperatures reached the coldest they would for the whole week, minus twenty two, including the wind chill, with a lot of snow coming down. Spirits were none the less high, mainly thanks to spirits of a different sort and we entered Red Square. It was a stunning place, especially at night.
Red Square’s shopping centre at night
Unfortunately I didn’t get any good shots of Saint Basil’s at night but Red Square was quite special during the day time and it looked equally as beautiful:
Saint Basil’s
Also during the day we visited Lenin’s tomb. It was heavily guarded and nobody was allowed to stop moving at any point. A couple of people were yelled at by the guards for wearing hats or whispering. The floor in the tomb was stone and extremely wet from the melted snow which was brought in by people’s boots. On the way out a few of us slipped, we were just grateful the guards didn’t see it as offensive towards Lenin.
Next we visited the Kremlin whilst in Moscow, we went inside the armoury and the churches within the walls but pictures weren’t allowed. But I took a few outside:
This is walking inside the walls of the Kremlin.
There was a square in the Kremlin with four churches on either side.
Very religious in Russia.
Just one side shown here.
A Christmas tree?
I didn’t get a picture of it, but inside the Kremlin was a giant bell, with a part fractured off on the side. Our tour guide said whoever touches the fractured piece will return to Moscow. I touched it. :-)
We also visited a nunnery in Moscow; it had an amazing view from its roof where the Kremlin, Minister of Defence building and one of the KGB’s buildings could be seen.
On the roof, excuse the finger…
We saw many beautiful Churches in Moscow, below are just a couple, again we weren’t allowed to take photos inside, but the beauty on the outside matches that on the inside:
Bit of a gloomy day…
…but the sun decided to make an appearance on our last day in Moscow.
From Moscow we travelled to St. Petersburg. Obviously it’s quite a distance so it was a long journey, taking about eight hours. We went by an overnight train. The rooms, although quite small weren’t that bad: they fitted four with a small table crammed in the cap between the two bunk beds.
Like in Moscow, the first thing to do was to go for a city tour on the coach. First we arrived at the hotel, which I don’t have any pictures of but it was just like a building site. It was going through a renovation period. It was a pretty nice place, despite appearances on the outside and the floor we were staying on had its own small shop with everything we could need. The only problem was actually getting to our floor, because work was going on the main lifts didn’t actually stop there which meant two options were available on how to gain access. Either we could use the builder’s lift, which seemed to anger the workers or we could use the fire exit’s stairs which angered the hotel’s maids.
That aside St. Petersburg was great. The first place we visited was the Peter and Paul Fortress:
Peter and Paul Fortress
We also saw the Church of Spilt Blood, where the Tsar Alexander was murdered in front of his grandson Nicholas II by terrorists, a church was built on the exact spot in the road as a memorial, so now the road splits in two:
Church of Spilt Blood
On the river bank was the battleship that was used to fire blanks on the Winter Palace on the night of the revolution, which was constantly patrolled by naval officers:
Battleship
We ended up in Nevsky Prospect too. A great place for shopping for anything. We also spent our last night here; we found a really nice café where we had the Russian version of hot chocolate – just chocolate melted into a cup, absolutely delicious. We had a deadline to get back to the coach and we had about five minutes left with the coach fifteen minutes away. We decided it would be quicker to cross the main road (8 busy lanes in total) rather than go under it. We got past the first four lanes fine, but then got stuck in the middle, and there was no reservation so we had to rely on the kindness of the drivers to get back to safety. We all thought we’d die, but it was a wicked night!
Nevsky Prospect (my fave pic I took)
Over the next few days we visited many places across the city, we saw a memorial to the opposite of Tsarism – the Leningrad siege victim’s memorial. It was built to commemorate the people of Leningrad (the old name of St. Petersburg) who had died through disease and starvation as the city was besieged by Germans in the war:
Leningrad siege memorial
Leningrad siege memorial 2
We also went to the Bolshevik Headquarters, we were warned the information we’d receive in the museum may just be a little bias…
Bolshevik Museum
The weather was pretty good whilst we were staying in St. Petersburg and allowed for some pretty nice shots, I believe this is St. Petersburg’s university:
University
Near the university was a church that is considered to be one of the most beautiful in the cities, I forget its name but it was pretty nice:
Green Church
Green Church again
During our final day in the city we visited the Tsar’s palace retreat:
Tsar’s retreat in St. Petersburg
After that we had a huge final snow ball fight, getting the guides involved, who didn’t seem all that impressed.
Overall it was a great trip and I’m glad I went. My words and few pictures really don’t do it justice. If I get the chance I would probably definitely go again. Despite the weather being quite bitter at times, I had an awesome time. I’d recommend Moscow and St. Petersburg to anyone.
I don’t know what I expected of Russia when we checked into Heathrow and were having a very early breakfast at 4 a.m. in one of the airport’s many cafes. But I’m pretty sure I didn’t think it could be as good as it turned out to be. Apologies if all pictures aren’t clear and I couldn’t get a picture of everywhere I went (I was using disposable cameras).
After the three and a bit hours on the plane, we landed very smoothly (thanks to the ice) on the runway at Moscow International airport. The air hostesses warned us of the bitter weather waiting for us outside as were leaving. I think we were all stunned by the amount of snow outside the airport as we stared out of the windows. We were soon at passport control, our first real contact with our hosts. In booths, not dissimilar from forts, just on a smaller scale was a very intimidating female military officer, perched on a chair. She showed no emotion as I nervously said ‘hi’ (yeah it seems silly now, but I had to say something and I knew no Russian!) and offered a smile with my passport and soon I was too afraid to show emotion too. She stamped an immigration form and handed back my passport, I was glad to be away.
About half an hour later we were all ready to face Russia’s climate and board our coach. The automatic doors came apart and light snow and a biting wind greeted us. The coach had yet to arrive so we had to wait outside for a little while and in all honesty it didn’t feel that cold, so we were all pretty confident we could handle Russia’s ‘extreme’ weather we were warned about! The coach soon arrived and looked a bit old and there weren’t enough seats, meaning someone had to sit in the aisle, but nobody was bothered: Moscow awaited us.
After the seeing the coach we didn’t quite know what to expect of the hotel, perhaps the hotel equivalent of the bus we had – old, creaky and overcrowded. It was in fact the complete opposite. Simply it was stunning; we were soon informed that it was one of the top hotels in Moscow and had a five star rating. When we entered the lobby, there was a casino to the left, in front was reception with lifts and security guards on either side and to the right were several bars, and to the extreme right were stairs that led down to a bowling alley, swimming pool and a night club. It was pretty nice.
The hotel Kosmos in Moscow
The amazing view of Moscow from our room
We soon settled in and had a tour of Moscow, it was pretty late though (Russia is 3 hours ahead) and we had to go back for dinner, which was I thought was surprisingly nice, then we hit the streets again for the night tour around Red Square. The weather suddenly decided to take a very cold stance; the temperatures reached the coldest they would for the whole week, minus twenty two, including the wind chill, with a lot of snow coming down. Spirits were none the less high, mainly thanks to spirits of a different sort and we entered Red Square. It was a stunning place, especially at night.
Red Square’s shopping centre at night
Unfortunately I didn’t get any good shots of Saint Basil’s at night but Red Square was quite special during the day time and it looked equally as beautiful:
Saint Basil’s
Also during the day we visited Lenin’s tomb. It was heavily guarded and nobody was allowed to stop moving at any point. A couple of people were yelled at by the guards for wearing hats or whispering. The floor in the tomb was stone and extremely wet from the melted snow which was brought in by people’s boots. On the way out a few of us slipped, we were just grateful the guards didn’t see it as offensive towards Lenin.
Next we visited the Kremlin whilst in Moscow, we went inside the armoury and the churches within the walls but pictures weren’t allowed. But I took a few outside:
This is walking inside the walls of the Kremlin.
There was a square in the Kremlin with four churches on either side.
Very religious in Russia.
Just one side shown here.
A Christmas tree?
I didn’t get a picture of it, but inside the Kremlin was a giant bell, with a part fractured off on the side. Our tour guide said whoever touches the fractured piece will return to Moscow. I touched it. :-)
We also visited a nunnery in Moscow; it had an amazing view from its roof where the Kremlin, Minister of Defence building and one of the KGB’s buildings could be seen.
On the roof, excuse the finger…
We saw many beautiful Churches in Moscow, below are just a couple, again we weren’t allowed to take photos inside, but the beauty on the outside matches that on the inside:
Bit of a gloomy day…
…but the sun decided to make an appearance on our last day in Moscow.
From Moscow we travelled to St. Petersburg. Obviously it’s quite a distance so it was a long journey, taking about eight hours. We went by an overnight train. The rooms, although quite small weren’t that bad: they fitted four with a small table crammed in the cap between the two bunk beds.
Like in Moscow, the first thing to do was to go for a city tour on the coach. First we arrived at the hotel, which I don’t have any pictures of but it was just like a building site. It was going through a renovation period. It was a pretty nice place, despite appearances on the outside and the floor we were staying on had its own small shop with everything we could need. The only problem was actually getting to our floor, because work was going on the main lifts didn’t actually stop there which meant two options were available on how to gain access. Either we could use the builder’s lift, which seemed to anger the workers or we could use the fire exit’s stairs which angered the hotel’s maids.
That aside St. Petersburg was great. The first place we visited was the Peter and Paul Fortress:
Peter and Paul Fortress
We also saw the Church of Spilt Blood, where the Tsar Alexander was murdered in front of his grandson Nicholas II by terrorists, a church was built on the exact spot in the road as a memorial, so now the road splits in two:
Church of Spilt Blood
On the river bank was the battleship that was used to fire blanks on the Winter Palace on the night of the revolution, which was constantly patrolled by naval officers:
Battleship
We ended up in Nevsky Prospect too. A great place for shopping for anything. We also spent our last night here; we found a really nice café where we had the Russian version of hot chocolate – just chocolate melted into a cup, absolutely delicious. We had a deadline to get back to the coach and we had about five minutes left with the coach fifteen minutes away. We decided it would be quicker to cross the main road (8 busy lanes in total) rather than go under it. We got past the first four lanes fine, but then got stuck in the middle, and there was no reservation so we had to rely on the kindness of the drivers to get back to safety. We all thought we’d die, but it was a wicked night!
Nevsky Prospect (my fave pic I took)
Over the next few days we visited many places across the city, we saw a memorial to the opposite of Tsarism – the Leningrad siege victim’s memorial. It was built to commemorate the people of Leningrad (the old name of St. Petersburg) who had died through disease and starvation as the city was besieged by Germans in the war:
Leningrad siege memorial
Leningrad siege memorial 2
We also went to the Bolshevik Headquarters, we were warned the information we’d receive in the museum may just be a little bias…
Bolshevik Museum
The weather was pretty good whilst we were staying in St. Petersburg and allowed for some pretty nice shots, I believe this is St. Petersburg’s university:
University
Near the university was a church that is considered to be one of the most beautiful in the cities, I forget its name but it was pretty nice:
Green Church
Green Church again
During our final day in the city we visited the Tsar’s palace retreat:
Tsar’s retreat in St. Petersburg
After that we had a huge final snow ball fight, getting the guides involved, who didn’t seem all that impressed.
Overall it was a great trip and I’m glad I went. My words and few pictures really don’t do it justice. If I get the chance I would probably definitely go again. Despite the weather being quite bitter at times, I had an awesome time. I’d recommend Moscow and St. Petersburg to anyone.
Sounds like you had a fantastic time.
Now whens my next holiday, I didn't have one last year :(
Now whens my next holiday, I didn't have one last year :(
Russia February 2007
I don’t know what I expected of Russia when we checked into Heathrow and were having a very early breakfast at 4 a.m. in one of the airport’s many cafes. But I’m pretty sure I didn’t think it could be as good as it turned out to be. Apologies if all pictures aren’t clear and I couldn’t get a picture of everywhere I went (I was using disposable cameras).
After the three and a bit hours on the plane, we landed very smoothly (thanks to the ice) on the runway at Moscow International airport. The air hostesses warned us of the bitter weather waiting for us outside as were leaving. I think we were all stunned by the amount of snow outside the airport as we stared out of the windows. We were soon at passport control, our first real contact with our hosts. In booths, not dissimilar from forts, just on a smaller scale was a very intimidating female military officer, perched on a chair. She showed no emotion as I nervously said ‘hi’ (yeah it seems silly now, but I had to say something and I knew no Russian!) and offered a smile with my passport and soon I was too afraid to show emotion too. She stamped an immigration form and handed back my passport, I was glad to be away.
About half an hour later we were all ready to face Russia’s climate and board our coach. The automatic doors came apart and light snow and a biting wind greeted us. The coach had yet to arrive so we had to wait outside for a little while and in all honesty it didn’t feel that cold, so we were all pretty confident we could handle Russia’s ‘extreme’ weather we were warned about! The coach soon arrived and looked a bit old and there weren’t enough seats, meaning someone had to sit in the aisle, but nobody was bothered: Moscow awaited us.
After the seeing the coach we didn’t quite know what to expect of the hotel, perhaps the hotel equivalent of the bus we had – old, creaky and overcrowded. It was in fact the complete opposite. Simply it was stunning; we were soon informed that it was one of the top hotels in Moscow and had a five star rating. When we entered the lobby, there was a casino to the left, in front was reception with lifts and security guards on either side and to the right were several bars, and to the extreme right were stairs that led down to a bowling alley, swimming pool and a night club. It was pretty nice.
The hotel Kosmos in Moscow
The amazing view of Moscow from our room
We soon settled in and had a tour of Moscow, it was pretty late though (Russia is 3 hours ahead) and we had to go back for dinner, which was I thought was surprisingly nice, then we hit the streets again for the night tour around Red Square. The weather suddenly decided to take a very cold stance; the temperatures reached the coldest they would for the whole week, minus twenty two, including the wind chill, with a lot of snow coming down. Spirits were none the less high, mainly thanks to spirits of a different sort and we entered Red Square. It was a stunning place, especially at night.
Red Square’s shopping centre at night
Unfortunately I didn’t get any good shots of Saint Basil’s at night but Red Square was quite special during the day time and it looked equally as beautiful:
Saint Basil’s
Also during the day we visited Lenin’s tomb. It was heavily guarded and nobody was allowed to stop moving at any point. A couple of people were yelled at by the guards for wearing hats or whispering. The floor in the tomb was stone and extremely wet from the melted snow which was brought in by people’s boots. On the way out a few of us slipped, we were just grateful the guards didn’t see it as offensive towards Lenin.
Next we visited the Kremlin whilst in Moscow, we went inside the armoury and the churches within the walls but pictures weren’t allowed. But I took a few outside:
This is walking inside the walls of the Kremlin.
There was a square in the Kremlin with four churches on either side.
Very religious in Russia.
Just one side shown here.
A Christmas tree?
I didn’t get a picture of it, but inside the Kremlin was a giant bell, with a part fractured off on the side. Our tour guide said whoever touches the fractured piece will return to Moscow. I touched it. :-)
We also visited a nunnery in Moscow; it had an amazing view from its roof where the Kremlin, Minister of Defence building and one of the KGB’s buildings could be seen.
On the roof, excuse the finger…
We saw many beautiful Churches in Moscow, below are just a couple, again we weren’t allowed to take photos inside, but the beauty on the outside matches that on the inside:
Bit of a gloomy day…
…but the sun decided to make an appearance on our last day in Moscow.
From Moscow we travelled to St. Petersburg. Obviously it’s quite a distance so it was a long journey, taking about eight hours. We went by an overnight train. The rooms, although quite small weren’t that bad: they fitted four with a small table crammed in the cap between the two bunk beds.
Like in Moscow, the first thing to do was to go for a city tour on the coach. First we arrived at the hotel, which I don’t have any pictures of but it was just like a building site. It was going through a renovation period. It was a pretty nice place, despite appearances on the outside and the floor we were staying on had its own small shop with everything we could need. The only problem was actually getting to our floor, because work was going on the main lifts didn’t actually stop there which meant two options were available on how to gain access. Either we could use the builder’s lift, which seemed to anger the workers or we could use the fire exit’s stairs which angered the hotel’s maids.
That aside St. Petersburg was great. The first place we visited was the Peter and Paul Fortress:
Peter and Paul Fortress
We also saw the Church of Spilt Blood, where the Tsar Alexander was murdered in front of his grandson Nicholas II by terrorists, a church was built on the exact spot in the road as a memorial, so now the road splits in two:
Church of Spilt Blood
On the river bank was the battleship that was used to fire blanks on the Winter Palace on the night of the revolution, which was constantly patrolled by naval officers:
Battleship
We ended up in Nevsky Prospect too. A great place for shopping for anything. We also spent our last night here; we found a really nice café where we had the Russian version of hot chocolate – just chocolate melted into a cup, absolutely delicious. We had a deadline to get back to the coach and we had about five minutes left with the coach fifteen minutes away. We decided it would be quicker to cross the main road (8 busy lanes in total) rather than go under it. We got past the first four lanes fine, but then got stuck in the middle, and there was no reservation so we had to rely on the kindness of the drivers to get back to safety. We all thought we’d die, but it was a wicked night!
Nevsky Prospect (my fave pic I took)
Over the next few days we visited many places across the city, we saw a memorial to the opposite of Tsarism – the Leningrad siege victim’s memorial. It was built to commemorate the people of Leningrad (the old name of St. Petersburg) who had died through disease and starvation as the city was besieged by Germans in the war:
Leningrad siege memorial
Leningrad siege memorial 2
We also went to the Bolshevik Headquarters, we were warned the information we’d receive in the museum may just be a little bias…
Bolshevik Museum
The weather was pretty good whilst we were staying in St. Petersburg and allowed for some pretty nice shots, I believe this is St. Petersburg’s university:
University
Near the university was a church that is considered to be one of the most beautiful in the cities, I forget its name but it was pretty nice:
Green Church
Green Church again
During our final day in the city we visited the Tsar’s palace retreat:
Tsar’s retreat in St. Petersburg
After that we had a huge final snow ball fight, getting the guides involved, who didn’t seem all that impressed.
Overall it was a great trip and I’m glad I went. My words and few pictures really don’t do it justice. If I get the chance I would probably definitely go again. Despite the weather being quite bitter at times, I had an awesome time. I’d recommend Moscow and St. Petersburg to anyone.
I don’t know what I expected of Russia when we checked into Heathrow and were having a very early breakfast at 4 a.m. in one of the airport’s many cafes. But I’m pretty sure I didn’t think it could be as good as it turned out to be. Apologies if all pictures aren’t clear and I couldn’t get a picture of everywhere I went (I was using disposable cameras).
After the three and a bit hours on the plane, we landed very smoothly (thanks to the ice) on the runway at Moscow International airport. The air hostesses warned us of the bitter weather waiting for us outside as were leaving. I think we were all stunned by the amount of snow outside the airport as we stared out of the windows. We were soon at passport control, our first real contact with our hosts. In booths, not dissimilar from forts, just on a smaller scale was a very intimidating female military officer, perched on a chair. She showed no emotion as I nervously said ‘hi’ (yeah it seems silly now, but I had to say something and I knew no Russian!) and offered a smile with my passport and soon I was too afraid to show emotion too. She stamped an immigration form and handed back my passport, I was glad to be away.
About half an hour later we were all ready to face Russia’s climate and board our coach. The automatic doors came apart and light snow and a biting wind greeted us. The coach had yet to arrive so we had to wait outside for a little while and in all honesty it didn’t feel that cold, so we were all pretty confident we could handle Russia’s ‘extreme’ weather we were warned about! The coach soon arrived and looked a bit old and there weren’t enough seats, meaning someone had to sit in the aisle, but nobody was bothered: Moscow awaited us.
After the seeing the coach we didn’t quite know what to expect of the hotel, perhaps the hotel equivalent of the bus we had – old, creaky and overcrowded. It was in fact the complete opposite. Simply it was stunning; we were soon informed that it was one of the top hotels in Moscow and had a five star rating. When we entered the lobby, there was a casino to the left, in front was reception with lifts and security guards on either side and to the right were several bars, and to the extreme right were stairs that led down to a bowling alley, swimming pool and a night club. It was pretty nice.
The hotel Kosmos in Moscow
The amazing view of Moscow from our room
We soon settled in and had a tour of Moscow, it was pretty late though (Russia is 3 hours ahead) and we had to go back for dinner, which was I thought was surprisingly nice, then we hit the streets again for the night tour around Red Square. The weather suddenly decided to take a very cold stance; the temperatures reached the coldest they would for the whole week, minus twenty two, including the wind chill, with a lot of snow coming down. Spirits were none the less high, mainly thanks to spirits of a different sort and we entered Red Square. It was a stunning place, especially at night.
Red Square’s shopping centre at night
Unfortunately I didn’t get any good shots of Saint Basil’s at night but Red Square was quite special during the day time and it looked equally as beautiful:
Saint Basil’s
Also during the day we visited Lenin’s tomb. It was heavily guarded and nobody was allowed to stop moving at any point. A couple of people were yelled at by the guards for wearing hats or whispering. The floor in the tomb was stone and extremely wet from the melted snow which was brought in by people’s boots. On the way out a few of us slipped, we were just grateful the guards didn’t see it as offensive towards Lenin.
Next we visited the Kremlin whilst in Moscow, we went inside the armoury and the churches within the walls but pictures weren’t allowed. But I took a few outside:
This is walking inside the walls of the Kremlin.
There was a square in the Kremlin with four churches on either side.
Very religious in Russia.
Just one side shown here.
A Christmas tree?
I didn’t get a picture of it, but inside the Kremlin was a giant bell, with a part fractured off on the side. Our tour guide said whoever touches the fractured piece will return to Moscow. I touched it. :-)
We also visited a nunnery in Moscow; it had an amazing view from its roof where the Kremlin, Minister of Defence building and one of the KGB’s buildings could be seen.
On the roof, excuse the finger…
We saw many beautiful Churches in Moscow, below are just a couple, again we weren’t allowed to take photos inside, but the beauty on the outside matches that on the inside:
Bit of a gloomy day…
…but the sun decided to make an appearance on our last day in Moscow.
From Moscow we travelled to St. Petersburg. Obviously it’s quite a distance so it was a long journey, taking about eight hours. We went by an overnight train. The rooms, although quite small weren’t that bad: they fitted four with a small table crammed in the cap between the two bunk beds.
Like in Moscow, the first thing to do was to go for a city tour on the coach. First we arrived at the hotel, which I don’t have any pictures of but it was just like a building site. It was going through a renovation period. It was a pretty nice place, despite appearances on the outside and the floor we were staying on had its own small shop with everything we could need. The only problem was actually getting to our floor, because work was going on the main lifts didn’t actually stop there which meant two options were available on how to gain access. Either we could use the builder’s lift, which seemed to anger the workers or we could use the fire exit’s stairs which angered the hotel’s maids.
That aside St. Petersburg was great. The first place we visited was the Peter and Paul Fortress:
Peter and Paul Fortress
We also saw the Church of Spilt Blood, where the Tsar Alexander was murdered in front of his grandson Nicholas II by terrorists, a church was built on the exact spot in the road as a memorial, so now the road splits in two:
Church of Spilt Blood
On the river bank was the battleship that was used to fire blanks on the Winter Palace on the night of the revolution, which was constantly patrolled by naval officers:
Battleship
We ended up in Nevsky Prospect too. A great place for shopping for anything. We also spent our last night here; we found a really nice café where we had the Russian version of hot chocolate – just chocolate melted into a cup, absolutely delicious. We had a deadline to get back to the coach and we had about five minutes left with the coach fifteen minutes away. We decided it would be quicker to cross the main road (8 busy lanes in total) rather than go under it. We got past the first four lanes fine, but then got stuck in the middle, and there was no reservation so we had to rely on the kindness of the drivers to get back to safety. We all thought we’d die, but it was a wicked night!
Nevsky Prospect (my fave pic I took)
Over the next few days we visited many places across the city, we saw a memorial to the opposite of Tsarism – the Leningrad siege victim’s memorial. It was built to commemorate the people of Leningrad (the old name of St. Petersburg) who had died through disease and starvation as the city was besieged by Germans in the war:
Leningrad siege memorial
Leningrad siege memorial 2
We also went to the Bolshevik Headquarters, we were warned the information we’d receive in the museum may just be a little bias…
Bolshevik Museum
The weather was pretty good whilst we were staying in St. Petersburg and allowed for some pretty nice shots, I believe this is St. Petersburg’s university:
University
Near the university was a church that is considered to be one of the most beautiful in the cities, I forget its name but it was pretty nice:
Green Church
Green Church again
During our final day in the city we visited the Tsar’s palace retreat:
Tsar’s retreat in St. Petersburg
After that we had a huge final snow ball fight, getting the guides involved, who didn’t seem all that impressed.
Overall it was a great trip and I’m glad I went. My words and few pictures really don’t do it justice. If I get the chance I would probably definitely go again. Despite the weather being quite bitter at times, I had an awesome time. I’d recommend Moscow and St. Petersburg to anyone.