Booking our room through Airbnb, Katherine had hoped this option was cheaper than a hotel, but safer than Couchsurfing.com. Needless to say, this option was more in line with Couchsurfing than a cheap apartment room. Basically we paid a Russian couple to sleep in their apartment rather than sleep in someone’s apartment for free. Katherine was initially creeped out, but later learned the couple hosting us, Oleg and Tatiana, were two friendly Hookah smoking hippies. They even cooked us an Orthodox Easter lunch. Chris would also like to note that they had a sauna in their bathroom, which he considered made them ‘legit’ from the start.
The building you walk through to get to the door of our host’s apartment. Note the broken windows – Katherine asked Oleg (google translate) if the neighborhood was safe.
Easter lunch with Oleg and Tatiana. Who thinks Oleg could be in the KGB? Tradition is to break your hard boiled egg against that of another person. The person’s egg which does not break has his wish come true. We also had traditional Easter cake, similar to a pastry cake with raisins and frosting – yum!
Day one we were off to our free walking tour of city. During the tour, we reacquainted with a friend from our hostel in Moscow, Maurico, from Merida, Mexico. Maurico had some of the funniest stories we have ever heard. He was doing a 3 month internship in Siberia and on Holiday during the long Russian break. Maurico was staying with a Russian girl in St. Pete who ended up showing us around for the next two days. It was the best tour guide ever. Here are some of the highlights:
Here is the arch way as you enter the central square in Saint Petersburg.
Picture in front of the the Hermitage, the second largest museum behind the Louvre. If you looked at each piece in the Hermitage for 2 minutes it would take 10 years to look at all the pieces! We saw only the highlights (Picasso, Monet, etc)
St. Issac’s cathedral – Katherine showing you it is cold. We were a little underdressed for Russia, but what you see is all of the warm clothing we packed! We began to appreciate why the Russian diet consists of a lot of tea and soup.
The view from the top of St. Issac’s cathedral.
Here is Peter and Paul’s Fortress from across the river.
Standing on top of the Peter and Paul Fortress wall look back into the church. After taking this picture and turning directly to our right, we could see these people sun bathing along the fortress wall. Note that in the previous picture Katherine is in a turtleneck! It was not warm.
They look tan…
Here are pictures of the famous Church of Spilled Blood. The inside is decorated entirely with Mosaics and is absolutely stunning.
There is miniature replica of the city which shows all the key sites which we thoughts was cool. Chris in front of the miniature Church of Spilled Blood.
Also a MUST is a shot of Vodka in the oldest Vodka bar in the world.
Chris taking shots with Maurico. Shot was followed with a salted pickle – not so yum.
The last day in St. Pete we ventured out to a town called Peterhof. It is about an hour and a half by metro, train, and then bus. Or 30 minutes by speed boat. We decided to take the metro/train/bus option out and the boat back. In Peterhof is a beautiful Grand Palace with fountains galore. As we were exploring we started to notice an ominous rain cloud. We made an executive decision to skip the last palace and head for the boat. Chris was positive the boat company would take credit card as we had less than 10 rubles at this point. As we arrived at the counter we learn the tickets are cash only and no ATM in site. At this point it is an absolute down pour. Chris looks around and decides the group of 3 Asians are his best bet at negotiating a short term loan with zero percent interest. What are the chances they speak perfect English? After a little convincing the funding is received. Later we learn that the boy is from Kazakhstan and works at KPMG. He loves America and his dream is to move to LA some day. Would you lend a bearded backpacker $40?
Fountains at Peterhof
Rubbing this guys foot is good luck!
Saint Petersburg’s metros are deep below the city as Saint Petersburg was built on a swamp. The escalators go down for ages.
Katherine showing off her dance moves in front of one of famous ballet theaters.
Count down to the Winter Olympics
Our time in Russia has come to an end. It was an enormous country with a lot to offer. The culture and life style are far different from that in America and fun to immerse ourselves in. The long summer days are by far the best time to go in our opinion. Although the language barrier was challenging there were countless people that went out of there way to help us. So far throughout the trip we have been in awe of the number wonderful people we have met that have been willing to help complete strangers expecting nothing in return.
Smiling and Laughing 