City of Palaces

see all photos »

The Russian border wasn't as hairy as I feared. Sure, it took a little while to get in - an hour or so, but it wasn't so bad. Mind you it's the Belarusian border with the nightmare reputation.

Shortly after entering Russia we soon found out how notrotious the roads are. Both for driver behaviour and the roads themselves. The bus driver did an amazing job I have to say. At highway speeds cars and trucks were doing crazy things... and worse we even saw the left overs of a previous head-on between trucks. Little did we know that in the city it's even more crazy.

Around every major restaurant or nightspot you would see a black BMW or Mercedes which our tour guide explained were mafia cars

The boys
see all photos »

Our first stop was Vyborg near the border (toilet break). That was our first experience of Russian people... they simply stared at the coach rolling into town, like it was from another planet. Most people were totally expressionless... it's a throwback to the communist times when facial expressions were only appropriate in specific situations. Fortunately the younger russians are far more progressive.

And then into Saint Petersburg - easily the most beautiful city I have ever been. No matter where abouts in the city you were, there are gorgeous buildings; palaces, cathedrals, and monuments. This is due to it being the capital for a long period of time when the Szars still ruled. I can't remember the number of palaces exactly, but it was over 100. Unfortunately Russia payed with blood for some of these buildings. One of the cathedrals had over 500,000 people build it, and only 5% or so of those survived.

Peter, the Great
see all photos »

The city itself is nothing like rural Russia... it's progressive and with the rest of Europe. You could tell immediately that the mafia controlled the city. Around every major restaurant or nightspot you would see a black BMW or Mercedes which our tour guide explained were mafia cars... or 'business men' if you wanted to be polite about it. Apparently if our bus were to hit one of those cars on the road, they would simply get out and shoot our bus driver. Mixed that with the crazy traffic where they don't care about cutting a bus off, I'm thankful our driver was so skilled - I wouldn't dare after seeing what went on in those streets.

see all photos »

We spent a few days in Saint Petersburg... and that isn't really enough for the beautiful city it is. The hermatage building you could spend three days in alone.

Alas, we had to leave for our trek south to Novgorod.