Russia is Over

Well.  It is hard to believe that the main part of our trip is coming to a close.  We took the night train from Moscow to St Petersburg.  It was the first time that locals were in our booth.. because the rest of the time it had been Simon and Catriona.  The train was really old.  The interior was all wood with really old carpets and beds.  It was great!  We both slept well and arrived fairly early in St Petes.  The cultural capital of Russia has a rep for being rough so we were sure to watch our stuff.  We thought that a guide was supposed to meet us at the train station but no one showed up.  We read the train station incorrectly and hopped on the metro even though we were already at the right place.  2 guys tried to steal my stuff on the metro but I watch my bag with valuables and it turned out ok.  Nothing violent, they just crammed me on full train and they attempted a quick pickpocket.  After figuring out our mistake and going all the way back... we found our hostel.  It is about one million years old and looks pretty bad.  Our guide showed up at the hostel which is where he thought he was supposed to be.  Sundowners is a joke.  Anyways, we spent the day with him touring the city.  He was smart and knowledgeable and for once, a good guide.  St Petersburg is an amazing city.  There are huge mansions and palaces all over the place.  We toured around the river and throughout the touristy old town portion.  It is completely European and very upscale.  We felt safe the entire time.  We let our guide go home early and found some dinner.  Krystal and I had been dating for 7 years today.. so we had a coffee to celebrate.  St Petersburg is very expensive just like Moscow.  10 dollar coffees hurt the visa card.

The next morning we headed to the star attraction, the Hermitage art gallery.  It is probably one of the best in the world.. and it was free for 'students'.  The art collection here is amazing.  Da Vinci, Picasso, Matisse, Monet.. the list goes on forever.  There was a whole room of Rembrandt's showing more than 30 paintings.  Krystal and I are not huge art people and it still took us all day to walk around.  It is housed in the winter palace so even if you are not looking at art.. the rooms are amazing.  After all the art we just relaxed near the river outside the huge St Isaacs church.  We ate some delicious vegetarian food and went for a nice drink on the main street called Nevsky Prospekt.  Krystal managed to steal a table from a group of Russian bikers. She's crazy like that.  The beer was good and we didn't die.. so it was win win.

Our third day was a strange one.  We went to the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography.  It was put together for scientific reasons.. I guess.  Most of the place is really boring full of ethnic costumes.  But.. the one room has hundreds of fetuses (fetai..?) in jars.  Two headed ones, cyclops, no legs.  Weirdest place ever!  We walked through the summer gardens and saw the rather modest summer palace.

Longest blog ever.  Ok.  So the next day we went just outside of St Petes to Peterhof Palace.  It was adventure getting there using both the metro and the bus but we made it.  There are hundreds of fountains but even more tourists out here.  It was a nice visit.. but way too busy.  That night Krystal's dreams came true.  We saw Swan Lake ballet.  It was in a really old theatre called the Alexandrinsky and was really good.

The last day in town we had seen pretty much everything we wanted to see.  We slept in a bit,surfed the interweb, and went to another art gallery.  The Russian State Gallery.  It is world class, but not super popular because it happens to be in the same city as the Hermitage.  It was huge and Krystal and I breezed through most of it.

Russia overall was great.  The people were not always nice, but way better then everyone says.  Most young people spoke a little English.  It was easier to travel in Russia than China by far.   The hostel is St Petes was horrible... again.  The shower had never been cleaned and smelled like dead cats.  Oh well.

Next stop Riga.