St P

The Winter Palace
see all photos »

St Petersburg on a business trip to attend a conference. I was here about the same time last year when the first snow arrived and it was as if Dubai had got snow judging by the way drivers seemed unable to cope with the change in weather--.skidding about and crashing into one another causing gridlock in the St P rush hour. And so it’s a relief this time for the forecast not to include snow only cold and rain..which I can deal with because I am from London. St P is an architecturally stunning city. Its clichéd to describe it as looking European because it is Russian to its core but rather there are certainly remnants of the tsarist inheritance here, much more evident than in say Moscow. The ‘sights’ are actually pretty compacted together around the main street Nevsky Prospekt but the City is a sprawling fascinating metropolis.

Door of St Isaacs Cathedral
see all photos »

I’ll never get over the cost of Russian hotels. When there’s a huge drive to attract more tourists to Russia its bizarre that the old style Tourist Prices apply.

This is certainly a place I’d bring Claire and the kids (whereas Moscow is just out of the question) as the Russians themselves are phenomenally friendly and helpful. Though generally pale. Almost translucent actually.

Had an uneventful couple of nights at the Kempinski which is a Molotov cocktails throw from the Winter Palace and got some very useful work done ( and met some fascinating Russians from throughout the country and other CIS

St Isaacs Cathedral
see all photos »

states) and was glad to get home.