Under the communists, St. Petersburg was not a popular city for large part of the last century. Stalin saw it as the power base of one of his main rivals, the murder of whom led to the beginning of the Great Terror. The city, while…Read More

Under the communists, St. Petersburg was not a popular city for large part of the last century. Stalin saw it as the power base of one of his main rivals, the murder of whom led to the beginning of the Great Terror. The city, while accepting a change to its new name of Leningrad, refused to accept other changes, like changing Nevsky Prospect to Lenin Street -- Nevsky was a monk, not a hero the leaders of a state with no god wanted folk remembering. Stalin also tried to move the centre of the city from nevksy down to the south -- get the metro to Moskovsaia station and have a look around, this was to have been part of the new centre of Leningrad. Moskovskaia is also good as you can then walk south a bit further, or get a bus (turn right as you come out of the station) to the War Memorial, which marks where the Nazi forces reached in their blockade of the city. There's a museum under the monument, in the middle of a roundabout, which includes things like Stravinskii's violin. Moskovskaia is also the station from which you can get a bus to the airport -- number 13.   Close

The Catherine Palace was built not by Catherine the Great, but the previous Catherine. She had the roof covered with gold leaf, and the locals were all convinced that the roof was made of solid gold. Catherine the Great thought it was all a bit…Read More

The Catherine Palace was built not by Catherine the Great, but the previous Catherine. She had the roof covered with gold leaf, and the locals were all convinced that the roof was made of solid gold. Catherine the Great thought it was all a bit showy and had it removed.

Amber room: the amber was removed by the Nazis and the room is still being redone as the museum gets enough money.

Peterhof, the palace on the shore of the Gulf of Finland with fountains and gold statues, incredibly ornate and beautiful. It was occupied by Nazi forces during WWII, who set up their guns to bombard St. Petersburg, and when they left, they took the…Read More

Peterhof, the palace on the shore of the Gulf of Finland with fountains and gold statues, incredibly ornate and beautiful.

It was occupied by Nazi forces during WWII, who set up their guns to bombard St. Petersburg, and when they left, they took the gold statues with them. About 20 years later, they found the original moulds for the statues and recast them in plaster and covered them with gold leaf.

The fountains were all designed and engineered by Peter the Great -- a pretty good engineer by all accounts.

St. Isaac's Cathedral has a colonnade around the top, you can buy a ticket and climb up to see the whole city as it's so flat. Beware the 'babuski' as you're not really supposed to take photos from up there. St. Isaac's was built before there…Read More

St. Isaac's Cathedral has a colonnade around the top, you can buy a ticket and climb up to see the whole city as it's so flat. Beware the 'babuski' as you're not really supposed to take photos from up there.

St. Isaac's was built before there was such a thing as a crane, and given the weight of the marble pillars around the colonnade, building it was a pretty dangerous job. So many people were killed in the process that the locals refused for years to actually use it as a church.

After starting off wandering through the glistening white shopping arcades and being shocked at the unbelievably high prices, a friend and I decided to try and find a place where the locals might shop. We'd almost given up hope of finding a market when we…Read More

After starting off wandering through the glistening white shopping arcades and being shocked at the unbelievably high prices, a friend and I decided to try and find a place where the locals might shop. We'd almost given up hope of finding a market when we stumbled upon one just off the main street. It was filled with cheap goods, almost everything you could imagine. Just looking at what the sellers were offering was fascinating enough.

The whole place seemed to be full of locals, which was interesting to see in itself, but they were very friendly, and someone was quick to help translate when we approached a stall. It's one of my most enduring memories of the whole trip, just wandering around the market and getting a feel for what the real St Petersburg is like.

This is a city with a proud heritage and a traumatic history of a 300+ day siege. Many notables in Russian history are buried ehrem and the L'Hermitage is here, as well, but the overall tone is one of faded glory and irony tat…Read More

This is a city with a proud heritage and a traumatic history of a 300+ day siege. Many notables in Russian history are buried ehrem and the L'Hermitage is here, as well, but the overall tone is one of faded glory and irony tat all there is for the city to be proud of is the Czarist exesses of the past.

The people who are making healing their lives are doing incredible work to bring healing to this city, and they have so much heart and soul that as an Ameirican I can only wonder at the spirit that lives within them, and the hope amidst so much that is difficult and paradoxical. To visit here is to see what we have here in American (and take for granted) with new eyes.

I went many years ago and some things have gotten better but others have gotten worse. Here are a few tips. Visas: All visitors require a visa Street crime against foreigners is a problem in the city. As in all big cities, visitors should be…Read More

I went many years ago and some things have gotten better but others have gotten worse. Here are a few tips.
Visas: All visitors require a visa
Street crime against foreigners is a problem in the city. As in all big cities, visitors should be neither too paranoid nor too careless.
US dollars cash are easiest to change and you're chances of changing travellers cheques are slim to non-existent. Getting a cash advance on your credit card is easy in Russia's big cities, but it will be difficult elsewhere.
July and August are the warmest months and the main holiday season. Warning- it may rain one day in three during this period.
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Peterhof (also called in Russian Petrodvorets which is an exact translation of the German word meaning Peter's palace) is a suburb of St Petersburg. Prepare to spend a whole day. The best way to go there is by a tour bus with a…Read More

Peterhof (also called in Russian Petrodvorets which is an exact translation of the German word meaning Peter's palace) is a suburb of St Petersburg. Prepare to spend a whole day. The best way to go there is by a tour bus with a guide. That way you will learn a lot of interesting things and he/she will tell you all the history associated with the place. It is no doubt the most gorgeous and luxurious of the palaces in the suburbs of St Petersburg. The palace has amazing parquets and a large paintings collection. The ornaments on the walls are covered with a very thin layer of gold. You also have to walk around the palace and especially go and see the unbelievable view of the Finnish Gulf that opens from the stairs that have statues of different Greek or Roman gods on the sides and the fountains all the way to the Finnish Gulf. It's really a breathtaking view when the weather is good. The palace was restored after World War II by the efforts of the enthusiasts painters, architects, sculptors and carpenters since it was almost entirely demolished during the siege of Leningrad by the German troops. Part of the collection of the palace was evacuated before the entry of the Nazis, a lot of pieces in the collection were destroyed during their presence at the palaces.

Peterhof is currently restored to its original grandure and is truely the place of the Russian royalty, and it bears the name of Peter I who was the most controversial tsar Russia ever had. He brought European culture to Russia and built St Petersburg from the ground up. The city was built by the slaves and cost thousands their lives. But Peter I really built a city that has no equals in the world. He brought the most modern ideas of his time to Russia and created a city that can truely be called one of the wonders of the world. The estate includes the Grand palace, Monplaisir palace, the Chateau de Marly, Hermitage Pavilion and several parks. All are really worth seeing. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the palaces or the fountains but here is a list of websites that have very nice pictures and more information: http://www.unilib.neva.ru/city/suburbs/sub1.html - this website has also name of architects and date of creation and restoration http://www.enlight.ru/camera/index_e.htm http://wwweng.gov.spb.ru/tourism/petrodvoretc/Pr_Petrodv.htm http://www.online.ru/sp/fresh/far-out/petrdvor.html http://www.photovault.com/Link/Cities/gEasternEurope/kRussiaNorthernEurope/Places/Petrodvorets.html   Close

That Russians love holidays is a known fact for many. But the least beloved holiday must be the day of the Tax Police of the Russian Federation, celebrated on the 18th of March. On that day in 1992 this state organ was founded and Russian…Read More

That Russians love holidays is a known fact for many. But the least beloved holiday must be the day of the Tax Police of the Russian Federation, celebrated on the 18th of March. On that day in 1992 this state organ was founded and Russian people learned a new word: ‘taxes’ (nalogi). It was only in 2000 though that President Putin made this day an official holiday. How the staff of the Tax Police celebrates its own anniversary is a mystery to me...   Close

We had out little coffeemaker and tried to make coffee. No luck. I set it for 240 with the plug – nothing. I set it for 120 with the transformer – nothing again. Finally, at 11:30pm, I called the front desk. They sent up an…Read More

We had out little coffeemaker and tried to make coffee. No luck. I set it for 240 with the plug – nothing. I set it for 120 with the transformer – nothing again. Finally, at 11:30pm, I called the front desk. They sent up an electrician, who was tracing the connectors with a voltage meter. He finally determined that there is a master light switch by the front door that controls ALL power in the room! He turned that on and suddenly the unit started heating.

In the meantime, Momma was already in bed, and he was looking very nervous and started to stutter. I guess he decided that two women were too much and practically ran from the room. So, we had coffee and chocolates at midnight.