Well I’m here. Day one! I’m sitting in the lounge area of the hostel, I’m exhausted and there’s a Kalashnikov on the wall, but I’m enjoying the free WiFi and I’m watching an episode of the Simpsons in Russian on the TV… I have no idea what’s going on but Grandpa has taken Bart and Lisa to a baseball game apparently - my eyes keep returning to the Kalashnikov (at least it’s padlocked to the wall).
After a failed nights sleep - only managing to steal three hours between the fretting - I said goodbye to my parents and cats and flew out to Russia. I ended up chatting to a nice Russian lady, Olga, on the plane who was visiting family in England and was being met by her son, Pavel, at the airport in St Petersburg when we landed she introduced us. Thus my first encounter with the open-arm welcome of the Russian people as they helped me navigate the buses and Metro as I’m guided around the subterranean world beneath the city. Pavel starts telling me about the Metro and the city, I find out about cold Russian winters that can freeze over to 47 below! I discover the depths of the St Petersburg Metro to be astonishing, apparently one of the deepest in the world, after spending 5 minutes riding the escalators up and out into the light of day.
St Petersburg is beautiful; lots of large, tree-lined avenues with grand, five-story high town buildings lining each side - broken up intermittently by a bridge or river and the reason for the deep Metro lines. I can see why they call this place the Venice of the North.
The architecture is fantastic and, caught in the sunny 20 degree summer sun, is spectacular.
I guess all that’s left to say for today, as I fight off the swarms of mosquitos and worry about whether or not that glass of tap water I just drank was safe to drink. Well, Yippie-kai-yay Mother Russia!
You can see my photos of the day on my Flickr account here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/14859193@N07/sets/72157635284410145/