St. Petersburg

As with some of my other travel reviews, I will stick to writing about the highlights of my trip to St Petersburg. 1) The Hermitage. We arrived at about 9am and still queued for 2 hours before getting in. People arriving later had waits of up to 4 hours. Either get there first thing (it opens at 10.30am and there were queues when we arrived) or better still, book tickets online and bypass the queue. 2) Student cards. There are a few good discounts for students - the Hermitage was free and we got a discount at St Isaacs cathedral. You don't need to have an ISIC, you can just have your university membership card. 3) Go to the ballet. Kind ...  Read the complete review

In December 2001 I went on a business trip to Saint Petersburg. The talks were tough, exhausting and, in my (interpreter’s) opinion, as nauseating as persistency of prostitutes who tried to impose themselves in vain on my sweet solitude. So I didn’t have much time to spare, and the few hours I managed to snatch from the busy schedule were spent on two or three walks down the Nevsky Prospekt and some shopping. It wasn’t my first visit to the city. I served in the army there. I frequented it later on. Spent a part of my honeymoon (even though that marriage collapsed soon, some memories of our honeymoon in Saint Petersburg are now bright rather ...  Read the complete review

This must be one of the most amazing cities in the world. There is so much to see and do. It has had many name changes from Petrograd to Leningrad to St Petersburg. Among the locals it is simply known as Peter - after its founder Peter The Great. THE SIGHTS * The Hermitage Museum - if you visit only one sight in the city it has to be here. A day really isn't long enough to see the vast array of exhibits thoug. You can find everything from original works by Monet to Egyptian artefacts and of course you will see the history of Russia too. The settings of the exhibits can be almost as fascinating.Some of the exhibits are in the Winter Palace - setting for ...  Read the complete review

St Petersburg is a breathtaking city. Beautiful beyond belief. As you emerge from the train station, above the clamour of the streets and shabbiness of its denizens, rises beautiful buildings. As you head down the main street, you see that the building of equal splendour line the streets and run round the corners...The scale is huge and just gets larger and larger until you get to a cathedral with a curved arcade of columns that you would swear dwarfed the colloseum. Down every avenue lies a museum or church, all worth the few roubles it costs to get in. And it all just gets grander and grander culminating in the Hermitage and Catherine’s palace. ...  Read the complete review