Today is the day I have been waiting for. It was the compromise to get Roberta to do a Contiki. Our trip into Russia.
A 7.30 am departure, with one stop before the border. Between this service station and the border, we were told enough information to send us running or leave us paranoid.
It took over an hour and a half to get through the border. It was a very intimidating event, with border patrol dressed in military uniforms checking passports to the finest details, getting on the bus and going through everything, only for us to be checked again after almost leaving the border area.
The first stop in Russia was at Vyborg, where we changed our Finnish Marks and had some lunch.
From here we drove into St. Petersburgh. This is a very interesting city. When you drive in, the horizon is dominated by thousands of blocks of units all the same height – some in bad condition, others left unfinished and left standing without a hint of completion. But there seems to be a just as many people driving around in Mercedes Benz.
We arrived at our hotel “Sovetskaya” expecting the worst, but our rooms were quite nice, and the dirty water we had been warned about wasn’t half as bad as I had imagined.
View From Our Room, St. Petersburg, Russia
Dinner was in the hotel’s restaurant and wasn’t much to speak of. Afterwards we went for an hour’s canal ride through St Petersburgh. This was great! Buildings here similar to that of London, yet there is not a high rise in sight. I can’t wait for our next couple of days.
Canal Cruise, St. Petersburg, Russia
Canal Cruise, St. Petersburg, Russia
Canal Cruise, St. Petersburg, Russia
Naomi, Julian, Carmen, Jamie, Sarah, Helen, Richo & Cameron, Canal Cruise, St. Petersburg, Russia
After looking at some black-market hockey shirts, we had a couple of drinks in Naomi’s room before heading to bed.
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