St Petersburg, Russia - Part 1

Went for a working visit to St Petersburg in October - part of the world I've never been to before. Preparation for the trip took a while due to having to obtain a visa invitation and then the visa itself. I was a bit apprehensive about how things would be in Russia. I guess we have all been fed lots of information about how bad it was in Soviet times and that it isn't much better now what with organised crime etc.

The flight from Sydney to Heathrow (refuel etc at Bangkok) was just long and tiring although I did manage to get some sleep thanks to Valerium and Arnica. The new airport at Bangkok is still unfinished and a fairly dead place in the middle of the night. Met up with Mike and Sandra at Heathrow and then we flew together from Heathrow to St Petersburg. We were given an immigration card to fill in on the BA flight which was all in Russian and Cyrillic alphabet but we were also given a translation to help in filling it in. (I heard from George R. later that when he flew from Zurich to Moscow earlier in the year on Aeroflot they weren't given the translation so had to 'wing it'.)

I was apprehensive about the immigration formalities but it turned out to be troublefree. The immigration officer sits in a glass booth which is screened off from the queue and you can only get to see the person when you are right in front of them in the narrow corridor. The officer in my queue was an attractive younger lady in full military looking uniform but I managed to get a smile from her by greeting her first with 'hello' and then with 'Zdrazdvootvia' - a near approximation for a formal hello in Russian.

Once through Immigration and Customs we were met by Alex, a driver who had been arranged for our visit. He kept us regaled with local information on the run into the city through quite busy traffic due to our arriving during the late Friday afternoon rush hour. Having expected the weather to be cold in late October we were surprised to find it relatively mild when we arrived - although we had to put on a couple of extra light layers on after travelling in minimal clothes from Oz.

On arriving at the hotel we arranged with Alex to pick us up for a bit of a guided tour on the next afternoon (Saturday) which would leave us free to do our own exploring in the morning.

The hotel we were staying at was the Radisson SAS which is on the main thoroughfare in St Petersburg's CBD - Nevsky Prospekt. This made it convenient for us for a little sightseeing and also for the discussions we were there to conduct. On the Saturday morning we headed out walking adown Nevsky P. after breakfast but not without being suitably 'rugged up' first. The weather, while fine, was distinctly cooler than Friday with a maximum for the day of 4C.

Nevsky P. is a very busy street in both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. As you walk down past the stone buildings you are struck by the history of the place. When Czar Peter founded the place he wanted it all built in stone which was quite something as there is no building stone available in the region. All of the stone was brought in by cart - it was mandatory for any cart travelling to St Petersburg to carry at least four boulders. Also all of the stonemasons in Russia were 'encouraged' to move to St Petersburg for the duration. Consequently everything that has been built over the early years is still there in pretty good condition. Alongside the buildings, the huge downpipes - about 25cm diameter - discharge directly onto the footpaths. It didn't rain much while we were there but when it does rain there must be regular rivers across the footpaths.

The walk down Nevsky P. is a progression from one significant site to the next - consult a guidebook and you will se what I mean. Off Nevsky P. along the Griboedova Canal is the Church on Splilled Blood - a very spectacular construction. Here is a picture of me with the church in the background. Note the Beanie/balaclava and gloves as well as my trusty Kathmandu Ecofleece jacket.