So my post apparently didn't work so have to retype it.
Anyways arrived mid-afternoon at the airport and for the first time in my life was checked to see if I had taken the right baggage. Got on a bus to the metro where a nice Danish-Russian couple helped me out and got me to the right metro stop. The buses are differently in Russia in that you don't pay the driver (this excludes mini-buses), instead there is a bus conductor that goes around collecting money.
The hostel I stayed at was called Soul Kitchen Hostel and basically had free everything: internet, laundry, breakfast, international calls, linens...so that was good, especially since I needed to do some laundry. I didn't get to meet a lot of people as there was a large group of asians who mostly talked with themselves in Chinese.
So once I checked in I decided to take a walk down Nevsky Prospect towards the Neva River. It ended up taking 30 minutes and in the heat as the sun was still up. Once at the river I bought an ice cream bar and took a 1 hour boat trip around the river. The tour was in Russian since there was no English tours, but it was nice to be on the water and see all the sailboats, jetskiers, hydrofoils and sunbathers.
After the tour I walked by the Winter Palace and the square in front. Then walked back to the hostel while stopping into various souvenir shops. I also went to a grocery store and picked up some food so I could make myself dinner for the next 2 nights (spaghetti napoli basically). I tried to go to sleep but the sun was still out so I couldn't really until after midnight.
Wednesday morning I slept until 9 am and was at the Hermitage by 10:30 am (everything opens later in Russia since people stay up later). It is a huge art musuem with some rooms set up like it used to be in the Winter Palace. So after about 2 hours walking through various sections I decided to leave and go to Peterhof, the summer palace.
I took one of the metros basically to the end of the line and got on a minibus...which would be similar to a russian version of the shuttles/vans you find in Africa. I got to Peterhof ok and paid to go see all the gardens by the water, which were really nice. And there was a little beach so I walked around there for awhile. Didn't go into any of the palaces or musuems as the lines were long and the weather nice anyways.
Around 5 pm I decided to head back (though it only looked like 2/3 pm). I went and did some last minute shopping, made dinner and booked a cab for the morning. I couldn't really sleep well that night, had cat naps until I got up at 4:15 am to go to the airport. When I did go there it was fairly light out again as the sun didn't really set. But I was able to have a good nap on the plane ride to Berlin and then we landed by 8 am Berlin time.
I did have some photos from my phone...but it seems like my phone deleted them...oops!
Anyways arrived mid-afternoon at the airport and for the first time in my life was checked to see if I had taken the right baggage. Got on a bus to the metro where a nice Danish-Russian couple helped me out and got me to the right metro stop. The buses are differently in Russia in that you don't pay the driver (this excludes mini-buses), instead there is a bus conductor that goes around collecting money.
The hostel I stayed at was called Soul Kitchen Hostel and basically had free everything: internet, laundry, breakfast, international calls, linens...so that was good, especially since I needed to do some laundry. I didn't get to meet a lot of people as there was a large group of asians who mostly talked with themselves in Chinese.
So once I checked in I decided to take a walk down Nevsky Prospect towards the Neva River. It ended up taking 30 minutes and in the heat as the sun was still up. Once at the river I bought an ice cream bar and took a 1 hour boat trip around the river. The tour was in Russian since there was no English tours, but it was nice to be on the water and see all the sailboats, jetskiers, hydrofoils and sunbathers.
After the tour I walked by the Winter Palace and the square in front. Then walked back to the hostel while stopping into various souvenir shops. I also went to a grocery store and picked up some food so I could make myself dinner for the next 2 nights (spaghetti napoli basically). I tried to go to sleep but the sun was still out so I couldn't really until after midnight.
Wednesday morning I slept until 9 am and was at the Hermitage by 10:30 am (everything opens later in Russia since people stay up later). It is a huge art musuem with some rooms set up like it used to be in the Winter Palace. So after about 2 hours walking through various sections I decided to leave and go to Peterhof, the summer palace.
I took one of the metros basically to the end of the line and got on a minibus...which would be similar to a russian version of the shuttles/vans you find in Africa. I got to Peterhof ok and paid to go see all the gardens by the water, which were really nice. And there was a little beach so I walked around there for awhile. Didn't go into any of the palaces or musuems as the lines were long and the weather nice anyways.
Around 5 pm I decided to head back (though it only looked like 2/3 pm). I went and did some last minute shopping, made dinner and booked a cab for the morning. I couldn't really sleep well that night, had cat naps until I got up at 4:15 am to go to the airport. When I did go there it was fairly light out again as the sun didn't really set. But I was able to have a good nap on the plane ride to Berlin and then we landed by 8 am Berlin time.
I did have some photos from my phone...but it seems like my phone deleted them...oops!
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