After getting off of the cruise ship in St. Petersburg, we went through immigration as soon as we got off of the ship.The cruise ship helped us negotiate the cost of a taxi with a driver & we were off to the entrance of the seaport to meet our real driver for the day.
We rode to the entrance of the seaport where the car was stopped and we were ushered out of the car by armed guards and taken into a small, dingy hallway, which served as passport control (no kidding). Of course, as soon as we got out of the car, the car drove away with our luggage still in the trunk. We were a bit nervous at that point. Then, we ended up in line behind two gentlemen who were having a heated discussion with the immigration officers over letting them into Russia. When we finally got to the front of the line, everything was pretty uneventful.
As we stepped out of passport control, we met our official driver, Sergey. The taxi driver and he had met up while we were in line and arranged for our luggage to be moved to the other car.Okay… at this point, I need to warn you about taxis and driving in St. Petersburg. It’s totally insane! Our driver mentioned that traffic laws are merely suggestions, and apparently the same applies to lane markings and stops. The ride was really like a roller coaster; fast starts, fast stops and weaving from side to side. The drivers start jockeying for lane position two blocks before they get to an intersection. We were just glad it was only a roller coaster instead of bumper cars.
After that, we went to the hotel, which was on the shore of the Baltic Sea. The room had 2 single beds, which is pretty typical in European hotel rooms.
We also noticed that there were water coolers in the hallway. We had already been warned to not drink the tap water, including brushing teeth or having drinks with ice in them.A few hours later, we met our tour guide and went on a tour of the city. Before going out of the hotel, it was highly recommended that we not only bring our passports, but also copies of them and our visas. The police tend to stop people randomly on the street and ask to see their ID or fine them for minor infractions (real or otherwise). We were told to only give the police photocopies of our passports if we were ever stopped.
Peter the Great loved water and originally wanted all of the roads to be canals in St. Petersburg. This couldn’t happen due to too much flooding. However, the city is still filled with canals.
All of the buildings in the picture to the left are a part of this huge museum -- The Hermitage. In order to visit each artifact in the museum for 1 minute, it would take 5 years of 9-hour days. In the 1770’s this was built as Peter the Great’s winter palace.
Peter & Paul's Fortress is the place where Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, etc. are buried.
St. Issac’s Cathedral is huge! It's one of the world’s largest cathedrals
The Savior Church on Spilled Blood is a traditional Russian Orthodox cathedral. The inside was almost completely filled with glass mosaics.Many of these buildings were either heavily damaged during WWII or were neglected during Soviet times and have recently been restored.
At the end of our tour, we ate at a Russian restaurant. We invited our driver, Sergey, to join us for dinner. Lori’s salad and main course both had faces.When taking with Sergey over dinner, he told us that his wife taught English to elementary-aged children, which was why he was able to speak English so well. Apparently in Russian elementary school, students have different teachers for each subject, instead of one main teacher.
