From Helsinki you can easily jump on a train to St. Pete and it only takes a few hours. If you haven't been to Russia before this is one of my favourite Russian cities. It's such a beautiful city by the sea with decorative buildings that almost make you feel like Alice in Wonderland due to their ginormous size.
I was in St.Pete for only a couple of days but still had time to experience a lot. The weather was beautiful so I headed out for a long walk by the sea and headed towards the Hermitage museum which looks so candylike with it's vibrant minty green facade. I've been to St.Petersburg before but had never been inside the museum, so this time I didn't want to miss my chance. The queues can be really long, however, some hotels have a deal with the museum so you get to cut the line which is perfect.
I don't know how long it takes to go through all the rooms at the Hermitage but after a couple of hours I had had enough. It's really interesting at first and worth the visit....but to look at all the old Tsars and jewellery and millions of gold-plated items it's a bit too much for just one day...atleast for me.
By now, I was more interested in going to look at one of Ginza's sushi places Ginger. The restaurant is quite small but I liked the interior. The food was not too bad either. However there was a band doing sound checks in the restaurant next door and they were sooooo loud. If it hadn't been for the terrible thunderstorm outside and the fact that I was famished I probably would've left and maybe come back another time.
After my sushi the sun came out again so I continued my walk and headed towards the Nevsky Prospect (the main shopping street) to the Singer café. I just wanted to go there for a tea or something just because it's the touristy thing to do...however, I do not really recommend it. It used to be nicer before and the building just looks beautiful from the outside. Just pop inside if you are in need of a bookstore or a toilet :D
I then walked to look at the colourful domes of the Church of our Saviour on Spilled Blood.
After this I started to head back to the hotel but my trip took quite a long time since most of the time the rain showers were so heavy that I had to run for cover. Luckily I was able to keep dry, all except of my Mousey shoes...they had been swimming in deep puddles of water.
Since my way back took so long I was hungry again and headed to another restaurant by Ginza called Pryanosti & Radosti on Vasilievskiy.
Although I'm not usually a big fan of chain owned restaurants, Ginza tends to surprise me due to their quirky interior. The food is also quite okay.
I visited a pub called the wild duck.....Oddly enough they actually have a wild duck inside that feels a bit intimidating when it comes really close :D It's funny to see it goes crazy when the staff take out the mop...seemed like it liked to take a free ride when they were cleaning the floors (probably liked the wet feeling of the mop on it's webbed feet). I kind of felt sorry for the duck though and really hope they take good care of it.
Finally back after a long day of atleast 18km of walking and my feet looked like a homeless...full of blisters and black from the shoes being wet and colouring the soles of my feet.
Day 2: I went out to enjoy the sun and headed to the Peter and Paul fortress. Just nice to take a walk there. I was even happy to find a bunny statue that I've seen a lot on the web. Atleast now I know where it's from.
For a late lunch I found this beautiful small restaurant called Buter Brodsky in Vasilievskiy. Only once I looked at the menu and the interior, I realized a friend of mine had told me about this place.
This place is perfect for drinks or snacks. I didn't try their main courses so I can't tell you about them but I really enjoyed the atmosphere of this place and their snacks called smushi (mini smørrebrød).
I Will definitely visit again if I visit St.Petersburg again.
For dinner I met up with some friends. We went to a Georgian restaurant close to Buter Brodsky and my hotel. The look of the place is really not that nice and I probably wouldn't have chosen this place based on the looks. The food was really good though and cheap. If you haven't had Georgian cuisine before I do really recommend you try.
