So I made it to Russia! I was so excited to be setting off that even though my hostel was only 2 minutes from the train station i was at the platform a good half an hour early, a habit I've yet to repeat unfortunately! It was a long border crossing, made longer by the beautiful and energetic Estonian girls in my compartment who were determined to party til we got through customs, which took place from 2am to 4am! a 20 carriage long train and only 1 set of guards, an hour each in each country. Still no hassles, which is a happy thing. The baggage checking guys were very taken by the girls in my compartment and stayed for ages chatting and flirting, teasing them about their bad Russian. Still I cant complain as one of them helped me fill in my customs declaration which would have taken me about 3 hours to decifer otherwise!!!

So St Petersburg, forged from the marshes by Peter the Great. Had to sleep slathered in bug repellent every night as there were little nasty mozzies buzzing in my ear every night. Wore my little feet out walking around and about, checking out this palace and that. It's definitely an impressive city, although not well maintained really so you need to use some imagination to restore things to their former glory sometimes.
My first night I was booked into the Hotel Rossia, a sovietesque behemoth out in the suburbs. The price list in the foyer was about 150AUD (50 quid) for a single unrennovated room and by golly it was unrennovated! Fortunately my travel agent in Slovakia had negotiated a better price but still I would normally only pay about 10 euro for a room that old. Wallpaper peeling, springs sticking out of bed. It was amusing. Turned on the tv and the first thing i see is "The Secret Life of Us" mono dubbed into Russian. In Parnu the Irish girls were watching "Young Lions". I think the key to Australian tv series is that they sell them off to every country in the world. I've seen Aussie tv shows and films in pretty much every country I've been to. Curious!
So I moved to "hostel" which turned out to be a pension under rennovation. I shared a room with some Russian ladies, some turning up late at night with a plastic bag of belonginngs and leaving early the next day. Strange. But I got to practice some Russian and the place was a lot cleaner than the youth hostel that I trekked to a couple of times to organise tickets etc.
Went on a walking tour of the backstreets of Petersburg. Olga took us through inner courtyards of apartment blocks that I would never have dreamed of trying to walk through, but are common short cuts from the locals. It was amazing how only a street or two off Nevsky Prospect, the main boulevard in Petersburg, the fancy facades have gone and the relatively poor, everyday life is in harsh reality. Old babushkas sitting on wooden boxes outside the marketplace, selling small cups of berries or a few spring onions or cucumbers. Saw the home of John Lennon's biggest fan, Beatles music constantly playing from his window, communal apartments and the houses of many famous writers.
My camera broke again but hopefully I'll still have some pictures to scan in of the spectacular church domes of the city and the palaces of Peterhof and Tsarske Selo. I went to the ballet one night, managed to get a student ticket although supposedly they dont sell them to foreigners, so for 12AUD I got a box seat for Giselle in a gorgeous chocolate box of a theatre.
But the highlight of St Petersburg is without a doubt the Hermitage, or the Winter Palace. Kind of like the Louvre in that it's a former royal palace turned into an art gallery extraordinaire. The story goes that if you were to glance at each piece in their collection for just one second it would take you a decade to see it all. I prepared myself well for a mamoth day of culture. Double expresso and lots of pastries for breakfast, small bad filled with chocolate and candies to keep me going, i joined the queue half an hour before opening. Happily with my student card I got in for free, avoiding the 10USD entry fee! Managed to procure a map, they were reluctant to give them out. And off I set. Ofcourse I got ridiculously lost in the labyrithine (not sure if that's how you spell it but it's a satisfying word) maze of rooms but all the better for discovering works that I probably would have skipped if I'd see them on the map. All I can do really is misquote Howard Carter and say "I've seen wonderful things". And that was just the art works, from all periods of European history, the palace itself was extraordinarily beautiful. You can check it out at www.hermitagemuseum.org
But, before I knew it I was at the internet cafe killing a few hours before my train to Moscow. Ofcourse I ran into an English guy I'd met in Parnu and we grabbed some beers on the way to the station. Nice way to be sent off on a train journey really!