We have officially survived our first week in Russia!!
Having planned to ease ourselves into our year-long worldwide tour by arranging to spend our first week in a large, 'western' city in the European region of Russia..... we were in for a big surprise...
2:40pm: Two smiling, unsuspecting 'travellers' leave London on a delayed Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt.
5:15pm: Two slightly ruffled 'travellers' race across Frankfurt airport to catch their connecting flight to St. Petersburg with 5 minutes to spare.
5:45pm: The luggage belonging to the two 'travellers' still sits peacefully on the airport tarmac in Frankfurt.
10:20pm: Two wide-eyed 'travellers' arrive in St. Petersburg.
....so the fun begins....
Every guidebook we have read on Russia advises: Ensure you get both entry and exit customs forms stamped on arrival in Russia.
In the confusion of trying to sort out our lost luggage situation, the apathetic, non-english speaking official refuses to stamp our customs form, resulting in our first 'tourist versus scary-official' stand-off. After 5 minutes, a throuroughly pissed-off official finally gave us our much coveted stamps. Our beloved 'stamped' forms were in our possession a mere 15 minutes before the 'lost luggage' lady stole them away in return for a measley 'lost luggage' ticket.
90 minutes after landing in Russia - with neither luggage nor customs forms - we finally managed to stagger out of the airport, eager to reach the haven of our hotel.
Every guidebook we have read on Russia advises: If you are coming from the airport you will be introduced to a bunch of thugs who control the taxis, ignore all enthusiastic offers for a taxi ride, and wait at the bus stop directly outside.
Unfortunately, none of these guidebooks advise what to do when you are the last two passengers to exit the airport that evening, the concourse is empty, there are no buses in sight, and the only way of gettting to your hotel appears to be a dodgy looking guy, in a an equally dodgy looking suit, standing next to a black mercedes with tinted windows..... Our first encounter with the Russian Mafia!!!!!
We safely arrived at our hotel 30 minutes later having succombed to the powers of the local Mafia and 900 Rubles ($35!!) lighter - an extortionate amount. Our room turned out to have been last decorated in the 1950s, with 1950s dust included. However, we were relieved to have reached our final destination for the evening. We wasted no time indulging ourselves in our first shots of authentic Russian vodka at the bar downstairs.
After an eventful inital 24 hours (after many frantic calls, we received our luggage the following evening), the rest of our week-long stay in St. Petersburg has been very successful. Our first night accomodation was swapped for a great one-bedroom apartment located in the middle of the tourist district and furnished from the latest IKEA catalogue (view our photos below for comparison).
Hotel Neva room 1950's style
Ikea apartment modelled by Eric (model wears own clothes)
Most of our time here has been spent walking around what is definitely a very beautiful city, taking in many of its famous sites - highlighted with trips to the Hermitage, the Winter Palace, the Church on Spilled Blood, Pushkin Palace, etc..... And of course, a mandatory trip to the Vodka Museum.
To view more of our photos of St. Petersburg, go to the following web address:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leflipflop/sets/559104/
In about 5 hours, we will be taking the overnight train to Moscow.... we've reserved two 'couchettes' on-board the sleeper train, which will take about 8 hours. See you in Moscow!!!!!