A final voyage in Russia: St Petersburg

It's true that in life, we often go for the things that are harder to reach. It seems to be the same in traveling. Every person you meet tends to tell you of all of the impressive places they have been, but if you ask them about the next state or country over from where they live, they'll shrug their shoulders. "It's too close," I've often heard. "I'd rather go somewhere further away, more exotic," is another common phrase. I'll admit, even I had the same problem with St Petersburg. "It's right there," I always excused myself. "I'll go there next weekend." Next weekend became next month, until I was down to my last days in Russia. Then the excuses wore thin. It was time to go.

Before I left, I had an arsenal of advice and information from many of my Russian friends and even a lot of my foreign friends too. Everyone had only positive things to say about this city, aside from the horrible weather in winter. Everyone said that people were extremely friendly there, the buildings were beautiful, and the scenery was great. I just brushed it off, assuming they were exaggerating. You know how Russians are.

But it turns out, I was wrong. The instant I got off the bus at 5 in the morning, and walked onto the empty streets, I was in a state of shock. St Petersburg truly was a beautiful city. And it really is. This is how Peter the Great envisioned his city. Although he built it on a swamp, and watched many people die as they struggled to build structures that wouldn't sink into the earth, he was a determined man. He insisted on having that port to connect Russia to Europe, and make his country truly "civilized."

So St Petersburg is a city close to Europe in a way. Unlike the hodge podge architecture of Moscow, everything seems to have a plan, and the palaces that are strewn about here and there are only of elegant taste. The streets even seemed to be "perfect," including my favorite street, which was designed to be perfectly proportional, with buildings the same height as the width of the street. And with perfect timing, in the evening, around 1 AM, on schedule, all of the bridges draw up to let ships pass through, as if run by some magic clock.

Even the people in St Petersburg are truly friendly. As I struggled with a ticket machine in the metro, a policeman and a ticket seller stopped to help me, and even gave me change, and said very pleasantly in Russian, "have a nice day." Before I could recover from my shock of such a nice interaction, they had already walked away. Even people in the metro were calmer, slower, more polite. I didn't get pushed over once!!!

Of course, for me, the most incredible aspect of St Petersburg is Peterhoff, a large palace located a 40 min drive away from the city on the Gulf of Finland. Inspired by Versailles, Peter the Great was determined to build a palace just as aweinspiring. Never in my life have I seen so many impressive gold plated statues, or glittering marble. To top off the spectacular gardens with flowers of all colors of the rainbow are the impressive fountains, which are placed in every direction so that you constantly discovered a new one. With all of that water shooting up into the air, you didn't need more fanfare than that! Even Louis XIV would have been jealous.

And Louis would have been even more jealous of the view overlooking the sea. After having been deprived of the ocean for all of 9 months, aside from a day trip to the Mediterranean in May, I rejoiced at the opportunity to breathe in some refreshing salty sea air. It was cold, no doubt, and the sun had disappeared ages ago. But it was still a gorgeous view, with my back to the finery and palaces, looking out towards the sea. I suppose I can't blame Peter for wanting that so badly. Who doesn't want the chance to feel free from the land, to travel wherever you please?

Holiday season

This post in response to a friend who accused me of being lazy....I suppose it's true.

However, it seems that we were meant to be lazy in August. I can't think of a lazier month of the year, when everyone in Europe is on holiday, and all of the shops are closed in Italy, France, among others. Even in Moscow life seems to be a little calmer than normal, and the metro at times seems to be emptier (although someone still bumped into me the other day so hard that the book I was reading went flying and it was a miracle that it didn't get trampled on). Everyone seems much happier now, too, now that the heatwave has temporarily lifted, and the cool breeze and flighty rain showers make it pleasant to walk around the city again.

I've had many travelers visit me these past few weeks, and they all seem to think that Moscow is "so nice" and "so pretty" and has "wonderful weather." It makes me laugh when I tell them about the "wonderful weather" in winter, when it was well below "comfortable temperatures." Nevertheless, despite the insane increase in tourist groups, and the large percentage of Moscovites on holiday, Moscow still feels relatively the same. The metro still gets crowded at rush hour, people are still running from one place to another, the homeless still beg in the underground passages, including that poor young soldier in a wheelchair who wanders from metro car to metro car, begging with his forlorn gaze.

I guess the tourists miss out on that, since he only 'works' on my line, which doesn't pass by the Red Square. Outside of that massive Red Square and Kremlin area, tourists seem to be a rarity. They prefer hiding away in a place that seems comfortably 'touristy,' with plenty of tourguides, maps, and other foreigners willing to take your photo. Even many of the people I have hosted at my flat are afraid to go exploring far from the Kremlin alone.

It's no surprise that many Moscovites seem rather surprised to meet a foreigner in this city, even though the Red Square is swarming with them. You would have to be rather brave to face the metro alone, right? No, it's just the same as the subway in New York, all you have to do is fight for your way around, and eventually you will get where you want to go.