thursdaysd

No one is bashing Russia. We're just reporting our reactions. Since I don't like baroque there are a lot of other places in Europe where I wouldn't especially like buildings others rave about. Russia was fascinating, but that doesn't mean everything was perfect! Cool down.

E_M

Now, there was this one Georgian restaurant...I *think* it was on the street with the Four Horsemen...that served the absolutely greatest Georgian bread and duck with apple that I have ever, ever tasted in my life.

I also loved looking at the pedestrian walkways and counting how many of Mr. White's 5 points were among them.

For shoppers: Sultanna Frantsuzova. Beautiful clothing.

Also beautiful were the iron bridges. Each one was different, yet all were gorgeous. My favorite was the Iron Gates by the Church of the Spilled Blood.

Nevertheless, I stand by my original opinion that while it wasn't a vacation, it was a great experience.

gertie3751

No Russia bashing here. I first went to StP in 1974. Big changes. My grandfather worked there in 1911 and I was thrilled to see the Zinger building on Nevsky where he worked. My father was born there, but I'm a Brit.
I spoke to my Russian friend about communism: she said she and her family had a good life under communism. They had a good education, lived in a nice apartment, had a good job. She travelled all over eastern europe and since then has been all over the world. I met her in the USA. She feels that communism was a bit of Utopia that didn't allow for human nature.
I was glad to have the opportunity to see StP again after 30 years. It was another insight to culture and history that we all need to experience.
Next stop Middle East if it can be done....

noe847

Didn't you go to St. P to study, E_M? Living in a place for a month for a purpose other than primarily vacation gives a different view than you'd get either as a tourist or as a resident. I've been in similar circumstances and I'm sure if I were to report my impressions they'd be some 'negatives' along with the positives. Seeing sights is one thing, really understanding the culture is another. Longish term visits land one somewhere in between, imo.

julies

I really, really enjoyed EM's trip report and didn't feel that it is Russia bashing at all. We hope to visit St. Petersburg next year, and I want to get a feel for what I can rally anticipate rather than what the typical tourist brochure will gloss over.

We are not travellers who want or expect things to be just like home, and we more want to get a feel for real living conditions in a place.

Katya--

Please explain how you travel with window screen & duct tape. Do you have a roll of screen & then cut it to fit the window each place you stay?

To all of those of you who've visited--

We are not tour group type of people; we're typically independent travellers. But, we want to do more than just skim the surface of the city with its tourist sights. We'd actually like the chance to interact with residents. Are there any ways for this to happen?

katya_NY

Actually I did not feel that E_M's report was Russia-bashing, either- and I don't want to take away anymore from the original poster. I just felt that the piling on of negative Russian comments would never be tolerated if, say, they were made about Barcelona or (God forbid) Paris.

Yes, I do bring a roll of window screening (small one- fortochka-sized) and good duct tape to Russia in the summers, if I am not going to be staying exclusively with friends. My friends have long had screens on their windows.

To julies- I would recommend you contact a homestay organization to match you with a family (or sometimes a single person) to stay with for at least part of your visit. It is much more of a real experience, especially in a place like Russia where people do put on a front in public.

dsquared

Keep telling people about the mosquitos, surly service, and the palaces that are nothng more than "overdone houses." If you can dissuade people from going there, it'll make it so much less crowded for my next visit. ;-)

gertie3751

No mozzies there in May...or none that wanted to bite me at least.

Timussea

Sorry I`m just reading this now!!

My 1st trip to SPB was 1989 and the 1st after that was May 2005. Since then I have been back 10, yes 10, times!

A couple of things to clear up would be 1.) what sort of accomodations were you at?? I rented an apartment, with air conditioning, WITH jacuzzi, with no mosquitos, ON Nevsky Prospekt, for USD $ 136 a night?

2.) If you prepare in advance, I daresay SPB has better, more varied and a greater number of great restaurants than any city in the US (except NYC)!! With no risk of "tummy troubles"! I recommend www.restoran.ru also in English!

3.) I wasn`t awake often during the day so I can`t comment on women`s attire, however after hours, the club scene in SPB is better than NYC, less expensive, the people are more open, more interested in talking with foreigners (albeit since they have problems travelling) and were impeccably, if often interestingly dressed! I recommend www.waytorussia.net for a club guide in English.

If you stray from the center of SPB, yes, fewer people speak English, yes, coastally, near water bodies, mosquitos can torture! Yes if you don`t watch what you eat, you are in trouble but hey, that`s anywhere!! I got food poisoning in the south of France and Hepatitis A at a "fine Dining" restaurant in Malta: that bastion of british offshore banking!!

I have visited over 86 countries in the past 24 years, professionally and can honestly say that as a people, the Russians are as open, fun, interesting, approachable and generally as likeable as the Aussies, Irish and South Africans, which till last May were my top 3!!!!

Spasiba!
Timussea

lanejohann

this is an old report but i just wanted to say thanks to EM and all who contributed

i like these kind of reports
i dont like when people rave on and gloss over the real stuff

i have travelled tomany of the same places that my colleagues have and reading their 'wow/ emails i wonder if we visited the same places sometimes
thing is... with the people like EM - when something is good - you really know it is good...
a hard marker!
i dont find it negative - i find it realistic
im russia- bound and i know what to expect but im hoping against hope that i will come away glowing ...
we are going to scandinavia and we deliberately planned it that way - if we do need to 'recover' from russia at least it will be somewhere
quite civilised - yep i know it's going to be expensive!