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St. Petersburg, Russia


Bugged

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Bugged,

I think I can say I know the city fairly well. As it happens, I was in St. Petersburg just last week.

What to recommend depends a lot on what you want to do, what you're interested in, time and money available. Glad to make suggestions if you can give some ideas. If you want to get a general impression take a look at Wiktravel, that more than covers the basics.

As Russian cities go, for tourist visits anyway, St. Petersburg is definitely one of the very best. The center is very attractive. Way, way better than Moscow.

If you get to choose between summer and fall, I suggest choosing summer. During the summer solstice it's pretty much a holiday atmosphere, the sun doesn't set very much, they call the period "White Nights"

Two caveats right off the bat though:

- It will probably be a bit more expensive than you expect, this is primarily a function of tourist funneling, there is cheapo stuff out there but it's not so accessible to foreigners who (I assume in your case) don't speak Russian.

- The weather can suck. Blame Peter the Great and take your umbrella.

Glad to help more, just ask.

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Might I suggest a different kind of trip

http://www.guildtravel.com/citybreaks/visa-free-cruise-from-helsinki-to-st-petersburg/

Don't know how long a visit you are planning but this is an option. Unless you are of course put off by M/S Estonia and Costa Concordia. ;)

BTW: The Finnish Tank museum is ~1hrs drive from Helsinki and the War Museum in Helsinki is hosting the Winter War exhibit until the end of 2012.

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You are assuming that Bugged would want to spend her valuable time hanging out in tank museums. Does it not occur to you that she might—for instance—rather spend her time in dance clubs where she could meet good looking interesting men (which category would exclude all Finns)?

Michael

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Bugged,

What to recommend depends a lot on what you want to do, what you're interested in, time and money available. Glad to make suggestions if you can give some ideas. If you want to get a general impression take a look at Wiktravel, that more than covers the basics.

If you get to choose between summer and fall, I suggest choosing summer. During the summer solstice it's pretty much a holiday atmosphere, the sun doesn't set very much, they call the period "White Nights"

- The weather can suck. Blame Peter the Great and take your umbrella.

Glad to help more, just ask.

Thanks for the wikitravel suggestion - I didn't even know the site existed! I especially got a kick out of this advice... "Russian driving is wild. Drivers attack their art with an equal mix of aggressiveness and incompetence."

The trip will be via cruiseline, affording only a short visit, but atleast there will be an overnight stay. White Night(s) sounds like a good time, from what I've read on the net. Sight-seeing is a big draw; taking in the architecture, river cruises, or the like.

I'm a bit saddened to hear about the weather. Rain is my sworn enemy, and not just while travelling. But it's definitely not uncommon in coastal cities. I'll take my trusty l'il umbrella. Natch.

I don't like the idea of having to stay with the cruiseline excursions in order to visit St. Pete's, so getting a tourist Visa is something that I'm really keen on. Trouble is, the travel agent is unhelpful in this respect. And the internet offers up a lot of sites to help secure a Visa but I don't know if any of the sites can be trusted.

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Watch Out For

St. Petersburg can be a challenging place to visit. First and foremost, if you're not on a shore excursion through a licensed operator and want to go it on your own, you need a Russian visa, and you have to apply for it in advance of your trip. The cost varies wildly, and it can creep up to $400, depending on whether you use regular or express service. Your source for such is the Russian embassy or consulate. Or ask your travel agent or cruise line if they work with a reputable visa service; they charge a fee but save you time. You will, either way, need to submit two passport photos. Click here for more details.

Or go with a local tour operator -- such as SPB tours, Alla or TJ Travel -- that has special certification to carry passengers without a visa. You'll need to book your tour in advance and show your ship a copy of your confirmed tour receipt before you can debark.

Also, don't drink the tap water. Stick to bottled varieties, and go easy on ice in your drinks, as well. The water is not up to Western standards and may cause "traveler's tummy" (stomach upset).

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/ports/newport.cfm?ID=73

Useful site with plenty of currentish info.

One thing I did on my last cruise was to nick off the Web all the great pictures of where I was going. This meant:

A if the weather was crappy I still had some good pics : 0

B did not have to worry about photographs all the time and could be more relaxed

C Camera batteries run out so less pressure to take all the shots leads to longer camera life

Last trip I bought a new Olympus compact with a 36x zoom and a wide angle of round 60 degrees. The zoom is the equivalent of an 842mm at full stretch which is asti=onishgly good. The whole camera about 250euro and weighs less than my old 105mm zoom lens

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Bugged,

You have to take all advice about Russia (including this I suppose) with a healthy grain of salt. Frankly, I found the St. Petersburg drivers to be quite polite and extremely predictable provided I stayed in the pedestrian crossings and obeyed the traffic light. Yes one might get honked at for jaywalking, but hey, you're jaywalking.

Certainly driving there is more, ah, peppy than say in a US suburb. But Italy and the Balkans are worse, this is my first-hand experience.

On the visa and trip, do I get you right, what you're trying to do is basically organize the ferry ride yourself and then since the ferry touches in St. Pete you want to get off and make your own itinerary? Total time in city about 48 hours?

If that's the case, certainly that's possible, but if I were in your shoes I would at least consider some kind of package tour. This is because:

- I don't know where cruise ships dock exactly in St. Pete, but whereever it is it's not in the center because the Neva's too shallow. Meaning time and energy figuring out mass transit to get to the center. Certainly doable but maybe not how one might want to spend limited tourist time.

- It certainly possible to get an individual visa to Russia, I've done it and probably millions of other people do it too. That said, as a general thing the Russians seem to do better dealing with large groups and organizations, and less well with individuals. This is an argument in favor of a package tour or at least getting in on paper at least as part of some group.

- As to being locked into the itinerary of a package tour, it is helpful to remember that in Russia cutting class, skipping work, and not putting in full hours are not nearly the social faux pas that such behavior is in the Anglo-Saxon West.

Likewise, useful explanations of why one didn't keep one's word - "It didn't work out", "I was sick", "I had to help my mother", "The water pipes/telephone/heating/whatever in our apartment broke and I had to fix it/them", "I had to go to (fill in the blank) government office and that took all day", and "My kid was ill" - might be considered hogwash in the Anglo-Saxon West, however, in Russia one can dodge massive responsibility by making such declarations.

And since Russia is a very chauvinist country, women are expected to keep their word even less. Clever Western women exploit this social loophole from time to time.

I'm off on a tangent but point is there is no law that says if you are booked to go to say the bus tour of the Great Siege of Leningrad as part of your package tour that you must attend. Likewise, there is no law that says you can't go somewhere else at the same time. No one will lock you up in the Peter-Paul Fortress, you won't be shot like a Decembrist.

It is very possible to book pretty much whatever tour you want, or go whevever you want, under your own power. The only problem is practicality, Russia is very doable but it's not user-friendly and there's a learning curve. So if there are ways to bypass learning how to organize one's stay there, so as to have more time just staying there, I would think seriously about taking advantage of them if I could.

If get to St. Petersburg during White Nights you will not forget it, I promise you.

In the middle of June you might very well have clear days but they could be muggy. This is an argument for a better hotel with AC, the cheaper one's might not have it. But it's sort of a roll of the dice, it might be chilly enough to wear a light jacket.

Main thing is carry an umbrella.

Oh, one other thing, St. Peterburg is walkable but be prepared for some pretty substantial distance. The subway/underground is excellent but during rush hour you just might get the teeming ant effect. The signs I believe are in English and it's fairly easy to cope with, but the first time a foreigner goes in there it takes a bit of bravery. They always come out fine somewhere else of course.

My suggestion at this point is read up on Wikitravel and decide what's interesting, and then see if you can get a package that allows you to do it, with the qualification that "allows" is understood to mean "There will be this block of time for this uninteresting tour, which I will skip to do this cooler thing."

Thanks for the wikitravel suggestion - I didn't even know the site existed! I especially got a kick out of this advice... "Russian driving is wild. Drivers attack their art with an equal mix of aggressiveness and incompetence."

The trip will be via cruiseline, affording only a short visit, but atleast there will be an overnight stay. White Night(s) sounds like a good time, from what I've read on the net. Sight-seeing is a big draw; taking in the architecture, river cruises, or the like.

I'm a bit saddened to hear about the weather. Rain is my sworn enemy, and not just while travelling. But it's definitely not uncommon in coastal cities. I'll take my trusty l'il umbrella. Natch.

I don't like the idea of having to stay with the cruiseline excursions in order to visit St. Pete's, so getting a tourist Visa is something that I'm really keen on. Trouble is, the travel agent is unhelpful in this respect. And the internet offers up a lot of sites to help secure a Visa but I don't know if any of the sites can be trusted.

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The signs I believe are in English...

Then times perhaps have changed. I had a girl friend who back almost 30 years ago visited Leningrad (as it was called then). She told me that when she got to the city, nothing was in English and she couldn't find anybody who spoke the language. She was on her own and lost, and at one point just sat down on a curb and cried out of frustration. But eventually things worked out and she thought much of the city very beautiful.

Michael

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I'm about 99 per cent sure the metro is billingual these days. It has to be, I just didn't happen to notice. The city is by Russian standards incredibly well set up for tourists, there are kiosks with maps and signs pointing the groups the right way. When I was there last I walked from the Moscow station to the Winter Palace, and back, with the worst kind of slushy snow coming down, and I found nary a puddle or ice patch.

(This last may not seem like a big deal in the West. But in Russia the concept of a large mass of well-groomed winter sidewalks on which pedestrians may walk confidently and with dry feet borders on science fiction.)

From what I gathered the people in the tourist industry pretty much all had some basic English and you could certainly find students or professionals with strong English. St. Petersburg is still a very "intellectual" city, meaning a relatively high percent of students and university graduates. Factor in all the pirated Hollywood movies every one's been watching for the last 20 years, and I bet you could make your basic needs known to just about any one these days in English and have a chance of being understood.

I was in Leningrad 30 years ago myself. The updated version from what I have seen is far more attractive than the Soviet version, but big picture it's still pretty much the same city. Hard to move all those palaces and roads and canals I guess.

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From what I gathered the people in the tourist industry pretty much all had some basic English and you could certainly find students or professionals with strong English. St. Petersburg is still a very "intellectual" city, meaning a relatively high percent of students and university graduates. Factor in all the pirated Hollywood movies every one's been watching for the last 20 years, and I bet you could make your basic needs known to just about any one these days in English and have a chance of being understood.

I'm sure that my friend would have not experienced her language barrier problems had she had the foresight to deal through Intourist or a similar agency, but she was traveling on her own. In those days, if I understand correctly, that was not the brightest course to take, especially if you did not speak the language. But this particular GF was not noted for her astuteness.

Michael

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By Michael Emrys

You are assuming that Bugged would want to spend her valuable time hanging out in tank museums.

Just saying in case she has some time to spend inbetween dates. Or needs pointers to where to have the date. ;)

Does it not occur to you that she might—for instance—rather spend her time in dance clubs where she could meet good looking interesting men

None of us is getting any younger. Not that I would even dare to suggest Bugged is getting past her prime.....

(which category would exclude all Finns)?

I would like to point out that Tom of Finland and Adam Lamberts boyfriend are not typical of Finnish men. Nor is Kimi Räikkönen.

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