A rather textbook start to the trip as a result of Steve's forgetting to set the alarm for 4:30am led to a madcap dash down the M4 towards Gatwick only to discover we didn't know which terminal we were supposed to be in. After six month's preparation, day one does not get off to a very auspicious start.
Met by Alex at Pulkova-2 airport after the 3 hour flight to St Pete's. Alex's beat up Ford Sierra sports an ominous looking bullet hole in the windscreen as Megan is quick to point out. She also spent the 55 min journey trying to see into the blackened out Mercs at the lights.
We'd booked an un-refurbished room at the Hotel Neva and it's true to say that it had not been refurbished - ever! Clean but 70s would be fair. There was lashings of hot water though (apparently hot water is heated centrally by the city and distributed - a throw back to Communist times if ever there was one). Compare with the fact that the cash machines speak to you.
We'd arranged a guide through Russia Experience and Natasha duly turned up to walk us around St Pete's for four hours. It was a good intro to the layout of the city and to spot things we wanted to visit later. Turns out that it's the 300 year anniversary of the creation of St Pete's next year. As a result, many of the sights of interest are covered with scaffolding. Natasha's day job as a history teacher meant we were never left wanting for info on all matters historical including just how great Peter the Great really was.
Much greater in fact that the loo at McDonald's where Steve managed to get jammed. Eventually to be released into a crowd of laughing onlookers including Megan - grrr!
As if that wasn't enough, Steve had a package to post back to the UK. Never mind being stuck in a queue in Russia, we caused one. Never try to post a package here. No wonder we received an emphatic "Nyet!" when we waved the package under the woman's nose. Overall, it took about an hour to complete all the forms, open the package for examination and have it repackaged in the official box - with padding, then wrapped in brown paper and tied with string. Total cost for all that effort and airmail to the UK. GBP1.50 - expected delivery time? 3 weeks.
Our visit to The Hermitage and Winter Palace cost 300 Roubles (GBP7). It costs the locals R15 (35p). Still, it's good value when you consider the size of the place. They have 3 000 000 items and 400 halls which at 10secs per exhibit would take a year to see and you'd need to walk 25km. Needless to say, we made a beeline for the XIX-XX Century European art. Much of which does not get to travel abroad often. We'd recommend being disciplined as there's far too much to see. We did look at the State Rooms in the Winter Palace which are awesome.
St Pete's as a whole is an impressive city. The buildings are massive (whole blocks in length), the streets are wide and there's a big sky. Right now, in April, it's cold by UK standards hovering about freezing. The River Neva has been thawed for a while and has flooded already although there are large blocks of ice still floating past from the upstream lakes. Maybe it's due to the recent thaw and floods that the city seems to be coated in a thin layer of dirt - cars, buildings, monuments - everything is greyed out. Vladimir Putin is from St Petes which means there's money aplenty for the restoration of everything for the 300th anniversary. The word is that the money supply will dry up as soon as the tri-centennial is over. Coupling this with the cold and dirt makes the place seem quite grim. Apparently it gets green in Summer and up to 34deg.
We also visited the cruiser Aurora on permanent mooring on the Neva. This ship fired the shot to signal the start of the 1917 revolution and also broadcast from the harbour the news that the Czar had been overthrown. There's a reasonably interesting museum on board and it's free to visit.
Train #1 from St Pete's to Moscow leaves around 11pm and gets in around 8am so you don't see much en route. We did wake to see the snow covered suburbs of Moscow rolling by which was as expected.
Moscow gives the impression of being much more dour than St Pete's. This could be to do with the cold and damp. It's snowing too! We had another guided tour organised by Russia Experience which proved to be informative both on the architecture of central Moscow and the current political and economic climate.
We visited the Kremlin which was not at all as expected. Steve expected something more Kafkaesque and Megan, although she'd been here before (it was 15 years ago), ed Square had changed. The North Gate and nearby church have now been reconstructed - they had been destroyed by Stalin to widen the square entrances for military parades. We also checked out St Basil's which is impressive on the outside but simply not worth the R100 to see inside. We did not manage to see Lenin as he had been taken away for restoration!
Walking around town, we were surprised at the amount of money on show. There are flash cars and there's clearly a wealthy set who frequent the famous GUM department store in Red Square and the boutiques of Tverskaya St. Look behind the scenes though and the majority are poor. Apparently, there's no middle class here - only the rich and the poor.
We feel we've seen Moscow now - it only took 3 days - and are keen to move on. Tonight we get Train #10 at 11:30pm headed for Irkutsk - Siberia. The trip should take 4 days. See you there!
Your Moscow correspondents.