St-Petersburg

Hi guys,

We just arrived by train in Moskou, and at our hostel, a PC was just standing there, waiting to be (ab)used. Time to tell you what we have been doing up till now.
Tuesday morning started with plenty of excitement when we heard on the radio that the train from Moscou to St-Petersburg had derailed due to a bomb explosion. We quickly called our contact in "Piter", but she hadn't heard it yet. After saying goodbye to our moms, Laura and the group of my cousin Krijn, whom also left for Osaka that day, we took off after a small delay. A woman's bag had to be removed due to security reasons, as she hadn't shown up.(still feeling safe...)

As we expected a temperature betzeen 15 and 22 degrees, the 31degrees humid climate came as a surprise, and now we're pretty shure that we're carrying too much stuff around.

Our hostel was on the first floor of a not so nice building, at a 5' walk from Nevsky Prospect, St-Peterburg's main street, and it was huge! Unfortunately, it wasn't that good. It wasn't very clean, and breakfast was aweful (seriously aweful) , causing Eline's first diarrhoea adventure. The location, however, compensated for everything, as we appeared to be sleeping just next to the city centre, within walking range of all sights.

The first evening, we just stralled around, had a beer at a terrace, and finally ate at a typical Russian kitsch restaurant. There was no English menu, nor an English speaking person. The food was great, and we paid about the same amount for a litre of beer and two main courses as we paid for the beers an hour earlier.

The second day, we walked to the Church of the saviour on spilled blood, which was closed. we then visited the Hermitage, which was very impressive. Afterwards, we spent 3 hours searching for the St-Petersburg Vlerick campus, while enjoying some excellent Russian pies ( I imitated a chicken to explain I wanted chicken pie, which they didn't have). We finally found Vlerick, and had a small tour. Afterwards, we went for sushi, after seeing 6 marrying couples taking pictures and throwing their glasses at a stone and a girl with a bear.

The last day we visited Peterhof by Meteor-boat, a giant speedboat, which was very expensive, we also visited the earlier mentioned Blood cathedral, and walked around in the Summer gardens. We had some beers at a great bar, and finally, after having visited a supermarket and meeting our Dutch companions for the rest of the traintrip, we were brought to the station. The sleeping train was very nice. As we had two Russians in our compartment, communication was almost impossible, but Belgium is a nice country.

Some final thoughts: St-Petersburg is a wonderful city! Buildings are amazing, and althoug we didn't go out, I know from my previous experience that the clubs are excellent here. A main difference with the late fall when I visited Peter the first time, is that in summer, all sights are swarmed with tourists. On the other hand, in summer, Russian women and girls show everything they've got. And trust us, it's a sight on its own. Beautiful women parade along Nevsky Prospect, showing their long legs under "micro-skirts" (mini would be suitable). Strings are widely accepted, bras are totally out, and without 10cm high heels, you're not really fashionable. ( relational issues prevented me from takimg loads and loads of pictures, but trust us on this one...)