Just done St Petersburg by ourselves - tips and advice

[minsterman]

We are just back from Jewel of the Seas. We were in St Petersburg for 2 days (docked overnight).

 

Before we did the cruise we found it very difficult to find any information about touring St Petersburg on our own (ie not on a cruise ship or independent tour). However, I was (dgf not too happy!) determined to go it alone and now we are back and still in one piece we thought we would share our thoughts and answer any queries anybody has.

 

In short, we found it no different to going to any other country where you don't speak the language and with which you are not familiar.

 

To go into more detail: we are from the UK and so had to get a Visa in order to get into St Petersburg without doing a tour. However, this was quite easy. We used www.visitrussia.com to get our Visas. It was slightly more expensive than trying to do the application completely independently but they were very helpful answering queries and the application form was easy to follow.

 

We had a rough plan of what we wanted to see before getting there but were slightly concerned about the practicalities eg getting from the cruise terminal into the city but we needn't have worried. When we got off the ship we sailed through immigration which is in the new passenger terminal building. On the other side of immigration are shops, ATM etc but most importantly a taxi desk complete with English speaking taxi dispatcher. As we were getting our bearings, he approached us to see if we needed a taxi, which we did. There is no "taxi rank" as such however, he made a phone call and within a couple of minutes a taxi arrived. We asked about price and the dispatcher explained that it was a fixed price of 600 roubles (about £15 / $25) to the Hermitage / city centre. He also asked if we needed a taxi back to the terminal in the evening. We said no because we weren't sure of timings and so he wrote down in Russian the name and address of the terminal for us to give to a taxi driver for when we wanted to come back. He also said we should agree a price before getting in the taxi.

 

When we were ready to return that evening, although they weren't as readily available as London or New York it was still fairly easy to find a taxi (we left the centre of SPB at about 22.45). The taxi driver initially said 800 roubles but we agreed on 700 and he stuck to this when we got back to the ship). The drive there / back took about 15/20 minutes each way and out of the 4 taxis that we got 2 of the 4 drivers spoke reasonably good English, 1 spoke enough to get by/ negotiate a price and the fourth we are not sure about as the taxi dispatcher spoke to him!

 

The second morning was just as easy and the driver obviously trying to drum up business offered to take us on a tour to Catherines Palace or wherever else we wanted to go. Whilst we didn't take him up on this offer had we wanted to do this we would have felt comfortable enough to have done this with him.

 

On Day 1 we spent the morning (2.5 hours) in the Hermitage and this was a very very brief visit. If you like this sort of thing you need at least a day there. We then went to Peterhof using the hydrofoil which leave from the riverbank directly in front of the Hermitage. There are several companies to choose from. It costs about 500 roubles each way per person and takes 30 minutes.

 

On our return from Peterhof we spent the evening wandering around some of the sights in SPB. We felt comfortable wandering the streets by ourselves if you are used to big cities.

 

Obviously, common sense should be used at all times as there are plenty of stories about pickpockets etc as there are in plenty of other cities. With a sensible approach this shouldn't be any more of a concern than anywhere else and my gf felt very safe compared to what she was expecting.

 

We went on a Canal tour in the evening but found out that the only English tour with the company we went with was at 4pm - a time which wouldn't have suited us either day so just went on the Russian tour anyway.

 

On Day 2 we just spent the day wandering SPB seeing some of the sights (Church on Spilled Blood, Peter and Paul Fortress, St Isaacs Cathedral, Nevsky Prospect). We also went on the underground. This was fairly easy (think London). The station names in the centre were in both Russian and English and despite the language barrier we pointed to the station we wanted to go to on the map and the assistant gave us the relevant token.

 

Our only very slight issue was the food. Although there were plenty of places to eat in the centre many of the menus were just in Russian. We ended up eating at a hotel which had a menu in English but this was expensive. We did struggle a little bit finding somewhere for a snack at lunchtime on Day 2 (Day 1 ate at Hermitage cafe). However, rather sadly you can always rely on McDonalds (!!) although even that took a fair bit of finger pointing to get the right food as English wasn't really spoken there.

 

We really enjoyed the freedom that we had by doing it independently (no following groups or being shepherded around at a set pace and we could spend as long as we wanted in any particular place). However, having talked to people who were on a tour (ship's tour), we appreciate they had probably learnt more about the history and interesting facts than we had but hadn't seen as much as we had.

 

All in all, we would thoroughly recommend doing SPB truly on your own. If anyone has any more specific questions we will try and answer them!

[mconthehighseas]

Thanks for posting this - this is excellent info. I have a couple of questions, but work is calling! I will sign on later to ask them.

[Al_Frescoe]

However, I was (dgf not too happy!) determined to go it alone and now we are back and still in one piece we thought we would share our thoughts and answer any queries anybody has.

 

I think this is the first time I have seen about anyone visiting SPB on their own. Thanks very much for the detailed report.

 

Al

[sddsddean]

Nice to know it can be done. Out of interest, how much did the visa end up costing you?

 

Simon

[minsterman]

Out of interest, how much did the visa end up costing you?

 

We paid £256 for 2 visas. They were £125 each + £6 postage.

 

I think if you do them youself you can get them for about £95 each + postage, but we felt by going through an agent who knew what they were doing, there were less likely to be problems at the other end (which we certainly didnt want!)

[KirkNC]

Good info, they are proud of those visa aren't they?

 

Kirk

[cruisemom42]

Great info -- I've thought for years it should be possible to do St Petersburg on your own. If/when I go back, that's just what I'd like to do. Having already done the "out of center" places, I probably would spend a full day in the Hermitage and the second day visiting/revisiting some other sites. A canal cruise sounds great -- didn't do that the first time.

 

A couple of questions:

 

Do all cruise ships now dock at the new terminal? That certainly makes things easier than the industrial port where we docked a few years ago.

 

On Day 2, how did you get around? Are several sights grouped close together (e.g., walking distance) or did you use the metro to get to each?

 

Supposedly there is some sort of HOHO tram that operates around the major sites -- did you see any sign of that?

 

Thanks again for your report.

[minsterman]

I don't know for definite if all the ships now dock at the new terminal. But I would have thought they would as it is already plenty big enough and they seem to be still building. There is already 4 berths and 2 passenger terminals open. On Day 1 there was another 2 cruise ships in with us and another 1 on Day 2. It seems to be quite easy to find out if your cruise ship would be going there though as the new terminal "Marine Facade" has its own website and there is a ships schedule on there detailing which ships are docking when.

 

On Day 2 we just walked between the sights (using the Metro just once but more because we wanted to go on the Metro in any case). We had a list of where we wanted to see and planned a little route round so that we weren't doing any back tracking. The main sights were certainly walking distance for us and we saw lots of other things on our walk between the sights we had specifically set out to see.

 

Re the HOHO tram - I saw an open top sightseeing bus near to the Hermitage on Day 1. It was one of the red double decker buses that you seem to find everywhere now. I think the website for this company is www.citytourspb.ru

 

Hope this helps!

[Al_Frescoe]

We paid £256 for 2 visas. They were £125 each + £6 postage.

 

I think if you do them youself you can get them for about £95 each + postage, but we felt by going through an agent who knew what they were doing, there were less likely to be problems at the other end (which we certainly didnt want!)

 

Kind of a shame, in my opinion, that a country that seemingly needs the tourist money has the nerve to charge that much to give permission to come to their country and spend money. :confused:

 

Whatever. Even though I live real close, I will be passing on SPB.

 

Al

[eetonaee]

While I admire your strong desire to be independent and not be subject to the whims of others with the delays that may occur when touring with a large group, I believe that you could have found a small group with a guide that would have enhanced your visit.

 

Firstly the price of a Visa is included when you book a tour with a private company. Your guide is waiting for you at the terminal and you are quickly on your way to the sites. By corresponding with the tour company in advance you can customize your tour. The guides also know little tricks to get you in to the museums and churches faster by circumventing lineups.

Food is not a problem as they know where to take you and can help you with the ordering.

 

There is no bartering with taxi drivers. The cost will depend on how many in your group. For just two people it could be expensive but by using the resources of Cruise Critic you can join a roll call for your ship and identify people with similar interests and put a group together.

 

We had about 14 people in our group in June but were on a van that allowed us to drive on streets that would be impassable on a tour bus. In two days despite some rainy weather we were able to see everything on the planned itinerary. The cost was about $300 USD per person including Visa. We also booked a separate evening tour for a canal ride for another $35 USD per person.

 

In Poland we decided we wanted to tour the Stutthoff Concentration Camp near Gdansk. Thanks to our roll call we were able to join a tour of 14 people with similar intentions.

 

In Berlin we wanted a tour with some highlights of Jewish interest such as the museum, Holocaust Memorial and neighborhood tour. Again we found 6 others on our roll call and had a great day together.

 

When we take a cruise to the Caribbean where our first priority is the beach and a bit of shopping we are very happy to head out on our own, but for a Baltic tour where the focus is on historical sites and the first (or second ) language is not English then I believe that private organized tours are the way to go.

[mconthehighseas]

eetonaee, everyone's desires and situations are different. We have done excursions with others from the ship, excursions on our own, and ships excursions. All were fine for the ports where we did them.

 

I think ministerman's info is good to have. People who thought about going on their own now know what it entails, and can decide for themselves if it would work for them.

 

What you offer is just one more way to see St. Petersburg, and with an excellent guide, it would be something we would consider.

[cruisemom42]

While I admire your strong desire to be independent and not be subject to the whims of others with the delays that may occur when touring with a large group, I believe that you could have found a small group with a guide that would have enhanced your visit.

 

Firstly the price of a Visa is included when you book a tour with a private company. Your guide is waiting for you at the terminal and you are quickly on your way to the sites. By corresponding with the tour company in advance you can customize your tour. The guides also know little tricks to get you in to the museums and churches faster by circumventing lineups.

Food is not a problem as they know where to take you and can help you with the ordering.

 

There is no bartering with taxi drivers. The cost will depend on how many in your group. For just two people it could be expensive but by using the resources of Cruise Critic you can join a roll call for your ship and identify people with similar interests and put a group together.

 

We had about 14 people in our group in June but were on a van that allowed us to drive on streets that would be impassable on a tour bus. In two days despite some rainy weather we were able to see everything on the planned itinerary. The cost was about $300 USD per person including Visa. We also booked a separate evening tour for a canal ride for another $35 USD per person.

 

In Poland we decided we wanted to tour the Stutthoff Concentration Camp near Gdansk. Thanks to our roll call we were able to join a tour of 14 people with similar intentions.

 

In Berlin we wanted a tour with some highlights of Jewish interest such as the museum, Holocaust Memorial and neighborhood tour. Again we found 6 others on our roll call and had a great day together.

 

When we take a cruise to the Caribbean where our first priority is the beach and a bit of shopping we are very happy to head out on our own, but for a Baltic tour where the focus is on historical sites and the first (or second ) language is not English then I believe that private organized tours are the way to go.

 

There is so much info on private tours here, and very little on DIY -- please don't discourage it!

 

Some of us are experienced travelers who prefer to do things on our own. Speaking for myself, I feel I have a much richer experience when I do all the planning, and I get a sense of accomplishment when all is done.

 

I did St Petersburg with a private guide the first time around, but there were compromises made because of being part of a group. I'd really like to go back on my own and spend my time wherever and however I want. I've done it in many other places. It's nice to know that it's possible here.

[TLCOhio]

I did St Petersburg with a private guide the first time around, but there were compromises made because of being part of a group. I'd really like to go back on my own and spend my time wherever and however I want. I've done it in many other places. It's nice to know that it's possible here.

 

We really enjoyed the freedom that we had by doing it independently (no following groups or being shepherded around at a set pace and we could spend as long as we wanted in any particular place). However, having talked to people who were on a tour (ship's tour), we appreciate they had probably learnt more about the history and interesting facts than we had but hadn't seen as much as we had. All in all, we would thoroughly recommend doing SPB truly on your own. If anyone has any more specific questions we will try and answer them!

 

You have a nice post and interesting info on how you did your visit to St. Petersburg, etc. Appreciate your sharing!

 

My view is that the "BEST OF BOTH WORLDS" is being just four people in a "group" with your own private guide and driver visiting your interests, at your own pace, etc. It's like doing it on your own. BUT, you have someone to answer questions, explain what you're seeing, being able to make adjustments, add extra stops, etc. With a group of only four people it is much easier to have that "FREEDOM"!!!

 

Much also depends on your personal "expertise" and how you want to do a city, what to see, etc. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For more details, great visuals, etc., from our July 1-16 Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle Silver Cloud experiences:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[cruisemom42]

My view is that the "BEST OF BOTH WORLDS" is being just four people in a "group" with your own private guide and driver visiting your interests, at your own pace, etc. It's like doing it on your own. BUT, you have someone to answer questions, explain what you're seeing, being able to make adjustments, add extra stops, etc. With a group of only four people it is much easier to have that "FREEDOM"!!!

 

For more details, great visuals, etc., from our July 1-16 Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle Silver Cloud experiences:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

 

 

I was in a group of 4 people! ;)

[TLCOhio]

I was in a group of 4 people! ;)

 

Speaking for myself' date=' I feel I have a much richer experience when I do all the planning, and I get a sense of accomplishment when all is done. I did St Petersburg with a private guide the first time around, but there were compromises made because of being part of a group. I'd really like to go back on my own and spend my time wherever and however I want. I've done it in many other places. It's nice to know that it's possible here. [/quote']

 

Agree! A group of four is wonderful, especially if everybody's interests and needs are nicely matched. For us, it worked perfectly. Clearly, I would like to go back to St. Petersburg and do more, maybe on my own, if and if. You make an excellent point on the benefits for doing lots of pre-trip research. You know more on what you're seeing and can ask better questions, learn more, etc.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For more details, great visuals, etc., from our July 1-16 Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle Silver Cloud experiences:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[Cazz]

I was in a group of 4 people! ;)

 

I was in a group of 3 :)

 

I joined with a couple from New Zealand that contacted me on the roll call prior to the cruise and we corresponded with the tour company. We had a people carrier (max about 6) and a wonderful, hectic, 2 days.

 

I must say I am tempted by minsterman's adventure too - well done!

 

A friend and I (2 females) spent a week on a land based holiday in Beijing about 10 years ago. We travelled on public transport, saw all the sights, climbed two different parts of the Great Wall, and even got a little lost in a hutong looking for the bird market! Great times.

[mconthehighseas]

Cazz, I think you caught the essence of what many of us liked about ministerman's days in St. Petersburg. The chance to go to another place and to do things the locals do is very appealing to many of us.

 

I have found that many tour guides give the same information that you can find in a book or online, so unless I can find a guide who is a specialist in what we are seeing, I sometimes prefer a "day of adventure". That's if there is a good public transport system, or if things are close by, but there are other factors to take into account as well. You need to weigh ALL your options, and then decide what will work best for you.

[zeldaone]

Hi

There are at least 6 of us cruising northern europe next summer. We would like a private, english speaking tour of St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Copenhagen. Do you have any recomendations?

Thanks

[cruisemom42]

Hi

There are at least 6 of us cruising northern europe next summer. We would like a private, english speaking tour of St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Copenhagen. Do you have any recomendations?

Thanks

 

There are hundreds of posts on this board with recommendations. With all due respect, why would you post a request for a guide on a thread that is specifically about doing St Petersburg without a guide?

[CintiPam]

Really enjoyed seeing and reading this post, minsterman. Thanks for adding this thread. You have given those of us who prefer DIY a lot to chew on.

 

St. Petersburg is the one city I never contemplated doing on my own. My two day cruise ship visit next year will be my second visit after a 3-1/2 day stay there in town three years ago with my sister on a land tour and I spent only one hour there on my own during that visit!

 

One attraction of considering using a tour company for me is not having to complete the application form for a Russian visa, which took me hours and hours to complete last time, so my husband would hate wasting time on that project! (Yes, I saved a copy of mine, so mine would not take long to complete.) It cost me about $160 back then with the help of an expediter, so I thought I would plow that $320 savings for two plus husband's time saved not filling that form out into covering a great deal of the cost of a two-day private tour.

[mconthehighseas]

Hi

There are at least 6 of us cruising northern europe next summer. We would like a private, english speaking tour of St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Copenhagen. Do you have any recomendations?

Thanks

 

Zelda, it would be better to start a separate thread about this. That will give more people an opportunity to respond. Most of us on this thread have not yet been to St. Petersburg, and the original poster did not use a guide.

[TLCOhio]

Zelda, it would be better to start a separate thread about this. That will give more people an opportunity to respond. Most of us on this thread have not yet been to St. Petersburg, and the original poster did not use a guide.

 

Great suggestion. For St. Petersburg, it is fairly easy as there are a number of good firms and options there.

 

Price is important, but you will find when you really compare closely, apples to apples, that the cost differences are not that huge among the major, most experienced firms in St. Petersburg. It's about quality and responsiveness! First, outline, in detail, what you need, like and want in what you will send as a request to each potential tour firm. Ask questions, etc. Make it personal and custom to your interests and needs! Don't grab the first firm you write to and assume "that's it" after reading a couple of positive reviews for only one firm. We used Anastasia after contacting the top five firms, seeing what they said, how flexible they were, etc. She would e-mail back a detailed spreadsheet that outline showed the various detailed costs and options. Some folks will "low-ball" you a basic, lower cost and then hit you later with added fees and extras that you assume were included. If you have a group of four, those total costs over two days are going to be better or about the same as doing a tour through the cruise ship. The key advantage with a private tour is having a tour focused on YOUR personal needs, going at a pace that works best for your interests. The better firms are great in making adjustments like an early admission to the Hermitage, dealing with two people who like to take lots of pictures, adjusting for one person with a healing hip and finding the right shop to buy a Russian-style military hat, etc. Details make an important difference! You get what you ask for and seek!

 

It will be much harder in Copenhagen. The guides are unionized there with rates set by the government, etc. It might be around a $100 a hour for a guide. It adds up quickly!!! In both Copenhagen and Helsinki, having a private guide is not quite as needed compared to the larger and more complex, challenging St. Petersburg. Once you look at the cost there in Copenhagen, you might come to the conclusion that it would nice to have a private tour/guide, but that it is not worth the cost. Your choice!

 

Here are more. FIRST, scroll back through all of the earlier postings. You will see many different items on ports you would visit and/or at the board for each separate cruise line in planning for your upcoming cruise.

 

SECOND, do a search on these boards by each city and you will see lots of postings on various subjects connected with each port stop. Then, after taking the time to get that background, see other experiences, etc., you can post with specific questions in each port city.

 

THIRD, when posting a new thread, be sure to have a title that is narrow or specfic to your question so that other can know what you are seeking. Don't just have a general term of "I have a question". Just like a good headline, the right title makes it so much easier for people to catch what you are seeking.

 

There are lots and lots of great people and information here on these boards. Don't be shy in asking follow-up questions. Folks are happy to share more when they know what you are seeking and background on your timing, cruise ship, travel party, personal interests and travel style, etc.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For more details, great visuals, etc., from our July 1-16 Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle Silver Cloud experiences:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

 

 

Private, personal tours can be worth it, especially in St. Petersburg. Here our group of four are viewing one of the two da Vinci masterpieces at the Hermitage after an early admission. There are only 17 such painting by this artist existing in the world.:

 

 

 

Here we are examining one of the highly-detailed tables in the vast Hermitage collection that includes more than just paintings. A private tour allows time, nor being forced to rush through this large museum.:

 

[minsterman]

I appreciate that some people prefer to do an organised tour, however I'm sure that there are many people like ourselves that find them restrictive.

 

It wasn't supposed to be a thread about the pro's and con's of independent sightseeing v orgainsed tours! I'm sure most people can make their own minds up about which they prefer.

 

The intention of the original posting was to give people who already know that independent sightseeing is for them a bit of information to perhaps give them the reassurance that doing SPB on your own really isn't out of the question. We struggled to find any postings on doing SPB on your own (there seemed to be hundreds on the merits of different tour companies) and thought we share our experiences so they may help people in a similar position to ourselves before we went.

[TLCOhio]

The intention of the original posting was to give people who already know that independent sightseeing is for them a bit of information to perhaps give them the reassurance that doing SPB on your own really isn't out of the question. We struggled to find any postings on doing SPB on your own (there seemed to be hundreds on the merits of different tour companies) and thought we share our experiences so they may help people in a similar position to ourselves before we went.

 

After your original post, I noted: "You have a nice post and interesting info on how you did your visit to St. Petersburg, etc. Appreciate your sharing!"

 

Clearly others will come up with added and varied comments, questions, interests, etc. What you shared is helpful and will benefit others for the future. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For more details, great visuals, etc., from our July 1-16 Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle Silver Cloud experiences:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[toonye]

Misterman,

 

I actually came to the Baltic Boards to write a similar thread so I'm very happy you did the job first:D

 

Before we did the cruise we found it very difficult to find any information about touring St Petersburg on our own

 

I could have written exactly the same words!

After doing some research, we rapidly knew we would like to visit on our own.

 

I was very badly impressed on how difficult it was to find accurate information. Even some russian people whom I had contacted through the internet and despite not working as a tour guide would discourage us and even give us false information:eek:

 

Nevertheless, it worked fine for us too.

 

Our experience was very similar to yours.

 

Many of you will probably think that we wasted our time and did not "learn" enough about the city.

But we had read about the history in some guide books and also having seen so many documentaries about SPB on TV, we already knew enough of the historical stuff for our taste!

 

The way we like to discover cities is just trying to do what the local do (using public transportation, visiting also the non touristy parts, doing some shopping: markets, supermarkets, ;....no souvenir shop!)

 

So I'll just add some information I did not find in your feedback:

 

VISA: as we're european citizens (UE), the cost of a visa is only 35 EUR

We're lucky to have a russian consulate where we live so brought our applications ourselves and got our visas within a week, no hassle.

 

Very important: for the application, you will need an "invitation letter" also called "voucher"

on the internet, you'll read that you'll have to "buy" it from some agencies or get it from the tour company you may have hired

 

This is not true, at least for Princess, they would give it to you for free

We asked through our travel agent, sent our personal data and got the voucher through email as a pdf file within the same afternoon:eek:

 

The invitation comes from the port agent the ship uses.

It specifies that you're on the ship.

If you stay for two days, you only need a simple-entry visas for both days, we also got inaccurate information on this.

 

SHIP TERMINAL

There is a website where you can check where your ship will be docked.

Somebody already posted it here, just do a research.

 

As being said, there is a taxi dispatcher available all day , so no worry!

 

Also, if you have to be picked up by someone (friend, private driver,...), it's possible to enter the terminal by car and I believe the first 10 minutes to be free

 

So don't believe the companies who would tell you they'd charge a port fee to enter the terminal, this is non sense...

 

SIGHTSEEING BUS

The double decker buses are the citybustours mentioned previously.

But there are also numerous bus companies selling tours in front of Gvosky Dvor and the dispatcher speak about any european language!+ english of course!

 

The itinerary of the citytour is IMO very good but don't get out of the bus unless you want to visit a place for a longer time as the bus is relatively unfrequent+crowded in summer

Also, the traffic is an issue in SPB, be prepared to get stucked in traffic jams (=plenty of time to admire the monuments!)

 

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

We, too, used them.

We even used the public transportation completely to get from the ship to the city center on our second day.

Yes, we could have afforded a taxi but taking the bus/metro is "part of the adventure" I assume and more the way we use to visit cities.

 

So we just walked out of the terminal (quite a long walk, depending on where your ship is docked, we were at the farest dock, about a 15 min walk to the gate

 

We then took the bus to the next metro station Primorskaya

There are minibuses too (I think it was #162) but we saw them only on our way back.

The bus was tricky as there are no maps at the stops, just a list of the stops in cyrillic but you've no idea of the direction the bus is actually driving!

 

We could get NO information at all about the buses , even the girls helping the tourists inside the terminal would not reveal us the numbers of the line to use even after they had admitted it was possible to take the bus as they were using it themselves to come to work.... No comment!

 

The metro was EASY though, you can't get lost, really, and the names are written in english+announced in the cars.

 

On our way back, we just walked from the metro station to the ship.

There are some shops and supermarkets near the station in case you need some stuff (cheap)

 

So, enough for the "live like a russian" part of our visit!!

 

CANAL CRUISE

There are some english or multilingual companies.

Our company just gave us mp3 players and you could choose your language.

 

Could retrieve name/location if some are interested.

 

It's not to be missed as the views are really spectacular from the ship.

 

FOOD

On our first day, we decided to use the food court of a shopping mall for lunch.

Our daughter wanted to stick with Mc Donalds but it was quite an adventure to order, first time we got a menu at McDonalds!

They have a big menu card with pictures and names of their products in many different languages, it was worth seeing!!

small note: the price was about the same as in Germany for a happy meal

 

my husband and I wanted "blinis" and tried Teremok

my husband did a great job at ordering as we really got what we wanted but none of the staff spoke english!

 

Logistical advice: if you need a bathroom, try to find a mall!

We were fine every time as there always was an attendant, meaning you had to pay some roubles (10?) but it was very clean

at the restaurant, it was not the case at all...lesson learned!

 

currency: we had got roubles at home before leaving, many different notes and it really helped

 

And now a small note on our impression regarding people.

We had read many reviews from people complaining that the russian they met were unfriendly, rude, ...

 

Our feeling after these two days:

perhaps we've been just lucky but we've met only friendly people

it was just because we could not communicate with them that it was a bit odd but when we asked for direction, ... people have been willing to help and friendly

 

the only thing we noticed is that russian are less smiling and not very talkative (if they speak english!) that other can be so depending on your culture, it can be a huge difference! (ie in the shops,..)

 

and also it's true that they push in the metro! be prepared!and if you're slow, let them go!!

 

Wow, I'm sorry I've been that long but I really wanted to share our experience as we would have LOVED to find this type of information before we left.

 

I'll be happy to share more detailed information on precise matters if needed, don't hesitate to post your questions!

 

Toonye