Go to Peter( Санкт-Петербу́рг)

During november  I have been  during 3 days in Russia in St Peterburg  ( Peter for Russians or if you have like me a lot of russians around you)
First step of the trip : the BORDER. 10km of border , maybe one hour spent there and 4 visa and passeport controls.Things get serious.No jokes.I almost forget: I'm not alone. There are of course :) Gus and Marie ( I think you know them now) and the italian Luca. Because frenchs( and also italian) are great people no problem with russian soldiers.

Second step: reach St peterburg downtown. the snow is the guest of our weekend ( but  one trip without cold weather is not possible for us :))and the surbubs are quite wide  and  as a city of about 4,6 million inhabitants we can't escape from Traffic jam.We noticed there are numerous Mac do and the brand is written in Kyrillic.Welcome in russia where you can't read a map :)

Third step: reach our hostel. The bus dropped us off near Moscou hostel metrostation. So let's take the subway. Russian underground are the deepest...never-ending escalator...about 90m deep...As in Paris you must be very careful: a lot of pickpockets but it's all. No so hazardous than  people can say. The only trouble is the fact that  there is no board with the name of station at each stop and so you must understand what Russian speaker say. Really difficult task because there can be some noise, and  when you don't know russian  you must guess and if they said other things you can be fucked...but we succeed all our weekend so it's possible!

A little bit of history:
Санкт-Петербу́рг was also called Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924) and Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991). 
Founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 27, 1703, it was capital of the Russian Empire for more than two hundred years (1712-1728, 1732-1918). St. Petersburg ceased being the capital in 1918 after the Russian Revolution of 1917. It is Russia's second largest and Europe's fourth largest city (by city limit) after Moscow, London and Paris. It is located on the Neva River at the east end of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea.St. Petersburg has the image of being the most Western European styled city of Russia and it's true!!It's also the native city of the current president Poutine  that 's why  a lot of demonstations take place there.

The main buildings

The bridges:

St. Petersburg is often called the "Venice of the North" because of its numerous canals.So  you can see a lot bridges in the very narrow pedestrian  but also some giant drawbridges which span the wide Neva River. These last one are closed ( or opened it depens on how you consider the thing ;)) during the night. I don't remember  exactly the hours  ( from1.00 to 6.00 but not sure). My roomate often said me that if you are not in the good side you must wait  the morning to go across and it can be annoying when you come back from nightbclubs. But she also said me that it's a good reason to dance untill the morning ;).

Cathedral and churchs:
St. Petersburg is endowed with hundreds of churches representing scores of faiths, but is probably most renowned for its unparalleled collection of Russian Orthodox Cathedrals.But there is a great mosque as well :)(almost the first religious building we have seen )
The largest cathedral in the city is St Isaac's Cathedral (1818–1858), it is the biggest gold-plated dome in the world.

The most beautiful for me is the Church of the Savior on Blood as well inside as outside. Let's see pictures. No words to describe. Just one more thing, its nickname is Candy  according to my german roomate.

The third impossible to miss is The Cathedral of SS Peter & Paul , with its gleaming landmark needle-thin spire, magnificent Baroque interior and burial site for most of the pre-Revolutionary Russian Tsars, located in the fortress.

We have also seen the Kazan Cathedral on the Nevsky Prospekt with its Empire style and a lot of blue churches.

Peter and Paul Fortress
This is the oldest building in St. Petersburg.  The ensemble of Peter and Paul Fortress with the Peter and Paul Cathedral takes dominant position on the right bank of the Neva river. This is  the resting site for many Russian Tsars including Peter the Great. A lots of museum are there  like  space museum or the historic museum of St peterburg, at least some museums with some explanations in english!!

Palaces

The baroque Winter Palace or HERMITAGE MUSEUM:
The Hermitage Museum is Russia's best gallery of world art, one of the most prominent art museums in the world and definitely the main tourist attraction of St. Petersburg. The museum was founded in 1764 when Catherine the Great purchased a collection of 255 paintings from the German city of Berlin. Today, the Hermitage boasts over 2.7 million exhibits and displays a diverse range of art and artifacts from all over the world and from throughout history (from Ancient Egypt to the early 20th century Europe). The Hermitage's collections include works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian, a unique collection of Rembrandts and Rubens, many French Impressionist works by Renoir, Cezanne, Manet, Monet and Pissarro, numerous canvasses by Van Gogh, Matisse, Gaugin and several sculptures by Rodin. The collection is both enormous and diverse and is an essential stop for all those interested in art and history.

CONTEST: GUESS THE BOTH ARTISTS :)

The Catherine Palace is the Rococo summer residence of the Russian tsars, located in the town of Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin), 25 km south-east of St. Petersburg, Russia.With the snow the gardens  were  white.Very nice :)

At last a lot of sculpures and monument are present in the city.


MUSIC:

St. Petersburg has always been known for its high-quality cultural life especially for its ballets . Among the city's more than fifty theaters is the world-famous Mariinsky Theater. Let's go to see "The pirate". It was the first time for me. it was very interesting!!! You should try at least once.

Otherwise:
-The blue is the color of St peterburg.
-Russians are similar to Frenchs: they don't know English.But they even try to explain in Russian  you should understand anyways. But sometimes they know better French
- The main street with a lot of churchs, monuments,stores, is called Nevsky Prospekt. Very very long street and very famous. All the russians know it and even you because all the demonstration take place there.
- st petersburg won for the first time the championship of soccer  the weekend we were. All the russians are totally drunk even the day after. It was very strange feeling to be in.
- Russians are calamity in driving. 3 accidents in the same corner  near our hostel even if there is  a police box in this corner.
- a lot of uniforms everywhere... I don't remember which colors corresponds with which part of the army.
- Each car can become a taxi. You call with your hand, you negociate with the first car which stop and you go
- A lot of strip in nightclubs...
- Vodka is the drink!! Maybe because tap water is not good.
- In russia all is less expensive (especially compared to Finland!!)
- Italian are all cheating people said Russian woman. Sorry Luca.
-No explanations in english or other languages in some museums...
-A lot of mini-bus for common transport:)

Wanna go to Moscow because Peter is still too European but a very great city. I understand why the Russians guys love it.

Further pictures will be available in Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/perrine.brossard