Lost from May 8th to the 16th (Russia)

We boarded the plane to St. Petersburg (May 8th) and were both nervous and excited. We were not sure what to expect, we only knew that we had both always wanted to go to Russia. We had heard all these horror stories about the Russian police and tourist getting harassed, so that made us a bit nervous.

We had a transfer in Berlin, which turned out to be the quickest transfer in history. For some reason, while we were flying from London to Berlin, the Berlin airport decided to change the time of our flight from Berlin to St. Petersburg. So, instead of delaying it, like most normal airports, they scheduled it to leave an hour ahead of time. Shane, myself and one of other lady were the only people transferring from the London flight. When we arrived in Berlin, we had to go through passport control as soon as we stepped off the plane, which is a bit unusual, but we went with the flow, because the passport control officers were super nice. At this point, we had no idea our flight time had been changed, so we thought we had plenty of time for the transfer. It was right after passport control that we heard the intercom start spouting out German, and somewhere in the midst of it, we heard Stephens. That got us a bit worried, so we quickened our pace. To make a long story short, we made it through the next passport control point, and security and they hurried us onto a bus that was taking us to our plane. We got a few dirty looks from the bus passengers, but luckily, we hid ourselves among them as we boarded the plane, so no one ever knew we were the culprits that were holding up the plane:)

When we landed in St. Petersburg, we realized how poorly we´d actually planned this part of the journey. Sure, we had been faithful in getting the directions to our guest house (all in English..and this is important!), but there was SO MUCH more that we should have researched. For example, problem No. 1: we just assumed, that being an international airport, there would be plenty of ATMS and exchange booths...WRONG! So, there we were in Russian, with no Russian money (Rubles) and we kinda needed it to pay for the bus we were supposed to take from the airport into the city to the metro station we had directions from. This leads us to problem No. 2: We also assumed, rather stupidly, that being an international airport, that there would be signs, labels, tags, SOMETHING in English to direct us to which bus we were supposed to take...WRONG AGAIN! So, this was just the beginning of the problems we were to encounter in Russia...all based on the fact that we should have learned Russian before we went!

However, at this point, we had a bit of luck, we found something better than English signs. We found a guy from Boston and his 100% Russian girlfriend. Now let me tell you, the one thing you need more than anything in Russia if you don´t speak Russian, is someone who does. So, we had hit the jackpot! Matt and Irina (the couple) showed us which bus to take (the same one they were taking). When the bus arrived, the price on the door said that a single/one way ticket was 70 RUB (about $2.70) per person. This was pretty exciting, because it was so cheap and we had just spent a month in the UK where you can´t even use the toilets for that amount! So, Shane went to give the bus driver 140RUB. (oh, by the way, we did eventually solve problem No. 1 and get some cash) However, the driver kept insisting that Shane give him 280RUB. We were a little confused, as you can imagine, because Matt and Irina only paid 140RUB. So, we gave Irina our money, and she bought the tickets for us. Turns out, in Russia, there are prices for Russians, and then prices for everyone else.

So, now we had our tickets, we were on the correct bus, we´d made 2 new friends who had invited us to meet up with them the following day for some sightseeing, and we were feeling pretty confident. Well, what´s the old saying, "Don´t count your chickens before they hatch"...words to live by, really! Matt and Irina got off the bus at the first stop, assuring us that our stop was the next one. There was a little doubt, but they were fairly confident. Turns out, our stop wasn´t the next one, and of course we didn´t figure this out until we had already gotten off the bus. So there we were, loaded down with our backpacks, on a random street in St. Petersburg, Shane was getting stared at by everyone who passed (side note: I don´t think I have brought up this fact yet. We are by far the 2 most stared at backpackers on the face of the earth. Shane´s hair is a bit of a phenomenon!! EVERYWHERE we go, people point and stare, with no shame at all to try to hide it. I think his beard being so black really sets off his gray hair, but man! I actually think he is going to go bonkers by the end of the trip!!! He is SO SICK of being stared at.) Back on the street where we are standing and being stared at, we were looking around trying to get some idea of which way we needed to be going. There was no English on any street signs, buildings, posters, anything. We quickly realized just how useless our directions to the guesthouse actually were, seeing as how they were only in English. English and Russian don´t even look similar. Speaking for myself, it was in that moment, that I felt a bit hopeless and was finding it quite difficult to stay positive. I think maybe Shane was more angry. But, chin up, we had to do something. We started walking in a direction that looked promising (that is a total lie, cause at that point, nothing looked promising) and as we turned the next corner, we saw a metro station. Without going into details, we managed to figure out that we were only one metro station away from the one that we needed to be. You see, the directions we had to find our guest house started at a metro station.

When we finally got to the correct station, we were much like we always are on this trip, hot and sweaty. Another thing we have discovered on this trip is that directions that hostels/guest houses give you are NOT the best, most accurate, or in enough detail! This case was no exception. We actually did follow the directions as best we could, even though all the street signs were in Russian and our directions where in English (told you that would be important). We ended up standing in front of this massive door that had the correct number on it, but we had no idea if we were on the correct street. Also, there was no sign to verify that we were, in fact, standing in front of Andrew´s Guest house. So, we backtracked, called the owner of the guest house, Andre, and he came to find us. Turned out, we had actually been in front of the correct door, but there was no sign. Also, we had to walk through a gate, into a courtyard area, where there were dozens of doors to choose from. In other words, even if we had known we were at the correct address, we still couldn´t have found the actual apartment we were to be staying in.

Here was where our story gets a bit more uplifting and nice. Andre turned out to be quite a character. Picture the typical math professor who spends the majority of this time researching and studying math theory, and you will picture Andre. He was a very awkward, nerdy man who was carrying an old worn out leather briefcase and walked with his shoulders slumped. He took us into this building and as we started walking up the stairs, Shane and I discovered later that we were thinking the exact same thing; "You´ve got to be kidding me...what have we gotten ourselves into?" The staircase was so old and dirty and falling apart. We were sure we were about to spend the next 4 nights in a rathole. We had chosen this particular guest house, because we read that Rasputin lived in this building way back when. We didn´t know, however, that they had never remodeled it.

We walked up to the top floor (lots of stairs), and there we saw an old, big, red door. After a 2 min. explanation of how to unlock this door with the giant key and then making Shane demonstrate to make sure he could, in fact, unlock the door correctly, Andre opened the door to reveal another door. This door was modern and nice, which lifted our spirits a bit. Then, of course another 2 min. explanation an demonstration was required on this door and when he opened it, it revealed a beautiful little entryway and, yes, another door! As you might have guessed, there was another explanation/demonstration here and then, he finally opened the final door to reveal a gorgeous apartment that was totally remodeled, clean and full of food for Shane and I. It was a 2 bedroom apt. with a full kitchen, bathroom, washing machine and detergent (which is truly a find!), a living room with 2 sofas, and he had stocked the fridge and cabnits with food for us. Shane and I were more than excited. Of course, there was another explanation and demonstration on the bedroom door lock, and then he gave us tons of useful information about the city, including maps.

Our first night here was not too exciting. We did our usual wander around the city and attempted to find food. Sadly, we ended up at MacDonalds that night, just out of pure exhaustion really. We slept very well that night though and woke up the next day (May 9th) to a nice breakfast and were ready to start the day. Now, let me give you a little history about May 9th. During WWII (I think), the Nazi surrounded St. Petersburg and stopped all shipments of food and supplies from going into and out of the city. For 900 days the Nazi did this, trying to starve everyone and basically wipe the city off the map forever. They almost succeeded. However, after 900 days, with the help of various Allies, the Nazis were defeated. This day, in Russia, is known as Victory Day and it is one of the largest national holidays they celebrate. There is usually a parade, fireworks, and loads of ceremonies. So, Shane and I were lucky enough to be there on that day. Unfortunately, when we woke up, it was raining and the weather was pretty bad. But, we went out into the city anyway, saw a few sites, and waited for the parade to begin. We were supposed to meet up with our new helpful friends from the bus, Matt and Irina, but after 3 phone calls and attempts to meet, we gave up.

Because of the rain, the parade did not start until 5pm, but it was well worth the wait. While we were walking around that day, we noticed that everyone was collecting flowers, and we wondered why. Well, during the parade, when the various war vets would walked by, all decked out in their military uniforms and medals, children and young adults from the crowds on the street would run up to them and give them the flowers. They usually kissed them or said, what I can assume was "Thank you," or something along those lines. I have to admit that I am not a parade person, but I was overwhelmed. It was obviously a horrible time during their history, but the looks on the faces of the vets and the older people in the crowds told the story of the happiness they felt when everything was over. One old lady, probably about 85 years old, actually danced across the street and did a jig, giggling like a little girl the entire time. It was one of the most touching things I have ever watched. I did not even realize it, but I started to cry while I was watching the old vets pass by with their huge smiles and armfuls of flowers. Shane and I were really glad that we got to be there on that day.

Later that night, from our 5th floor window, we sat and watched the fireworks explode over the city. This was, of course, after we had cooked the worst meal on earth. We went to the supermarket that night with the intention of buying food to cook to 1. save money, and 2. avoid trying to read menus. So, we picked out tortellini, marinara, cheese, and a can of peas and corn. Well, turns out the marinara had cloves in it, so it tasted like Christmas candles, and the tortellini was some kind of sausage...not so good. However, we added the peas and corn on top and some cheese (cause cheese makes EVERYTHING taste better...except this) and we ate away. yuck! But, it was really pretty, so I took a photo and will most it for all to see:)

The next 2 days, we visited all the sites in St. Petersburg...the Hermitage, Nevsky Prospect, St. Isaacs Cathedral.....etc. The buildings where gorgeous and so so so big!!! The Hermitage was my favorite, of course, with all the wonderful artwork (Shane was less impressed by the work, but really impressed with the building.) This was Peter the Great's Winter palace. It is said that if you just GLANCE at every piece of art in there, it would take 9 years!! Wow!

Okay, I will post this for now, but the rest of Russia is to be continued....