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st petersburg

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited January 2023 in General Chat
whats it like?!!

im heading there in febuary with some people from my course and design department at uni, and i basically want to know what to expect!!

what stuff do people recommend i bring with me?
(what to wear, what places do i go to etc etc)

i have to say that i do not know a single thing about russia!!!
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I went to Petersburg a couple of years ago in March.

    In short, it's fucking incredible. The architecture is amazing and the whole vibe of the city is great.

    Some places to visit:

    The Winter Palace and the Hermitage - one of the best art museums in the world and the second-largest square in the world after Tiennamen Square
    The Avrora Cruiser - the ship that started the revolution
    The Peter Paul Fortress
    The Ballet - seriously
    Pavlov's House
    The Chocolate Museum - see Lenin's bust in white chocolate

    If you can get out of Petersburg, go to Mikhailovskaya which was Pushkin's estate. Pushkin being the father of Russian literature. Absolutely beautiful.

    In February it will be very cold so bring warm stuff. However, the rivers are also frozen so bring ice skates! I had a fantastic time there and you will too. Russia is just such an amazing place but make sure to bring your drinking boots!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Thunderstruck is right (obviously..lol) St Petersburg is divine.In a word.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Thunderstruck is right (obviously..lol)

    [/wisdom]
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    -
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I know this thread is a little old, but I thought I'd reply anyway as there's still plenty of time for you to see this before you leave.

    I've just spent the last four months living in St Petersburg so I can tell you pretty much anything you want to know about the place - but I know that when you've never been to Russia before, you don't really have any idea what you might want to know. I'll be able to give you more specific advice if you tell me what you're doing in St Petersburg, how long you'll be there and how much free time you'll have, whether you speak any Russian, etc. But for the moment I'll try and give some general advice which I hope will be helpful.

    Ok, what to wear... February is one of the coldest months, you're looking at a temperature of between -10 and -20, and don't pay any attention if people tell you that it's not that bad because it's a "dry cold" in Russia; St Petersburg is on the Gulf Coast so the cold is just as wet there as in England. A good winter coat, a hat and gloves, and two pairs of waterproof shoes/boots are a must - I say two pairs because the St Petersburg slush may well soak through even waterproof footwear (there will be ankle-deep puddles you have to wade through every time you want to cross the road, I'm not kidding), and having no dry boots to change into is no fun at all. Inside buildings it's usually pretty warm though, so layers of clothes are useful.

    What to take... you can buy pretty much anything you can buy at home, and usually a bit cheaper too, so if you forget anything don't panic! If you're taking anything electrical you'll need the same type of adapter as you would for going to Europe. Currency-wise you'll need roubles (sounds stupid, but guidebooks always list prices in $ so you might be confused!) and there are lots of ATMs around for drawing out money if you don't want to take lots of cash. The exchange rate is approximately 50 roubles = £1. If you want to buy a guide book, I'd recommend the Rough Guide over Lonely Planet. And don't forget your student card!

    What to buy... ridiculously cheap CDs and DVDs (pirated of course, but that's all you can buy even in shops!) cost £2-3 each, but be warned that DVDs will often just be in Russian even if it says they're in English on the back; if you ask, the shop assistants will play them before you buy so you can check. New releases are almost always only in Russian and can be terrible quality, and disks with more than one film on always are.

    Another thing that's ridiculously cheap in Russia is vodka - you can get a decent 1l bottle (try Okta, Flagman or Russian Standart) for less than £5, but only ever buy from a shop (rather than a kiosk, which sometimes sell fake stuff that can blind or kill) and remember that you can only legally bring back 1l of spirits to the UK from a non-EU country.

    For souvenirs (from matryoshka dolls to fur hats), go to the open-air souvenir market behind the Church of the Saviour on the Spilled Blood. Everyone speaks English and it's the cheapest place in the city; haggling is the norm and prices vary from stall to stall, so it's worth shopping around for the best deal.

    What to see... there's so much to see that there's no way you'll be bored, however long you're going for. Here are a few general ideas, but let me know if you're interested in anything in particular (art, history, sport, politics, literature) and I can suggest some more things.

    St Petersburg has the most fantastic palaces you will ever see; they are so overly opulent that anywhere you see after them will be a disappointment. The Yusupov Palace on the Moika embankment is a highlight, as is the Winter Palace/Hermitage, which has state rooms dotted in among the other rooms showcasing the biggest collection of Western Art in the world - they say that if you took a three second glance at each piece, it would take you nine years to see everything. The Hermitage is the most famous thing to see in St Petersburg and best of all it's free with an ISIC card!

    If you fancy a trip outside the city, my suggestion would be the Catherine Palace at Pushkin, which you can get to by train from Vitebsk Station or on an organised coach trip (less daunting but way more expensive) - this is the palace with the famous Amber Room (a room decorated entirely with amber) - but if you're only there for a short while then I wouldn't bother because there's plenty to see in the city anyway.

    The Peter Paul Fortress, built by Tsar Peter I to defend the land from the Swedes (who he'd stolen it from in the first place), has a cathedral with the graves of all the Russian tsars from Peter I onwards, and a very interesting museum about the history of the city (in the Commandant's House), which is in both English and Russian. Another must-see monument is the Bronze Horseman on the Neva embankment, just because it's very famous and you can say you've seen it then.

    If you'd like to see some Russian art rather than just Western stuff, the place to go is the Russian Museum - it's all in chronological order, from icons to modern art, and was my favourite museum in the city (and I went to a lot, so that's an impressive recommendation!). It's also worth going inside the Church of the Saviour on the Spilled Blood (so called because it was built in memory of Tsar Alexander II, on the spot where he was assassinated), which is completely covered with mosaics, both inside and out, and is amazingly pretty.

    A visit to the ballet or opera is very nice way to spend an evening (and affordable - you can get student tickets for as little as £2), although for opera, the only place you'll get English subtitles is if you go to a Russian opera at the Mariinsky Theatre. The Mariinsky is the most famous and most impressively decorated theatre, but the Maliy Theatre (sometimes called the Mussorgsky Theatre) is a bit cheaper.

    I didn't got to Pavlov's House so I can't comment on that, but I wouldn't bother with Cruiser Aurora unless you're into naval history, and the enticing-sounding Chocolate Museum is just the name of a shop. And as for Mikhailovskoe, that's miles away from St Petersburg, near the Latvian border - you'd need to put a couple of days aside for it, so personally I wouldn't even think of it.

    What Russia is like... well my best description of Russia is "a strange country", but if you're only going to be there for a week or two then you probably won't notice it as much as I did. People are either incredibly helpful or incredibly rude - don't be surprised by the complete lack of customer service in shops. If you need help, the Tourist Information at 14 Sadovaya Street (a little way down the road opposite Gostiniy Dvor metro station) has very helpful English speaking staff; they're also trained to help you with getting a claim number if you get pickpocketed or mugged and need to claim anything on your insurance. On that note, be extra safety-conscious with your valuables because it can be a dangerous city, don't walk around alone after dark, and don't draw attention to yourself at any time of day by speaking too loudly in English. That said, I spent four months there and was perfectly ok, but my friend was mugged one evening on the way back from the ballet, and her dad was pickpocketed on the metro.

    For getting around you're most likely to be using the metro or buses. Each of these costs 10 roubles per ride, however far you're travelling on them, which is nice and simple. On a bus the conductor walks up and down and you pay him/her on the way past, and on the metro you have to buy a token to put into the turnstile before you go down - just push a note through the kiosk window (and if it's more than 10 roubles then say how many tokens you want).

    Between midnight and 5.30am there is no public transport though, so if you're not up for following the Russian example and staying in a club all night, you'll need to catch a taxi home. Avoid doing this alone if at all possible. To catch a taxi, stick out your arm into the road, palm down, and then state your destination and suggested fare to the driver. A licensed cab will be more expensive than any old car that pulls up (ordinary people actually drive around the city ready to give people lifts for extra cash!), but probably a safer bet unless there are a few of you. Your suggested fare will depend on where you are and where you're going to, but as a rough guide, 150-200 roubles will get you most places within the city centre.

    For places to go in the evenings, theatre listings and current exhibitions, check out the Friday edition of the St Petersburg Times, a bi-weekly English language newspaper which you can pick up from any touristy places including hotels, the tourist office, and Quo Vadis internet cafe at 20 Nevsky Prospect (the main street in the city) - which I also recommend for good value internet access.

    Ok I think this post is long enough now! I hope you found it useful though, and please let me know if you have any other questions!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    St. P is a beautiful city to visit. i was there at the end of Jan a few years beack with work (our software and development house is there). at that time its was -2 to -18 and i was walking around in jeans and t-shirt didn't feel cold to me, but on the other hand i got back to the uk it was +3degrees and i was freezing my balls off. but one word of advice wear a hat to keep your hair and ears freezing.
    One thing to say is be carefull at night if your hotel is on a different island to the resturtant, club etc... your on as about midnight they lift something like 90-100% of the brigdes so you can get cut off from your hotel. most people don't reliase that St.P is a collection of small islands very similar to venice.
    And as Wildchild said if you like vodka your'd be in heaven, i get stuff shipped over from our office every now and then and its the best stuff i've ever had (but their cheapest)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Youngbull wrote:
    One thing to say is be carefull at night if your hotel is on a different island to the resturtant, club etc... your on as about midnight they lift something like 90-100% of the brigdes so you can get cut off from your hotel.

    They only lift the bridges between April and November, to let ships pass through. In February they'll all be permenantly lowered because the rivers are frozen over, hence no ships.
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    There's a name I havn't seen in a while. :wave:
    Weekender Offender 
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    St. Petersburg in internet

    Hello,
    St. petersburg is a realy beatifull city and the people are friendly...i enjoy it a lot...visit these sites before going there: http://www.saint-petersburg.com,
    www.stpetersburger.com, www.russian-gifts-home.com
    best regards,
    alex
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