Hello!
Now before I get started on this post let me apologise for my absence! Basically a few days after my last post my computer decided to pack in. Long story short I ended up having to buy a new laptop here! Ah what a pain. Anyway, after that whole kerfuffle, I sort of got out of the swing of things, and then the later this post became, the more I didn't want to write it - typical. Hopefully once I force myself to get this one out I will be back on schedule!! What's more, I'm actually off on my second excursion tomorrow to Moscow meaning I need to get this post up so I can post about Moscow! I'm meeting my Mum again for a whirlwind tour of the capital city - I'm so excited!
Anyway, back to St. Petersburg! We decided that we had to book a boat tour as the city is famed for looking completely different from the water. Unfortunately the weather wasn't quite as nice as it was on the Saturday, so it was rather hard to get good pictures from the boat as there were plastic sheets protecting us from the constant drizzle. However, the views were spectacular and the city did look extraordinarily different from the water. After about an hour, we returned to dry land and had to decide what to do with ourselves. We decided to meander down Nevsky Prospect to take in some of the architecture, and of course, to take advantage of the shopping! I spotted a Starbucks which nearly made me cry as we don't have anything like that in Воронеж and anything western is just like a taste of home (literally in this case!) I somehow managed to order our drinks (one of the hardest thing to do in any language in my opinion) and spotted the cutest Russian coffee travel mugs. We then carried on walking until we got to the Московский Bокзал (the main train station) and then walked round the corner to pop into the Галерия shopping centre. Again I was overjoyed with the shopping choices - H&M, Zara and River Island! Not only that, but there was another Starbucks and even a Costa! I was in heaven - it's funny the things you miss. After that we headed back to the hotel with sore feet and shopping bags in hand ready for a nice shower. However, we didn't have much time to waste as that evening we headed off to the Мариинский Театр (Mariinsky Theatre) to watch La Sylphide. The theatre was absolutely stunning (as you can see from the pictures) and even though I'm not a huge fan of ballet, the performance was great and we both thoroughly enjoyed it! After the show, as you can imagine it was close to impossible to get a taxi, but I managed to flag one down. However, the driver wanted something like 800 roubles (double what we had paid on the way), so we decided to walk. However, I was very proud of myself as I managed to use a few verbs of motion when talking to him - result!
Anyway, back to St. Petersburg! We decided that we had to book a boat tour as the city is famed for looking completely different from the water. Unfortunately the weather wasn't quite as nice as it was on the Saturday, so it was rather hard to get good pictures from the boat as there were plastic sheets protecting us from the constant drizzle. However, the views were spectacular and the city did look extraordinarily different from the water. After about an hour, we returned to dry land and had to decide what to do with ourselves. We decided to meander down Nevsky Prospect to take in some of the architecture, and of course, to take advantage of the shopping! I spotted a Starbucks which nearly made me cry as we don't have anything like that in Воронеж and anything western is just like a taste of home (literally in this case!) I somehow managed to order our drinks (one of the hardest thing to do in any language in my opinion) and spotted the cutest Russian coffee travel mugs. We then carried on walking until we got to the Московский Bокзал (the main train station) and then walked round the corner to pop into the Галерия shopping centre. Again I was overjoyed with the shopping choices - H&M, Zara and River Island! Not only that, but there was another Starbucks and even a Costa! I was in heaven - it's funny the things you miss. After that we headed back to the hotel with sore feet and shopping bags in hand ready for a nice shower. However, we didn't have much time to waste as that evening we headed off to the Мариинский Театр (Mariinsky Theatre) to watch La Sylphide. The theatre was absolutely stunning (as you can see from the pictures) and even though I'm not a huge fan of ballet, the performance was great and we both thoroughly enjoyed it! After the show, as you can imagine it was close to impossible to get a taxi, but I managed to flag one down. However, the driver wanted something like 800 roubles (double what we had paid on the way), so we decided to walk. However, I was very proud of myself as I managed to use a few verbs of motion when talking to him - result!
Until next time,
Isobel
xx
