a beautiful not very Russian city
by call_me_rhia
St. Petersburg is regarded by nearly everyone as the most beautiful city in the world. It has many nicknames, among them Venice of the North and Paris of the East.; and this is its fault, obviouly in my personal opinion. It's everything but Russian, which is something I'll never forgive. It's a living museum, like it or not. But as a city I found it quite cold and very little vibrant. When I visited, large parts of it were covered in scaffoldings, which did not help in improving its charm. I liked it, but was far from being in awe.
Aleksandro-Nevskaya Lavra, Tikhvinskoye Cemetery
by bugulma
It is the cemetery of the famous person of XIX century. In comparison of with cemetery of XVIII century, here you find names are bound up with culture only such as Dostoevsky, Zhukovsky, Kryilov, Chaikovsky, Musorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Kuindgi, Kustodiev and others. The entrance fee is RUR 60 (EUR 1,75) for visit to the both cemetery.
Discounted Entrance
by cosmogypsy
While I was in St. Petersburg, I had a guide. I didn't really want one, but that is another story. Most of the museums or churches have a price for Russians and a price for foreigners. The Foreigners of course paid a lot more than the Russians (example: The Hermitage Russians pay 15 Roubles, Foreigners pay 300 Roubles). Our tour guide would tell us the foreigner price and then say, “but I can get you in for half that, do you want to go?” So we would pay half the price and she would sneak us in the back door. I guess this was common business in St. Petersburg.
Bring plenty of medicines
by mikelisaanna
Bring plenty of medicines, such as aspirin, Tylenol, allergy medications, antacids, etc. Shopping in a pharmacy when you don't feel well and everything is labeled in Russian with Cyrillic letters is not fun.
Trip to Staraja Ladoga
by HORSCHECK
Staraja Ladoga was the first Russian capital and has a more than 1000-year old history. The old city is dominated by an ancient fortress, which nowadays houses a museum. Other sights along the River Volkov include a monastery, a nunnery, a chapel and various churches.
VT member Natalya2006 took me to Staraja Ladoga by car and showed me around. The city is located about 130 km northeast of St. Petersburg near the road to Murmansk.
Another option to get to Staraja Ladoga is to take a train from the Moscow Station in St. Petersburg to Volchovstroj from where local buses go to Staraja Ladoga.
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JumpingLORGNIERL+BUGULMA, Hermitage, St Petersburg
From the other side of the river
my group (with minders)
Church of the Spoiled Blood
