Personal Observations, Saint Petersburg

I know some of my tourist trap tips concern whole Russia not St.Petersburg but I didn't visit whole Russia and I'm not going to build Russia page. Even so I experienced some not nice things on the borders I still think it was worth going there and to see St.Petersburg. Maybe my Polish nationality caused some troubles... We passed Russia's border from the Finland in Brusnicznoje. We waited at the border two hours and officers couldn't decide if they could let us go or not. All documents were ok but... We had to stay in the hall. After they decided that we could pass the border they checked our passports 4 times! First if we have passports, second when they stamped them, then they checked if we have stamps and at the end if we have a passports.


	Personal Observations: At the border - going out	Tip Rating:

By ania70pl

on July 12, 2003

Leaving Russia wasn't easy, too. Again we had to wait about two hours but now we knew what they wanted from us... Our guider had to pay, 150$ and three bottles of vodka. Otherwise we would stay there next few hours. Also they checked our luggages but I don't know if they were looking for something because sometimes they even didn't watch at the monitor. They were probably trying to scare us.


	Personal Observations: Roads	Tip Rating:

Updated By ania70pl

on July 12, 2003

by ania70pl
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Personal Observations - Saint Petersburg

This is national road somewhere close to the Pskov. No signposts, even on the crossroads. It was about 70 km like that. Our driver were roaming there a few hours and we even thought that if we would get lost there nobody would find us, our phones didn't work there. We would build Polish settlement there and after a few hundreds years children would learn about us in the schools ;-)


	Personal Observations: Folklore performance	Tip Rating:

Updated By Dabs

on September 15, 2003

by Dabs
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One of our tour group suckered
in

I'm quite sure that there are many people who enjoy folklore performances. But my husband and the man seated next to him were snoring through various parts of the performance and the general consensus was that it was about twice as long as most of us could withstand. The performance we saw was called Feel Yourself Russian, held at the Nikolaevsky Palace.


	Personal Observations: You're a tourist? Go over there, pay more!	Tip Rating:

By travelingdanna

on November 12, 2004

by travelingdanna
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English entrance vs. Russian
entrance

You'll probably hear a lot about this. In Russia, tourists are expected to pay much more than locals (or, citizens of the former Soviet Union) for museums, monuments, boat trips, etc. When you go to souvenir markets, you'll end up paying a whole lot more than you have to if it's obvious you are a foreigner. As a Russian speaker, it was somewhat disheartening to see this disparity and the way tourists are constantly being caught in these scams. At the same time, when it comes to museums, etc, it makes sense that Russians pay less - they would not be able to afford visiting their own cultural attractions if it weren't for the discount.

If you go to a souvenir market, try to bring a Russian friend if you have one. Everything can be bargained down and someone who knows Russian well must do the bargaining.


	Personal Observations: Do you think this is The Great Peter ?	Tip Rating:

Updated By kleomania

on August 15, 2005

Who is it ! I cant remember:)

In the center of Peter & Paul fortress!

He can carry you at his hands:) Sit down please!


	Personal Observations: Peter the Great Sightings!	Tip Rating:

Updated By sennaya

on June 6, 2007

by sennaya, 1 more photos
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Peter the Great strolls by
Canal Griboedova

Right by the Church on the Spilt Blood on Canal Griboedova you can often imagine Peter the Great or Ekaterina the Great walking around. It is not by chance. Costumed people walk the streets to get tourists to pay for a picture next to them.

If you want top get a picture of yourself posed with Peter the Great or Ekaterina the Great, pay some rubles and do it.

You can probably stand back and get a picture of the scene for free.


	Personal Observations: Advertize water, sell vodka	Tip Rating:

By sennaya

on May 17, 2007

by sennaya
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Looks like vodka, reads
like water- voda

There are rules against advertizing vodka, so enterprising vodka companies have learned to market water- Voda, looking like Vodka except for one letter :)

Laugh and drink warter from another company :)


	Personal Observations: Ambar	Tip Rating:

By pginer

on September 2, 2003

The Gulf of Finland is one of the places in the world where you find real AMBAR. Ambar is a resine from a tree which drag mosquitoes, leafs and so on and with hundreds of years it became fossilized. If you are thinking about buying a gift ....


	Personal Observations: Toilets at the border	Tip Rating:

Updated By ania70pl

on July 12, 2003

by ania70pl
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Toilet in the Russia

Before we crossed the border we had to wait in the queue. Fortunatelly it wasn't so long but some people wanted to go to the toilet. So on the pic you can see the toilet on the Rusian border... poor TIR drivers who have to wait a few days sometimes.