SAINT PETERSBURG

The seasons are changing. While the hope of spring is in the air and seen by the lack of snow on the ground and first buds in sheltered gardens, winter has not yet relented it's grip as seen by the stark barren trees in the many parks throughout the centre of the city.

As for the seasons, also for the weather. Snow falling one minute and fine, if not particularly warm, the next.

Indeed this sums up my feelings of the city as well. Signs of the hard Soviet years are everywhere, and yet there is life and vibrancy in the historic centre.

I wont bore you, dear readers, with trivial details of places I visited and activities done in the few days I had here. I will, however, leave a few tidbits. The city is kind of walkable, although I was lucky in that the heaviest snow fell at night. The metro is very cheap and easy to use, once you have the hang of the cryllic alphabet (and you could get by even without that). Metro stations can be quite a distance apart. The metro stations have some amazing decorations - chandaliers, mosaics, stained glass picture windows, etc - each station different.

There are plenty of tourist signposts to sights and attractions, however I did not find them particularly useful in that they tended to be on the corner next to or 1 block away from the sight.

Some of the best places, in my view, were off the main roads.

I stayed at Best Western Neptun. This is located near the city centre but not easily walkable. It is a 5 minute walk across a park from the metro. Rooms were okay without being stunning. When searching for accommodation I found St Petersburg to be more expensive than I had expected.