Being in Narva a day before our visa date gave us a little time to prepare for the border crossing. And we had a fair bit to do like clean the number plates and the windscreen, do some mechanical checks and repack the car. But first was Parex Bank. We had read some info that Parex was the place to go in the Baltic States to pre-purchase third party insurance for Russia. However after a lengthy discussion ensure that we were all understanding ourselves we were informed that they did not do this. We tried Ergo a local insurance company who explained they were only authorised to issue insurance for Estonian registered vehicles. This meant that we would have to take the chance that the other stuff we had read on the internet about getting insurance at the border.

When we had arrived at Narva we had spent some time watching, trying to sus out what the system was and work out exactly how we were supposed to go about getting across. There seemed to be several random queues, some people were getting out and handing over tickets. Some were just waiting. Gem spotted some bikes with NL plates and ran over to speak to them, counting on the fact that everyone in the Netherlands that we have ever met has spoken English. Success!!! The biker confirmed that we could get the insurance at the border, but had crossed the other way at this border, so wasn’t sure about the protocol

We saw a couple of German campervans pull up confidently into one of the queues. Unfortunately they spoke only a little bit of English, but we did manage to find out that we needed a ticket and we needed to pay for it and we don’t get the ticket at the border we have to go somewhere else to get it. After driving aimlessly around town, trying to decipher the directions we received in Germ-english, we finally found a tourist office. The lady at the tourist office was amazing!!! She was able to tell us exactly what we needed to do and where to do it, so here it is:

  1. On the way into town there is a turn off on the (R) to a service called Transervice
  2. At the transervice either:
    1. Wait in line indefinitely to be issued with a ticket (2-12hours) for free
    2. Pay 20euro and get a ticket straight away
  3. Come back to the border ‘around the side’ and join the queue
  4. Give the ticket to the man in the little window

When the boom gate does go up and you finally cross into ‘border land’ you firstly stop at an Estonian check point for regular passport and vehicle checks. Once through here you drive forward and are held on a bridge for quite some time. You can get out and collect immigration cards and customs cards here, although the customs card is in Russian Only.

Once through the next boom gate and over the bridge you enter the Russian check point. This involves two parts. The first is to get out and go to the booth for passport control. The second is to drive 3m forward and park for customs. Fortunately the lead customs man was quite helpful, finding me an English customs form as well as completely filling it out for me. They put the sniffer dog over the car and pointed us to the customs window. It was here that they asked us for insurance and after a momentary panic when we said we wanted to buy it from the border and they looked at us blankly, they pointed us in the direction of an office. We were met by a lady who promptly instructed Gem to go back to the car and wait. After what seemed like forever we had insurance (about £27)(which we are unsure if it covers Gemma), had a document issued for the car (unsure whether this was something similar to a Russian Registration, or whether this is a Russian Temporary Import Document), and had been told that we could leave.

So without looking back for fear they would change their minds, we drove into Russia, with one border crossing successfully negotiated, it took about 2 hours in total. In general we had found the staff on the crossings to be quite helpful. We had also forgotten about the time difference and after winding our clocks forward another hour it was getting quite late, and for the first time since we had started we were driving in the almost dark.

We followed the street signs into St Petersburg, and using some guess work, maps that we had saved as jpegs off of google maps and sheer luck we found our hotel – Accent Hotel (no website, we booked off hostelbookers.com) The hotel is conveniently located within easy walking distance to the metro and only 2-3 stops to the centre. And it was much cheaper than other options we had noted. It had parking, and the only thing that made us a little wary was that the parking was not gated or listed as “secure”. It had video surveillance and that was all. Feeling a little nervous about this we reversed the car so that it was almost touching the wall of the hotel so that no one would be able to access the back if anyone did smash the windows. We put both the car alarms on in the hope that two flashing lights on the dash would be a better deterrent than just one.

The staff at the hotel were very helpful and even gave us service with a smile, contradicting everything that we had so far heard about Russian customer service.

We had each been quietly worrying about the Russian border crossing for weeks. I don’t think either of us realised exactly how much until our first morning, or should I say this afternoon in St Petersburg, when we finally woke up and got out of bed. Feeling slightly guilty about the lost exploring time, we lethargically and somewhat half-heartedly dragged ourselves into the town centre. I feel that our initially apathetic attitude didn’t allow us to do justice to St Petersburg when forming our first impressions.

As we wandered up Nevskiy Prospekt we were struck by how outdated tourism appeared to be. It seemed a contradiction that this bustling progressing town with high end business and fashion, appealed to tourists by offering photographs with animals: wrap a snake around your neck, hold a bear cub!?!?!? or an endangered Macaw. If exploitation of animals is not your thing then perhaps you would like a photograph of a gentleman or lady in period costume dressed as a member of Russian royalty, mind though, if you do that you don’t include feet or you will see their skate shoes. Would you like to go for a ride in a carriage resembling those used by Russian royalty? You most definitely can however the door will have to be tied shut with string, and it is a shame that the surly drive is not presented a little better – but at least the horses look well fed.

We found some postcards to send home, and found it saddening that the colours of some of the buildings have been noticeably photo-shopped to improve their appearance.

Now we are well aware that the above makes us sound like whinging tourists who don’t appreciate anything unless it is exactly like where we have come from.. and that is not so. Looking back I think that maybe we had been really looking forward to St Petersburg and had heard so much about it that our expectations for a city that emerged from Soviet Communism less than 20 years ago were not realistic. Following our initial reaction to St Petersburg over the next few days we became gradually smitten.

We explored the Cathedral of our Lady of Kazan, inspired by St Peters Basilica in the Vatican but much smaller. We checked out the Armenian (not American as Gemma first read it) Church and the Catholic Church of St Catherine which had a charming artist market out the front, and had ate outside the Gogol (famous Russian author) statue.

Turning off the Nevskiy Prospekt and walked down to the Church of the Spilled Blood which is one of the most beautiful of St Petersburg Churches with it’s technicolour domes. It was used as a storage facility for many years during the soviet rule and greatly damaged requiring more than 20 years of restoration and now it is a museum.

Behind the church was a canal with a small bridge that was serving as the background to several weddings. Oddly a man who appeared to be part of the wedding party stripped off out of his suit, dived off the bridge into the water, swam down to the embankment and got out!. We wandered through the souvenir markets admiring all the nesting dolls.

Pancakes… one of the yummiest Russian cuisine! Pancakes which are stuffed with all sorts of things such as chicken mushroom and cheese or mince meat… delicious. You could also have it stuffed with caviar should you choose, but we were not so keen on that idea. Caviar is everywhere in Russia, even on their crisps. To be adventurous we bought a bag of caviar and butter flavoured chips. It was the grossest thing we had ever tasted in our life, so the chances of getting Gem to try the real thing are minimal. Everything that is Russian and is stuffed is good (as long as it is not stuffed with Caviar), stuffed pastry, stuffed pasta dumpling thingies… all good.

The hotel didn’t have a washing machine that we could use, they were happy to accept our money to do our laundry there is something not quite right about having other people washing your unmentionables. So instead we washed them in bucket in our room. Fortunately our un-air conditioned room was perfect for drying them quickly.

After a little hiccup with metro, we could not get off at our stop so had a long walk ahead of us to pick up our ballet tickets. From there we walked to the Peter and Paul Fortress on a little island in the Neva. It is a beautiful little island with churches and dungeons and the Royal mint. From here we walked around the neva past some beautiful old ships that have since been turned into restaurants and past the naval museums

Although we hadn’t been there yet we were able to immediately recognise the Hermitage in particular the winter palace from the other side of the river. The riverscape was beautiful with the magnificent 18th and 19th century buildings sitting aloft.

We crossed the river and headed for the world famous Mariinskiy Theatre. When it first opened in 1860 it was the biggest stage in the world. It was known as the Kirov Theatre during the soviet era, and apparently is ‘the’ place to see the ballet in St Petersburg.

The theatre itself was beautiful, more intricate carvings and gilting and an amazingly lush and decorative stage curtain. We were sitting in the Presidential box, front and centre – which was not where we had intended to go. We had originally planned to see Spartacus in a different theatre however we received an phonecall from the booking agent stating that that performance had been cancelled and replaced with swan lake. As much as the idea of seeing the famous swan lake appealed to us it is a performance that is over three hours long, and we were not sure what our tolerance for Ballet was. So instead we opted for Giselle ‘a fantastic ballet in two acts’ (and only two hours long). We both enjoyed it a lot more than we had expected.

Back on Nevskiy Prospekt again, although second time around it had a slightly different flavour to it. We stopped at the Stroganov Palace as it is home to one of the more exclusive restaurants in St Petersburg. Gemma was hoping that on seeing it and inspecting the menu that Duncan would decide that he *just had* to take her there for dinner so that they could have stroganov in stroganov palace. Fortunately for Duncan it was far too early for the restaurant to be open and the menus were not out.

Further up the Nevskiy Prospekt we studied the so called siege plaque. Painted on the wall in the second world war the plaque translates: “Citizens! This side of the street is more dangerous during an artillery bombardment”

Nearby the siege plaque we turned of Nevskiy and entered the Palace Square through the archway in the staff quarters over which sits a sculpture of Victory and her chariot. From here the palace square opens up on the magnificent Hermitage and in the centre of the square the worlds tallest unsupported column with Alexander I on top.

We explored the Hermitages art collection and the winter palace’s splendid rooms. The winter palace was used pre-revolution by the tsars and embodies the opulence and extravagance that Russian Royalty was known for. Some rooms had more gold leaf paint than anything else – incredible! Gem’s favourite was the artillery room for its golden columns white walls with historical décor and huge chandeliers.

The art collection for which Catherine the Great was largely responsible is quite impressive with contributions from all the greats, Michaelangelo, Raphael, Da Vinci, Rembrandt etc. as well as some more modern Picasso, Monet and Van Gogh. And the setting within the Hermitage is magnificent. So after a whistle stop tour appreciating most of the masterpieces and wondering why some of them were masterpieces, we headed back out into the sunny St Petersburg streets.

Next on the list was St Isaac’s cathedral. Yet again this church had been turned into a museum during the Soviet era, and unlike other Churches which are churches again, it has remained a museum for Russian Art. As we were a little Arted-out for the day we admired it’s architectural glory from the outside and moved on.

A definite highlight of St Petersburg for Gem was having stroganoff in the Stroganov Palace.