From London to St Petersburg!

Hello again! Sorry it's been a while since we posted - time has flown and internet access isn't always easy!

Friday 2nd January

Spent the morning mailing excess stuff home (funny how it accumulates, isn’t it??) and visiting theaters to organise our tickets for the next couple of nights. Enjoyed a refreshment stop at the Black Friar – a fabulous old pub at Blackfriars – before wandering along the Embankment to Temple.

The Black Friar

Enjoyed an afternoon visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum then met our friend Tim for dinner and a show. Tonight – Wicked! Brad and Ben, you were right – this is an awesome show! And thank you Tim for sealing the deal. So glad we went – had a fabulous time.



Saturday 3rd January

Today was a designated shopping day. Headed off to Portobello Road antique market to spend the morning checking out all the street stalls and the shops. Also enjoyed looking at the beautiful houses around the Notting Hill area.

Then it was off to Carnaby Street – via Oxford and Regent Streets. Those post-Christmas sales are great!

Made our way to Islington Town Hall where we were married - for old times' sake. Had dinner at the restaurant over the road, one of the places where we celebrated on the day.

Tonight’s entertainment was Oliver! starring Rowan Atkinson as Fagin. What a great show – and Rowan Atkinson was superb. Our last night in London! Vowed to return next year.

Sunday 4th January

Literally spent the day travelling. Tube to Heathrow – then plane to Moscow!! The transport we had organized from the airport to our hotel went off without a hitch and before we knew it we were checking in.

Even getting from the airport to the car and from the car to the hotel was absolutely, positively, extremely freezing!!!!! Apparently it’s about -15 maximum here! Don’t even want to know the minimum!

Really looking forward to exploring tomorrow!

Monday 5th January

Set off to conquer the Moscow Metro – an extremely efficient underground train system - quite easy to navigate – even easier if you understand the Cyrillic alphabet!

Naturally – first stop… Red Square! There’s no doubt about it – this is an amazing place. Standing at the top of Red Square – St Basil’s Cathedral at the far end, the Kremlin to the right (and of course – Lenin’s tomb), GUM department store on the left – you really know you’re in Russia.


Red Square to the left. St Basil's at the far end. Kremlin wall and Lenin's tomb to the right.

Changing of the Guards at the Kremlin wall

Had a great time exploring St Basil’s. It really is a beautiful building both inside and out. Inside is just a crazy maze of rooms, staircases, nooks and crannies – quite unlike any churches we’re used to.

St Basil's Cathedral - above and below

Next stop – the Kremlin. Had to queue for ages to buy tickets. It was absolutely freezing! Louise was here 10 years ago and can’t remember it being this cold or this crowded! There are people everywhere!! It snowed while we were waiting – a lovely diversion. We (spot the stupid Australians in the queue) whiled away the minutes (hours??) collecting snowflakes on our sleeves and competing to see who caught the biggest!

Visiting the Kremlin is an awesome experience. Once through security and inside the gates you’re in another world. It’s like a city within a city, with roads leading to government buildings, lanes leading to beautiful cathedrals and soldiers on each corner who will not hesitate to blow their whistle and direct you elsewhere in no uncertain terms if you dare to stray from the tourist trail.


The Tsar Cannon - which has never been fired!

The Tsar Bell - which has never been rung! It broke while it was cooling.

Did we mention how freezing it is?? Each cathedral or museum we visited inside the Kremlin was not only a fabulous cultural experience but also a welcome point of refuge!! Sometimes we lingered just that little bit longer to admire the iconistasis.


Cathedrals inside the Kremlin

Wandered past the Bolshoi theatre on our way home to investigate the possibility of buying tickets (no luck today) and then enjoyed a nice meal (what an experience – but that’s another story!) before heading back to the hotel for a much needed sleep!

Tuesday 6th January

Our hotel is quite near a fabulous market which is renowned for its Russian souvenirs. Spent the morning deciding which chess set and matryoshka (Russian doll) sets to buy, before checking out.

Attempted to go to the Andrei Sakharov Museum (covering human rights issues). Travelled quite a long way via Metro and on foot but… it was closed! At least we think that’s what the guard was trying to tell us when we attempted to get in the apparently locked door. According to the guide book, it was meant to be open today – perhaps it’s closed for the holiday season(??). It’s Russian Orthodox Christmas tomorrow… Oh well – it was great to have a walk through some outer Moscow suburbs.

Next stop… the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum. Caught the Metro (we’re experts now!) straight to the spot. We kid you not – the queue was at least 200m long. It went down the main street and around a corner. Did we mention how freezing it is?? We decided to leave it a little while and have another go at Bolshoi tickets – and maybe some lunch!

Returned a couple of hours later – a vast improvement!! This time the queue was only about 100m long. We decided to join and before long there were heaps of people behind us.

Eventually got in and explored the museum – a lovely way to spend the afternoon – glad we made the effort.

Conquered another restaurant before making our way to the train station for our overnight journey to St Petersburg. This is really exciting!!

Eventually (after three attempts) found the right train station (there are 9 major stations in total – 3 are right beside each other – all names are in Cyrillic – aaaggghhh!!). Just as well we anticipated the challenge and allowed ourselves plenty of time.

After establishing we were in the right place and knew all platform details etc, we were enjoying a drink when we heard an Australian accent. Shared a drink with three fabulous guys – one from Australia and two from St Petersburg. They gave us heaps of tips for St P – great! Thanks, guys!

Getting some tips from Michael, Alex and Gleb

Eventually it was time to board. This journey is something we’ve both been looking forward to since we booked it – and we weren’t disappointed. If you conjure up everything you’ve ever imagined about an ‘Orient Express’ type train – this was it. Timbered cabins, fringed curtains, beautifully upholstered bunks, caviar – it was all there!! We thoroughly enjoyed the experience and slept peacefully all the way to St Petersburg.


Our train to St P!

Wednesday 7th January

Arrived at St P at about 7:30am – still dark. We haven’t been up this early since we left home!! Were able to check in to our hotel before we set off to explore our home for the next 6 days.

We walked, and walked, and walked. St Petersburg is beautiful! It’s a grand city built around a beautiful river and loads of magnificent canals (all of which are frozen!).

Phil enjoying a stroll along a frozen canal

Our main goal today was to secure tickets to as many performances at the Mariinsky Theatre as possible. We successfully achieved this by making our way to the theatre itself – a magnificent building in a beautiful location.

Had a wonderful evening at the Mariinsky – a performance of Swan Lake. To attend a performance at this theatre, which is the home of the Imperial Russian Opera and Ballet companies and has seen premieres of Tchaikovsky ballets, was an absolute treat. Can’t describe how beautiful the performance was.

Loving St P already!!

Thursday 8th January

Today was devoted to The Hermitage. Probably should say it’s the first day we devoted to The Hermitage – knowing from everything we’ve read that one day is not nearly enough to see everything this wonderful place has to offer. This is something we’ve been looking forward to for a long, long time.

The courtyard of the Hermitage

The Hermitage (the Winter Palace)

The books were right. This fabulous museum/art gallery/palace is absolutely magnificent. We spent a whole day just seeing one of the three floors. Rembrandt, Titian, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Rubens, Botticelli, Raphael, Canaletto, Murillo – you name it, it’s here. And apparently only 5-10% of the collection is on display at any one time. Sometimes it was hard to concentrate on the art because of the beautiful surroundings. The collection is displayed in the rooms occupied by the Tsars and the architecture is absolutely amazing. Neither of us has ever seen anything like it before.

The Jordan Staircase - inside The Hermitage

One of the many beautiful rooms inside The Hermitage

Stayed until closing time and then enjoyed a wonderful walk back to the hotel – it snowed all the way. Beautiful. We love it here.