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Well it's finally happened, we have left Germany and arrived in RUSSIA! But first let me tell you about our last days in Germany!
So the day arrived for Sally and I to attend the wedding of Tess and Christian, fresh from the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang castle, which was awesome. The morning provided beautiful blue skies as we strolled through the village to get some last minute supplies to take to Russia and for the train journey we face on Wednesday... Mainly noodles and soup!
As the afternoon arrived and we boarded the coach to pick up the rest of the hotel based guests, the heavens opened... BIG TIME! It rained hard and to cut a long story short, didn't stop! As we arrived at the venue, Sally and I cast our minds back to our big day, and how it rained at almost the same point! We knew Tess would be upset, but, we also knew she would be fine once she got the first hour and a few glasses of champers out of the way!
And sure enough, both Tess and Christian and their lovely guests, including us, had a fantastic time! It's amazing how despite the ceremony being in German we understood it all, and the mainly English speaking congregation laughed and cheered in all the right places!! It was romantic, funny and charming in equal measures! And the food and drink fantastic! Tess looked beautiful and Christian very handsome, and they are clearly very much the perfect happy couple!
So onwards the next morning, and up at 7am to get fed and head to the train station with our bags to get to the airport, and still it was raining!!!
The flight was great, they fed us which was nice and we landed on time. It took them 30 mins to get a gangway vehicle to arrive, I was horrified at the way they threw all the bags from the trailers to the baggage belt, and getting through customs was really slow, but other than that not bad!! I think we are so used to going under our own steam it just felt alien to us.
The journey from the airport to the hotel was a bit scary but thanks to Sally stress free, as she knew exactly what we needed to do and how to get through it. Research really does pay off!! The hotel is simple but lovely, quiet and clean so happy days! We were so tired we pretty much fell straight asleep!
Our first day in St Petersburg could not have been more perfect. Again due to some excellent pre research Sally had organised for us to attend a walking tour of the city, and so off we headed to meet our guide, Dimitry, and a lovely older couple (American husband and Norwegian wife) who would join us. Dimitry was fantastic, insightful and honest about life in Russia. It's a beautiful place but very downtrodden behind the facade. We walked through back alleys, shortcuts and side streets to see the real St Petersburg, and after 6 hours walking, talking, learning and drinking coffee, we were happy but exhausted!
We had a lovely Thai meal for dinner and we are now planning tomorrow, which will probably involve heading to the Hermitage Museum, which has over 3 million exhibits according to our guide!!
Night all... And keep your messages coming, it's lovely to hear from you all!!
Dan and Sally xxx
- comments
lindsay pearl Enjoy St Petersburg! When I was there I went to the ballet and the prices were so good, we both a private box with champagne and cavier! Check it out!
Rhian Well done Sal for all the research! I'm sure Russia is intimidating but fascinating. Wedding looked fun!! Xx
Jen V I'm sure you are in your element, Tour Guide Sal! :)
Kendra I loved St Petersburg - so beautiful yet such a sad history too. No doubt you enjoyed the Hermitage. Now to your sighting of Piglet - who knows, your sighting could be The Pig himself. He was last seen many years ago atop my backpack while hiking along the coast in Victoria. Then he either 1. jumped to explore the coast solo (preferred senario) or 2. fell and became warren padding for a local fox (not so much the preferred senario. Looks like it was senario 1 though & after seeing all to be seen in Victoria he's headed back to St Petersburg (maybe his favourite spot from his Scandi/Russia adventure in 2003/4?!) xx ps yes - have been to Nepal..trekked the Annapurna Circuit for 3 weeks