St. Petersburg, Russia- July 2011

Getting into St. Petersburg around mid day gave me a good idea of what the city is like. With the bustling cars and pedestrians flocking everywhere. There was still a sense of Western European influence. Getting to our hotel which was the St. Petersburg Hotel. Located right over one of the draw bridges. The first thing we learned about this place was that you need to be very careful when going out at night. Not because of muggers or serial killers, But because between 2 AM to 5 AM the draw bridges go up together and let in cruise liners that need to go thru the canals/rivers. So if your out partying and the place you need to go is over a bridge you need to choose if you want to leave at 2 or end up staying out all night. Finding out about getting my own room in St. Petersburg was a great addition to being in the city. The first night we took a detailed bus/walking tour of the city. Stopping off at many different landmarks. Our tour guide Anna was funny she came on the bus with a bottle of Vodka slurring that she was already drunk. So much for a history tour of the city. A lot of "Thats a building".  Either way the Champangeski and Vodka was great. Started to actually feel like a Russian.

Waking up with a hangover in the city of St. Petersburg with a view that would be found in a travel magazine was exactly what happened to me the next morning. Having a traditional Russian breakfast. I tried the pancakes, sausage, eggs, and other pastries. Seemed like bread and pastries was a big thing in a Russian diet. After loading up on food I made my way downstairs to the bus. Where we were on our way to Peterhof's Summer Palace. Taking about a 20 minute drive in the outskirts of the city lead us to this gravel paved parking lot. Getting out of the bus we walked a few minutes to find ourself in a complete heaven of royalty. There standing before my eyes was one of the residences of Peter the Great. Dating back to the 1700's. It's unreal to be around something that's 300 years older than you. A long canal stretches from the center of the Palace where golden statues are everywhere to be found. These statues are also fountains that go off around 10-3 pm daily. Crowd's of people stand on the bridges overlooking the show, to take pictures and watch the beauty of it. The actual grounds of the Palace is very big. I remember going thru 20 different kinds of gardens. Taking so many pictures of statues I felt like I could start up a career as a statue photographer. It was beautiful to also walk up to the Baltic Sea and to think that a powerful king like Peter the Great would take walks around the same place I was standing. 

After being dropped of at the Marlinsky Palace which is pretty much the center of town. We were on our own to voyage and explore what St. Petersburg had to offer. Walking thru the narrow streets I got a solid idea of what locals went thru. Old women which are called "Babushka's" Sit outside their apartments or stores enjoying the hot weather. Right across from Marlinsky Palace is Saint Isaac's Cathedral. Where you can get great views of the city from up above. We didn't have time to do that but we did see the hotel in which Hitler was favored to whenever he came to Russia. It was called the Hotel Astoria. After walking around the area and having a Russian meal consisting of Dill, Potatoes, and Duck. We decided that we were going to go clubbing at night. The club was named Club Metro. We all went inside and payed the entry fee. As we walked upstairs you could feel the excitement of being in a nightclub from a foreign country. As we reached the main level we walk into the neon filled room blasting with beats and techno bass to find something more out of a comedy act. These young Russian people were dancing like something out of a movie. It was something so foreign from U.S. culture that it almost seemed as a joke. There was a guy with his shirt off and a cigarette bobbing his head and circling his hands like he was on some sort of acid pill. It was a lot of stuff to take in. The bar felt like a good place to be, at least to get enough drinks in so everything around us would begin to seem normal.

Shot by shot of fresh Russian vodka and a chaser of a split lemon piece. I felt like it was time to check the action on the dance floor. There me and my friend Ramon never experienced so many rejections. In the U.S. girls would let you down easy saying they had a boyfriend or something. Not in Russia. Here if you even look a girl the wrong way you will get a very short and direct "Nyet!". Especially asking a few girls to dance. Not like I'd even know how to dance the way they do, Just my drunk mind thinking I could give it a try. Finally I find one girl and her friend. She motions to me that she wants to drink. The only thing I could understand in this club due the fact that NOBODY could speak a word of english. I take them to the bar where I buy them both a beer. Standing next to us is another St. Petersburg local who knew a few words of english. Still very hard to understand. I was trying to tell him to tell her that I was interested in her and that I thought she was cute. He didn't get what I was saying though. After the drink I figured the girl would at least want to hang out for a little longer. Little did I know she goes up to some guy standing in the club. She is whispering to him and then he looks at me. He charges right past me in an angry manner. I ask the french St.Petersburg local what the deal was and he starts pounding his fist. Motioning to me that he is getting his friends to come kick my ass. What did I get myself into? I'm clubbing here for one night and I'm about to get myself killed. Trying to find my friends I finally find them. Telling them what the deal was they tell me to stick with them by the bar and chill out. There 2 other locals were hanging out with them. One was named Andre Ortega and the other I'm not sure. Andre knew a little english and he was one funny ass kid. His accent was like something out of Borat. We sat there and hung out for a little and the French local came by and told me that he took care of the problem and that I had nothing to worry about. Good, Now I can relax and not worry about getting myself killed in this Mafia run club. Andre told us he wanted to go upstairs to dance. We followed him and we met a guy that lived in Boston and is living in Moscow for a few years. Yes! Someone who could speak english and translate Andre and help us get some girls. It was like a blessing especially in a nightclub like Club Metro. 

As we talked to Andre and our translator. We found out that Andre likes to party all the time. Not like we didn't know that the way he was dressed and his Stunna shades and his love for dancing. He also was trying to offer us some prostitutes cause we mentioned about the girls in Russia and if they are easy or not. He kept saying that he would get us girls to our hotel for 4000 rubles. Which would be 112 dollars. We kept telling him no and that we were going to Moscow next. He then began to pound on the table in anger and say "MOSCOW NO! Stupid girls in Moscow!" Over and over again. We started cracking up. He then was telling us that he is in the Mafia and that he has a lot of guns at home. We asked him because there was a line of Black BMW's and Mercedes outside the club. Later we found out that it was a club owned by the Mafia and it also serves as a mob hangout. It was pretty funny meeting a Mafia Pimp local from St. Petersburg. He was probably in his 20's and it seemed like he goes to Club Metro every night. About 6 in the morning we felt it was time to go back to the hotel. Since the draw bridges were down. We headed our way back. But not sleep for us. Stayed up all day.

One cool attraction we did was go to the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad. There stands a monument dedicated from the Siege of the Nazi's. The monument is dedicated to the soldiers, sailors, and civilians who did not surrender to the situation given at hand. Even with starvation, coldness and enemy attacks. Underground from the Monument lies a museum with different artifacts from the time of the siege. One thing that I found interesting was that there was food shortages during that time and people were really only eating 400 calories a day. Which obviously is not enough. There was a piece of bread in a glass case to show how small of a serving they got every day. I was pretty hungry after not eating since breakfast but after hearing the stories of people dying from starvation I felt that I could wait another hour or two for some fast food. Something they didn't have back then.

I dont even know where to start when the word Hermitage Museum is used in a conversation. This place was ridiculously big. It's the biggest museum in the world. My friend and I actually got lost trying to get out of there. The bus was leaving at 1:45 and we couldn't make it in time because we still had to go thru 45 other rooms to get to the exit. There is different works of art from places like Western Europe, Japan, China, and Asia. The first rooms you go thru you see original portraits of old Russian rulers like Peter the Great and all of his wives and mistresses. Some of them were pretty ugly looking. We got upstairs to where one room was of complete gold. It was crazy to think that someone had the money for a huge palace like the Hermitage. It has like 100+ rooms. Who needs all that space? Either way we had to hail a random car to drive us to St. Isaac's Cathedral to meet with the group. In Russia there is taxi's but its more cost efficient to hail a random car to drive you to where you need to go. In the U.S. you would be standing outside for days for some random person to drive you. In Russia it's just another quick way of making a couple hundred rubles.

One way to really see St. Petersburg is by boat. Within the city there are small canal like rivers that flow thru the cross sections of main parts of the metropolis. Right by the St. Isaac's Cathedral there is a dock with little boats that take you around the rivers. Going under these very low bridges. These bridges are probably about 8-11 feet tall. You could easily put your hands up while going under and be able to hold on to it. While on the boat tour you really get to see the different colors of the buildings and the different style. More mid-town shows a lot older styled buildings. Our tour guide told us that the different colors represent that popular color in a certain time period. Whether it was the 1700's-1800's-or 1900's. While on the boat we were served bottles of Champangeski. Cant get any better than a bottle of Champagne and a boat ride.

Another place i checked out while I was in St. Petersburg was the Peter and Paul Fortress. Going here in the morning was a great time, the summer crowd of tourists usually swarm mid-day. You arrive and see this huge brown stone building with gold tops. You look up in awe in how something like this was made. Inside your breath is taken even more for a ride when you see the detail in the ceiling and marble floors. This place is the burial ground for all the Russian Emperors and Empresses from Peter the Great to Alexander III. The cathedral was the first church in the city to be built by stone between 1712- 1733. Standing over where Peter the Great is buried is a very eerie feeling. They have lined up big marble plaques over there grave with big golden crosses. The history of this place is just something you don't find everyday. The fortress is located on Zayachii Ostrov which is an Island. Near by there is a military museum with a few tanks outside.

Last but not least no trip to St. Petersburg could be complete without visiting the world famous "Church of Spilt Blood". This church is seriously one of the coolest things Iv'e ever seen traveling. Just the exterior of the place calls out independency and unearthly measures. The detail put into this place must of taken years. Construction began around 1883 by the order of Alexander III as a memorial to his father Alexander II. On March 13th 1881 Alexander II's carriage was passing by when a grenade was thrown within the area. Alexander was shaken but not hurt, he got out of the carriage and proceeded to catch the culprit,  Meanwhile another bomb went off and brutally hurt Alexander. Alexander II was rushed to the Winter Palace (Today the Hermitage museum) where he died a few hours later. As you walk into this regal cathedral you see columns and columns of mosaic's of different saints. 7500 square feet of Mosaic artwork fills the interior of the church. This is definitely a place you need to check out if your ever in St. Petersburg. If you don't come here you can say that your trip wasnt 100%. Outside the church there is a small market place of souvenirs and other goods. 

St. Petersburg. A city of western Europe influence and Russian idealistic emperors. A mecca where one can visit the very places that 17th century society once roamed. The markets, cathedrals, and delectable restaurants by day. The bars, lounges, and Mafia social nightclubs by night. So much is happening in this city that it's hard to grasp all of it in a 72 hour period. Meeting the locals was a great touch in understanding the actual pace of the city and where it's at present day. Also meeting a pimp from the Mafia who said he would take care of anyone who gave me a problem was a great addition. Either way its a place where people come to enjoy the culture of both Western and Eastern Europe, that of Russian blood. Doing all of this can make you lose track of your mental clock. Just be sure to get back to where you need to be before 2 AM. Or else your stuck there till 5 in the morning.