SPB, Day 1: Wires And More Wires

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Sorry for so many photos and sorry for the extended use of words "beauty" and "beautiful"!

It's been more than a week since I'm back from this trip, and I finally stole some time from myself to publish a new post.


Living in Finland as an exchange or master's student is obviously great for another reason: organized trips for students! We booked Saint Petersburg while we were still in Germany and it was such a funny and great thing: it would have been only ten days that we're studying in Joensuu, and then we go to Russia for fun!


Saint Petersburg is, in a word, indescribable. I was swept away by its beauty. It has only happened to me once: when I was in high school, there was a fight amongst students whether we should go to Prague in our final year or Italy. I voted for Italy with all my heart, whereas I didn't know anything about Prague and didn't have the slightest wish to visit it. Somehow Prague won. Later on I was so happy that it did, because otherwise I wouldn't have come up with the idea of visiting it. Well, of course I would have when I was wiser and older :), but that was what I had thought at the age of 18. I think the main reason for me not wanting to go to Prague back then was ignorance. It was similar this time - in the meantime I started loving travelling so much that I would go anywhere I haven't been before - but I knew nothing of Saint Petersburg and didn't have any expectations.



Well, this city is the most beautiful one I saw this year. Okay, I do have some doubts regarding Berlin, but let's put it this way: I wasn't thrilled by Berlin. I think I could only compare SPB to London. N.B. This is only a personal impression, because I think London is the most beautiful place I have ever been to and I am completely in love with it. Something similar happened to me in SPB. Pure beauty!!!

Oh, and as for the title: when I started blogging a month ago, my wonderful friend Tamara, who is into artsy photography, told me my photos were fine, but "please make sure you have no wires hanging around". Well! I can't wait she sees this post. :) Saint Petersburg is ALL about wires. Electricity wires, tram wires, trolleybus wires. I find the wires kinda charming in the photos, though. What do you think?

This is still in Finland, on our way to Helsinki harbor
Good morning everyone and welcome to Russia! Approaching SPB by the ferry

First thing we did in SPB was a bus tour. I wasn't really pleased, because I couldn't take proper photos! And I fell in love with the city instantly, but it felt like a really short-term long-distance relationship, as we didn't even have time to admire parts of the city we were shown because hey, we're going somewhere else! Apart from that the tour was good and really informative, I loved our tour guides. So if you see a reflection in some photos, it's because they were taken from the bus - sorry!

Luckily enough, we stayed in a hotel that is pretty much in the center (Dostoevsky Hotel, if you plan to visit SPB I would definitely recommend this one because it's nice and the location is perfect - even though Wi-fi could get weak if there are too many people) so we could wander around later on and see all the main sights.

Saint Petersburg is located on the Neva river and has numerous canals and bridges - so many that some call it the Northern Venice. It was the capital of Russia from its founding in the beginning of the 18th century up to 1918. Nowadays it's the second largest city in Russia, and referred to as the cultural capital. I wonder what Moscow is like - I would love to visit it someday soon and I'm really curious: will it make me fall in love as much as SPB did?

Another personal impression that you cannot find on Wikipedia (but might find it on fashion blogs): women in Saint Petersburg are 1. beautiful 2. really well dressed. They have so much style and it seems that they don't care about the cold at all. Of course, I don't have a proof. So if you want to make sure, there's another reason to visit SPB :)

I hope you enjoy the photos. Please comment, I see that I have audience from all over the world, but you seem to be too shy to say anything. :)

St Isaac's Cathedral and Neva river
Bridge on the Neva river
The Flying Dutchman - ship-restaurant
Peter and Paul Cathedral (on the left) inside the Peter and Paul Fortress, the oldest landmark of SPB
Continuing the tradition of showing you naked or half-naked men... all over Europe
Neva river
Peter and Paul Fortress and the Cathedral
Peter and Paul Fortress
Matryoshkas!
Palace Bridge; on the right: Winter Palace, nowadays hosting the State Hermitage Museum
Funny spelling of "Steak House"
Astoria Hotel
St Isaac's Cathedral
Monument to Nicholas I
Trolley bus! There aren't many of these in the world, so that would explain the question of my Dutch classmate, who asked why some buses are on the leash :)

More funny spelling
Building in the Nevsky Prospekt - main street and absolutely the most beautiful street in SPB

Maybe he plays so he could top up :)
This is a riddle we didn't solve! A LOT of people all around SPB carried yellow leaves in their hands - children on their heads, as you can see. At first I thought it was a school project or something, but adults had bunch of the leaves too
Something familiar
Lenin. The city was named after him in the 20th century, so you might have heard of Leningrad
Avatar in the Nevsky Prospekt
Nevsky Prospekt
If you're a hipster, you know where to go!
Church on the Spilled Blood / Cathedral of Resurrection of Christ
So she's popular outside Serbia too 
...and more funny spelling
Winter Palace
Cafe with a lovely name 
Serbian singer in SPB

I love these photos! We were standing on a bridge and on our left the sky was pink, while on our right it was orange. Such a wonderful sunset!



Until the next post, greetings from the throne :)
T.


You can read about the rest of the SPB trip here {Day 2} and here {Day 3}

3 comments:

  1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPgtq4EU-qs :* Пицца и Горан Бреговић... Hehe, sjajno! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Iako s par dana razlike, i ti si postovala pesmu uveče i ja je poslušala uveče... odlična za pred spavanje. :)*

      Delete

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