the next stop on our journey was the one i was most looking forward to - st. petersburg, russia. as you well know if you've ever considered taking a trip to russia, it's one of "those" countries where it is exceedingly difficult for americans to obtain a visa. meaning, you can't just show up and get a stamp.
not everyone receives the same welcome in ol' roosky.
luckily, to get around the visa application issues, the group my parents were traveling with had arranged for a tour for both days that we were in port that allowed us to enter the country with little difficulty (excluding the skeptical glare i received from the woman at passport control. it's called "highlights," lady...)
anyway, for our little st. petersburg jaunt, we booked with a company called alla tours. now i'm not about to pretend like this blog is anything like a trip advisor, but our tour was so amazing that it's worth mentioning the company name just in case anyone who reads this does someday plan a trip to st. petersburg.
if all of the above happens, you also need to request valentina as your guide. i've never honestly been a fan of guided tours, mostly because i have this sort of snobbish assumption that either most people aren't interested in the same city sights that i am, or the even more pig-headed notion that i could probably just figure it all out on my own. this was definitely not the case in st. petersburg.
being a large city, there is obviously a lot to see, and a lot of tourists seeing things which makes for long lines. fortunately, with valentina at our helm, we skipped every hour long line and covered pretty much every palace, museum, and landmark in an extremely well planned out itinerary. exhausting maybe, but well planned. on top of being a tour guide, valentina was also a professor at the university, which meant she was incredibly knowledgable and able to handle all the rapid fire questioning our group sent her way. she was incredible, like even left us all with a reading list to better understand russian history. always the teachers pet - they're already on my ipad.
not everyone receives the same welcome in ol' roosky.
luckily, to get around the visa application issues, the group my parents were traveling with had arranged for a tour for both days that we were in port that allowed us to enter the country with little difficulty (excluding the skeptical glare i received from the woman at passport control. it's called "highlights," lady...)
anyway, for our little st. petersburg jaunt, we booked with a company called alla tours. now i'm not about to pretend like this blog is anything like a trip advisor, but our tour was so amazing that it's worth mentioning the company name just in case anyone who reads this does someday plan a trip to st. petersburg.
if all of the above happens, you also need to request valentina as your guide. i've never honestly been a fan of guided tours, mostly because i have this sort of snobbish assumption that either most people aren't interested in the same city sights that i am, or the even more pig-headed notion that i could probably just figure it all out on my own. this was definitely not the case in st. petersburg.
valentina's infamous lime green socks, which may be singlehandedly responsible for my ability to stay on the tour i was meant to be on at each sight.
looking wide awake next to the canal.
one of the many incredibly impressive churches we visited.
the hermitage.
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