Bonjour de la Suisse: From Russia with Love

I've been fascinated with Russia since I was young, when the USSR was draped behind the iron curtain. I was a big fan of Gorbachev and followed the end of the cold war closely. Now, we finally had the opportunity to visit Russia and we eagerly took the opportunity.

Our trip through Scandinavia and Russia continued as we flew from Oslo to St. Petersburg (Санкт-Петербург). On the flight we were each given an immigration form and a customs declaration form. We had read that we should declare anything of value, like our cameras and wedding rings, otherwise when we leave we could be forced to pay duty on them. So, we filled out our forms. After collecting our single bag, we waited in a line that had a big sign that read "CUSTOMS" above it. After about 40 minutes we got to the front and the man yelled at me that we need TWO forms each. Great. So we got out of line and filled out another duplicate form and got back in line. After another half hour or so we were back to the front of the line. "How many bags did you loose?!?" Yelled the customs officer, "What?" "HOW MANY BAGS DID YOU LOOSE?!?" "Uh, none... at least none today." He then ripped up my forms and waved me to get out of the way. We were a little confused to say the least.

Oh well, we left the airport, no questions asked. I was just hoping that we wouldn't have any trouble when we were set to fly home, but that was yet to be seen. We were warned about taxis in St. Petersburg and opted for the public bus. We were supposed to take the yellow K3 which ended up being a private "minibus" called a marshrutkas. These busses run all over the city and you can get on or off wherever you want. We only paid 15 rubles each (or about .60 cents) for the 45 minute ride. It was a bit chaotic though, there were 10 seats but at any one time there were up to 12 people and quite a few big suitcases. It was crazy, and we weren't really sure where to get off, but a nice local couple helped us find our way. Needless to say we were the only non-Russians on the bus; we didn't waste any time getting a real local experience!

Our hotel was a bit hard to find. It was in a residential neighborhood, pretty far from the touristy area in a very non-descript building. There wasn't even a sign to indicate there was any kind of business there, let alone a hotel. But inside was fantastic! We had a huge room and the staff was really nice. But we weren't there to hang out in our hotel, so we made the 45 minute walk to the historic heart of town.

Our first stops were St. Isaac's Cathedral (Исаакиевский собор) and The Bronze Horseman statue (Медный всадник)of Peter the Great. This statue seems to be the spot where every bride in St. Petersburg comes to take pictures because we saw at least 10 bridal parties in the short time we were there. As we walked along toward Palace Square we noticed some very dark clouds forming, and unfortunately for all those brides the sky was about to open up and pour with rain. It started to rain so hard and so fast that we literary had to run and take shelter under a tree. Even with our one umbrella we soon were soaked. We sat under the tree for about a half hour trying to figure out where we can go to get out of the miserable weather. We decided to have an early dinner and when there was a break in the rain we made a dash for it. We had to go about a half mile to the restaurant and barely made it before it started to pour once again. We ate at a place called Pogreba Monakha, The Monk’s Cellar, a traditional Russian place complete with a cheesy little band that played cover songs. It was fantastic!

After dinner we were wandering through town (the rain had stopped for the evening) and I heard what I thought was Elton John... and it sounded like a live concert. We followed the sounds through the streets and there was Elton John giving a concert right in the Palace Square. We couldn't get into the paid area, but happily discovered that the free area was really quite close and we still had a great view of the stage. There were thousands of people there, singing and dancing, behind the line of Russian police that were keeping folks out of the paid area. We caught the last 45 minutes of so of the concert, it was great! All the way back to the hotel I was singing, "Hey Nikita is it cold, in your little corner of the world..."

The concert totally reminded me of the time Genentech flew in Elton John (along with Mary J. Blige and Matchbox 20) to South City for a big concert a couple of years ago to commemorate the releasing of three drugs in a single year. Chica and I were about three people from the stage and it was fantastic! Oh, the good old days... But I digress...

So back to St. Petersburg... our first day had been amazing and there was still more to come! The next morning we were up early to get our place in line for the Hermitage (Государственный Эрмитаж). What is it? Well, Lonely Planet describes it like this: "There are art galleries, there are museums, there are great museums of the world and then there is the Hermitage." It is one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, encompassing six huge buildings, including the Winter Palace. Not only is the enormous collection of art impressive, but the buildings and rooms themselves could be a museum all by themselves. It is a truly impressive place. We spent the better part of the day here and we were a little overwhelmed once we left. This place definitely deserves a second visit!

Once outside we opted to go on a canal tour, unfortunately all the commentary was in recorded Russian and then, about 10 minutes after we left the dock, it started to rain again! We huddled under our umbrellas listening to the drab voice go on and on about this or that. The rain stopped just long enough to get a great first view of the Summer Gardens and The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood (Храм Спаса на Крови), the multi-domed church that is one of the most recognizable symbols of St. Petersburg.

After the cruise we were headed down Nevsky Prospekt, the best shopping street in the city, when G was pick pocketed and his Blackberry was stolen. It was actually a team of guys and they were good. We realized it a couple minutes later and thanks to us ducking into a hotel to use their internet so he could let his IT department know, his phone was shut down and deactivated in just a couple of hours (not bad for a Sunday).

Our next stop was The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood and it was absolutely beautiful, inside and out. There was a small street market (Vernisazh) around the corner and we ended up doing most of our souvenir shopping there. We bought two matryoshka dolls (the wooden dolls that stack inside each other) as well as some other Russian classics. Dinner was at a hole-in-the-wall spot called "Propaganda" that served classic Russian food and local vodka with Soviet style KGB decor complete with books lining the walls and other interesting interior design. It was a great spot for dinner.

The next morning we braved a taxi to be at the gate of the Peter and Paul Fortress (Петропавловская крепость) when it opened. The whole island had been closed since we had arrived because the princess of Thailand was in town and for whatever reason this is where all her official business took place. Unfortunately we learned that the fortress (along with the Peter and Paul Cathedral) wouldn't be open until that afternoon, after we would be on our way back to the airport. So, we will just have to save that for the next trip. Instead we walked the long way back, by the Artillery Museum and Strelka of Vasilevsky Island where the Stock Exchange and Rostral Columns are. This is also the place with some of the best views of the city.

We took our time going back, zigzagging through neighborhoods we hadn't discovered yet and stocking up on a few more souvenirs and a good bottle of vodka. We walked most of the day and poor G had some terrible blisters that had been getting worse and worse every day (thanks to some cheap socks he picked up in Denmark). Once back at the hotel we opted for a taxi to the airport, since the marshrutkas bus we needed was about a mile from where we were and G's feet were in no shape to walk any further!

Just when we thought we were safe, one last little snag was yet to come. We decided to buy one more bottle of vodka in the airport and asked for the receipt and if it would be okay to carry it on. "No problem" we were told. It was no problem in St. Petersburg, but in Stockholm we had to make a connection (with about 70% of the rest of the people on our flight) and there was a problem there. We had to pass though a security check point literally steps from getting off our first flight to get to our connecting gate. When the security guy started taking away people's vodka, the lady behind us started to flip out. Almost everyone on the flight had bought vodka at the shop inside the St. Petersburg airport, but since none of the bottles had been sealed inside a plastic bag, they were confiscating them all. The gal behind us wasn't going to give up without a fight and started yelling, "You Swedes are going to drink all of our vodka!" Then the police were called. We gave up our bottle (we had another in our checked suitcase that made it back just fine) because we didn't want to miss our connection, but I've never seen anything like it at a security check point before in my life!

We made it back home with our remaining bottle of vodka and our new luggage. Our travel packs that were lost 9 days earlier still were no where to be found. The guy in the Geneva airport told G that there were currently 22,000 pieces of unclaimed luggage at Heathrow. Crazy! G's pack showed up a few days later, but mine seemed to be lost for good. Then one day about 4 weeks later I got word that they were trying to deliver it to our apartment in Geneva (despite us telling them to deliver it to G's office). Great!

I sat around the house for two days afraid that I would miss the delivery and it would return to the abyss, never to be seen again. Then I got a call from G's mom in California. "Is your bag green?" She asked. "Yes, why?" "Well, it arrived at my house today via FedEx." Unbelievable! My luggage tags have our Geneva address on them! We figured that they took the billing address from when we bought the tickets and just sent them there. Like I said... UNBELIEVABLE! Chica was coming out the next week and she was nice enough to bring my long lost bag along. After almost 6 weeks I had my bag again! A happy ending at last. :)