Mother Russia

7.30 Arrived in St. Petersburg in the morning. I was a bit nervous as how to get to my hostel from where the boat landed. The boat landed preetty far away from anything like a metro station and the russians aren't known for their english, so I didn't know once I got off the boat if I would be able to ask anyone, so I was looking at a long walk to the nearest metro. But, luck was with me. The italian guy's girlfriend, Elena, told me she would help me out and I could go with them b/c they were also going to a hostel in the center of town with her parents who were meeting them at the harbor. I went through Russian immigration nervously, but made it through all right. The whole russia visa thing is a huge pain. First it took a couple months just to get the visa, then you have to register your visa at every new place you go and this and that and so forth. And even if you do it all correctly you will still likely have to bribe police at some point during your trip bc they will find something wrong with it and you will also likely have to pay a fine when leaving the country. But I got in! So that's a good start.
We met Elena's parents at the harbor terminal. They were very nice and her father, who is a math professor, spoke english at about 75%, so quite good. The only way in was to take a taxi, so they called for one. They were hoping we could all fit in one, but we couldn't, so I got in my own. That's one of the financial bummers about travelling alone is not sharing costs on things like taxis and rooms...but, I was thankful they helped me bc I was able to get a good price compare to what they would have charged the foreigner otherwise. Only 15 bucks for a long ride. Quite cheap for europe. We had to wait about a 1/2 hour for the taxi, and Elena's dad went write to work making sure I was all clear on how to get to my hostel in moscow and thene how to get to suzdal. He lives in Vladimir, which is the stop on the trans siberia where you get off and catch a bus to suzdal. So he dre me detailed maps of the moscow subway and also the vladimir connection between train and bus, making sure to write everything in both english and russian (the russian, cyrillic alphabet is much different than the roman alphabet) so that I could show anyone on the street to get help. He was such a nice guy and I really appreciated his concern. Lots of people have been telling me I am crazy to travel through russia, and when he found out I was travelling the trans siberia, the said "oh wow, you are crazy crazy boy..so brave too" and then when I said i was doing it alone, he repeated it, then when I said i was doing it mainly plankskart class (3rd class) his jaw really dropped. After hearing some stories...mostly interesting, mostly about how much the vodka flows, but about other things, I am kind of glad I do have 2nd class for my long 3 day journey. 2nd class will be more tourists, where as 3rd class is mainly partying russians I guess. 1st class is for royalty, like the duchess mary or the queen mom anita (speaking of those two, I was thinking about aunt m and grandma while on the cruise ship and seeing what style they really travel in when they do these things)

My taxi dropped me off at my hostel. A very nice hostel and with a good location. Head to go through all the mumble jumple of the passport stuff there, but then I was released to go explore the city. Since I had the afternoon I decided to go to peterhoff, which is actually 30km outside of the city, so you have to take subway and then a local bus to get there. It was a challenge, but I did fine. A really nice Korean guy that I met showed me how to get to the metro station and to figure out how to pay since it is confusing. Peterhoff is this big palace and gardens built for peter the great. It was quite impressive and very beautiful! Fountains and fountains everywhere and of course nice grounds. They call it a symphony of fountains. Kim and clare wanted me to check it out for them since they saw it in the winter when the fountains weren't on, but they said it must be impressive. I spent quite a lot of time walking around there bc it was just a huge area right up against the baltic sea. After checking it out, I came back to the hostel, organized some stuff and then went out exploring in the late evening. It stays light here until 11:30. The city is really extraordinary. It is full of grandeur and splendour. Everything is huge and fancy and grand. Even the underground is very nice. Quite impressive.

I can tell that russia will be a bit difficult to travel in, but I am ready for it. First you have to watch out more for pick pockets and thieves than usual. But I am prepared with locks and money belts and such. Even on the atm's here it first says after you enter your car, look around and make sure there is no recording device or other device getting your pin number, after you have entered ok to this, they tell you to do the pin.
The other difficult thing is the language. So far I have noticed that they speak english less than any other place except perhaps rural japan and a few places in indonesia. And st. pete's and moscow are supposed to be the most english. So that is crazy to think about. And since they use a different alphabet, it makes things especially difficult. Ordering things etc. are quite difficult On the menu you have no idea what you are ordering. Unlike SE asia where they had a smorgasboard out on the street, here you have to order in a restuarant european style, but you don't know what you are getting. Or in a store you can't tell if the noodles you are buying are 50cents or 5 dollars. Also directions are super hard bc the maps in my guidebook are the english of the russian words, but all the street signs are in russian. In thailand and places like that I have been with special alphabets, they usually had roman alphabets below, but not here. You wouldn't even know about mcdonald's if it wasn't for the tell tale arches. And since the russian pronunciation is different for some reason than english pronuncaiton (ie. moscow vs mochba) it is hard to even ask for directions for anything just by saying it. You have to really know it in russian. So yea, it will be difficult, but it will be worth it. Funny thing is I'm tackling like 3 of the hardest (china, russia b/c of language and their crazy visa rules and regs and india...bc of the crazyness) countries that are common to travel to. Obviously a place like afghanistan or iraq or turkmenistan would be more difficult. But I'm ready and they are all definitely worth it! So i will just use my brain and logic as best as I can to figure it all out. But yea, so far it has been a bit of crazyness, but that makes it fun and more of an experience.
Tomorrow, I go out to explore even more of the city, like the hermitage and some of the famous churches and canals and such, then the midnight train (going anywhere!...sorry had to throw in some journey) to Moscow.

well, to answer the question you are all wondering...yes, there is tons of vodka in liquor stores, in grocery stores, everywhere. And it's dirt cheap. I saw in the grocery store for a fifth it ranged frome about 2.50 to 10 bucks. crazy