I throughly enjoyed Russia and will quite happily venture there again another day. Especially to spend more time exploring the western side and the bar culture of which we didnt have much time to do. Saint Petersburg was hugely impressive even though we missed visiting the two most important sites - the museum (this would actually take 5 YEARS to explore if you spent 1 minute in front of each exhibit!! ) and the Palace, Both were closed on the day we had set aside to see them!! Need to read the guide book a bit better I think. The only down side of ST P was the unforgetable lose of the All Blacks ... arrrrgh ... with us sitting in an Irish Pub full of French supporters.
I found it quite incredible to walk around the city and just absorb the atmosphere of these massive ornate buildings, churches and bridges. I kind of equate it to being surrounded with hundreds of chocolate boxes on their sides displaying those old pictures of stately buildings that we used to get. As ST P is a "canal" city, apparently a planned city based on Venice, you can get some great views of these from a distance and your not always breaking your neck staring straight up.
All of Russia seems to be under going a huge makeover at present. In each of the places we have visited, Irkutsk, Tomsk, Moscow and St Petersburg, there have been buildings masked off with hessian under restoration. Being replastered and painted mostly, but also huge areas being recobblestoned and paved. In St P you can see the remarkable difference in the buildings that have been upgraded and those that haven't. Fantastic!!
We are actually leaving Estonia toight (after 3 days) on an overnight bus to Regia Latvia. Estonia is not what I expected either. Our only stop here is at Tallinn, the capital, of which the center is the Old Town, surrounded by huge castle walls. Its all cobblestones, narrow winding streets and again lots of churches and medival buildings. And for two "naive" kiwi lads who's oldest home town building is barely 100 years old, to see houses that are still being used and lived in 400 years on is quite different to say the least. Im sure the novelty will wear off after church 102 however!!
Outside the Old Town, the city is quite modern and easily navigated as most people speak English. There is one drawback however to wandering the city in winter ... the rain ... and it has bucketed down today!! The overflow of water from the downpipes goes straight on to the pavement, which in turn flows on to the streets, which DONT have a storm water system. The result is puddles everywhere and small flowing rivers downhill, till I presume it all flows into the sea. In the meantime you are trying to navigate the flow of water from the downpipes on one side of you and the splashed up water from the traffic on the other. Soaked thru and thru after only an hour, when trying to find a museum this morning. I can now understand why most Eastern European women wear these highheeled leather boots!!
