Exploring the Venice of the North

After our wonderful adventures in Finland, Michael and I flew back to Helsinki, then (just barely!) made the last express train to St. Petersburg on Saturday, December 29.  I was really nervous because it was the last train out of Helsinki that night, and if we missed it, we'd have a lot of plans to change.  But we made it with five minutes to spare.  Michael was a superhuman hero, sprinting with all of the heavy luggage.  

Due to the two hour time difference between Helsinki and St. Petersburg, it was too late to do much of anything except find our hotel once we got to St. Petersburg.  Thankfully, the metro system in St. Petersburg is much, much easier than Moscow's (albeit no less deep).  In fact, due to the unique geology of the city, the St. Petersburg metro is one the deepest in the world and deepest by the average depth of all stations.  The stop located next to our hotel, Admiralteyskaya, is the deepest in the world (apparently it is approximately 120 meters or over 300 feet deep)!

On Sunday, we took it relatively easy in the morning, resting up and eating a delicious traditional meal of borscht and pelmeni at Levin, a homey, welcoming restaurant close to our hotel.  I hadn't had borscht prior to Russia (beet soup just never sounded very appetizing) but once I tried it I was hooked.  It's delicious!  They serve it piping hot with a very generous dollop of sour cream.  Come to think of it, all food in Russia seems to come with a very generous serving of sour cream.  

Then we headed to the State Hermitage - one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, housing a very large collection... of almost everything.

The exterior and surroundings:

The interiors:

Some of our pictures are a bit grainy because the lighting was kind of dim and we couldn't use flash.  The Hermitage was one of the prettiest buildings and certainly one of the most lavish that I've seen.

St. Petersburg itself was very beautiful, despite the nearly unnavigable sidewalks. Apparently they don't believe in shoveling or putting down salt in this city.  Michael and I slipped and slid our way along the slick, icy, (treacherous!) streets.  In the past I've marveled at Japanese women that go sightseeing in stiletto heels; similarly, I was nearly beside myself with the Russian women that managed these sidewalks in their sky high boots.

There's a reason this city is known as the Venice of the North.  There were little bridges and walkways arching over canals and rivers in every direction that we walked.  Of course, at this time of year everything was frozen solid.  We only saw one tugboat bravely chugging its way through the river:

The city is simply magical at night:

Nevsky Prospect, the main boulevard

Another shot of Nevsky Prospect

We had dinner at Koselco, a cute little traditional Russian / Ukrainian place near our hotel.

Blini and red caviar (the waaaay cheaper option) - delicious!

Michael's chicken

My beef

All in all, it was a very fulfilling day and evening.  We couldn't believe the next day was New Year's Eve!