I first took an early bus to from Tallinn to St. Petersburg...That was an ok experience, I guess. I really don't like long car/bus rides because I'm prone to car sickness/nausea if I can't get out for fresh air and walk around often. I think I've been like that since I was about 5 or 6. Anyway, there was a ridiculous amount of passport checks, I don't even remember now. 3 or 4? I think most of those checks were from officials who would board the bus and walk through to look at everyone's pass. Also, the actual border guards seemed to have a bit of a surly attitude. I think in every country I've been to, border guards I encounter seem unhappy.
I finally arrived in the early afternoon. Dumped all my stuff off at the hotel booked for 1 night, and looked around the city a bit. Looking back, it's hilarious that I thought people in St. Petersburg were kinda bad at driving, because in Irkutsk, I discovered people were about 1000x worse on the road - I wouldn't ever want to drive there in my life, I had more than 1 scary experience I'll mention later. Nevertheless, that was one of my first impressions. I also noticed how the girls there dress impeccably. Ok, I saw some questionable and tacky style choices too, but there was also an incredible amount of well dressed, elegant women in St Petersburg. I felt like a wallflower for sure at times (actually...don't I feel like that all the time?). I suppose that sounds like a superficial observation, but it was something that really stuck out to me. Just amazing style and beautiful ladies, lol.
Some pics:
Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood
Triumphal Arch near the Winter Palace
Palace Gates
I also had time to go look at the Museum of Soviet Arcade Games with a friend!
Hmm, what else did I get up to in St. Petersburg...well, I went in a grocery store to buy food, as you do, and I tried a Russian brand of sirok I forgot the name of. And I came to the realization Russian sirok is absolutely the best and so creamy.
So then I rested, blah blah blah. You also have to register your location at a hotel in Russia, it's kinda complicated. I had help with that.
Next day it was time to go to the airport in St. Petersburg. While waiting for the flight to Moscow, I ate at this cute restaurant called Kamchatka with a retro Soviet decor gimmick going on. Think vintage Cheburashka toys, old Nevalyashka dolls, etc. Kitschy but cool. Actually, I don't even remember now if that restaurant was in St. Petersburg or Moscow airport? But it was cool. i only have 1 pic from it.
The flight from St Petersburg to Moscow was uneventful, except there was a tour group or something of like 20 older folks in their late 50s - mid 60s who were very loud! They didn't speak Russian very well either (not that I can talk…I also suck at speaking Russian) and they kept begging this flight attendant to take their trash when she didn't even have a trash bag to carry all of it. She gave them a stern look and said in English, "Yes, I heard you." LOL! After that, transferred from Moscow to Irkutsk in economy class on Aeroflot. It was a pretty long flight and I started to feel claustrophobic and panicky and like I'm gonna DIE. Don't know why but claustrophobia has been a recent problem for me on planes. I used to be able to tolerate flying because of the window views! Although flying always hurts my ears…Now I just feel trapped and start to sweat and feel stressed after a while!
CAKE. This whole meal was actually really good.
I'll wrap this post up at that and continue later with what it was like when I landed in Irkutsk and everything I did and saw!
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