No, this isn't a political thread; I'm going on holiday to Finland at the end of the year, and I will be spending a few days or a week in Russia (Saint Petersburg and possibly Veliky Novgorod), but I've never been before. Have any of you been to Russia/are Russian? Any advice on what to do/see/what's interesting?
My friend went to St. Petersburg and liked it. Definitely you should visit the Hermitage art museum and all the old palaces. You might also go for a ballet performance at the Mariinsky Theater.
I went to Russia a few years ago (St. Petersburg was one of the cities I visited). As resu said, the Hermitage is a must. Unfortunately, I only had an afternoon to tour it, but I could have easily spent a day or two, and I'm not even an art person. I remember there was this one part with some old stone tablets and such (from the ancient Middle East, if I remember correctly) that I found particularly interesting. Nobody else seemed to realize it was even there as it was a kind of out of the way. The palaces are something to be seen, for sure. I went to Catherine's Palace and Peterhof. The fountains at Peterhof were quite impressive. The Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood is beautiful. I don't think I made it inside but the exterior is still spectacular. Also St. Isaacs at (appropriately named) St. Isaac's Square should be seen. If military/political history is your thing, there's the cruiser Aurora, the ship which "fired" the first shots of the October Revolution (I put shots in quotation marks since they fired blanks ha).
Maybe try to learn the alphabet.. It's no fun to find some street or place or metro stop when signs are in Cyrillic and all the names in your guide book/whatever are not.
Fortunately, I already know the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet (not that I speak any Russian), but that's a very good point, one my brother proably needs to know. Thanks for the responses. The palaces, the ship Aurora, and the Mariinsky are all on my wish-list (though my brother hates opera and ballet :lol: ). Good advice. I'll reserve the fun (and perhaps horror) of finding good cafés for myself. :icon_bigg
