WEEKEND AND WHITE NIGHTS

BOUNTIFUL BOAT TRIP

As my first social event in St.Pete`s on the Friday night `business party` boat trip I wasn`t really expecting to scoop up all the prizes but that is more or less what happened! Well that was the icing on the cake of a very pleasant evening cruising up and down and around the Neva and eventually down to the Gulf of Finland (sounds a long way but really it isn`t) It provided a great opportunity to take advantage of the long `white night` and it`s special light to take some good photos.

The party crowd were mainly Russians and rather young at that, however, I met a Finnish guy who`s wife and he have a house just down the road from us in Marbella and more coincidentally I met a lady who, like me has just arrived in town from Zagreb! She is not, unfortunately, going to have a lot of time to spare as she has come to set up Belgium`s first consulate here. She was the Ambassador to Belgium in Zagreb. She is great fun and I am sure we will be seeing her again.

On the subjects of boats, we have decided to take a two night cruise in late August on a Russian cruise line to Valaam. Being Russia, booking something like this requires a certain amount of wit and a lot of time. We found the booking office after a long metro ride down to the part of the river where the river boats sail from. This was a good exercise for when we actually take the trip as we now know where to go!

The actual booking of this trip should not be newsworthy and indeed it isn`t accept I wanted to remember the 8 page contract which Mike had to sign twice over, yes 16 times! Of course, we have absolutely no idea what we were signing but one would have thought that paying with a credit card, the full amount up front would be enough to let them know you were pretty serious about keeping your side of the bargain! I think we may have signed a sort of guarantee of good behaviour. Glad I didn`t put my name to that!

THE UNSUCCESSFUL PICKPOCKET

We were aware that people that hang around the exits of metro stations are not always waiting to meet their babushka and help her home with the shopping and we are aware that however much we try, we don`t look Russian and are a tad more vulnerable than most to the odd pickpocket looking for opportunities.

Having successfully left the metro, turned the corner onto a busy street we found ourselves between roadworks on one side and an ice cream vendor on the other, the perfect environment for two tall guys to squeeze Mike in on both sides, quite heavily, making a sort of a jam and pretending Mike was in the way. His arms were pinned down by his sides and that is when the third man, operating from behind went in his pocket. Of course, Mike being Mike, he was wearing his burglar proof rohans, zipped inside pocket ha ha! It all happened so fast that it was difficult to decide what was actually happening and although I was behind all of this I didn`t shout out or anything. Even though I know these things happen I didn`t catch on quickly.

Luckily for us they realized we were getting too much time to recognise them so they gave up and pretended all they were trying to do was turn back to the ice cream vendor (he`s probably getting his cut!) Mike`s zip was half undone so we are sure it really happened.

This has been a good experience as now we will be totally aware. I feel like taking a nice little pin with me when I travel on the metro in case anyone dares try that on me, oooh a pin in the bum would shock them!

BALLET AND BRIDGES

Just to show the B..yyVVV@@@. they didn`t frighten us, we returned the same route that evening, dressed up nicely to go to the ballet and we walked with `attitude` . This is something I will have to do a lot here, walk with attitude. We were rewarded with a wonderful evening of entertainment. Spartacus was spectacular. The colours were nothing short of amazing and the cast huge. It`s the music which the theme to The Onedon Line was taken from. Wonderful and moving.

It`s essential when spending time in the summer in St.Petersburg to see the bridges go up at 1.30 a.m and to drink in the atmosphere. So we went to bed for a couple of hours and got up again at 1.00 to go out and join the merry throng. Walking towards the main river we saw several midnight boat cruises on the canals making their way to the main bridge in time to have a great view.

I am not sure why the bridges going up is so special but it is a focus for celebration and Russians and tourists alike enjoy the atmosphere and the fireworks and free shows etc. There are so many people around at that time it`s difficult to remember it`s the middle of the night. Around 2.00 a.m it is clear that dawn is arriving having just recently experience sunset. The nights are drawing in now though!

KRONSTADT

On Sunday we took a Mike Allen exploratory public transport trip to Kronstadt. Quite an important historic place during the Revolution and is a naval town. It was however, more about the journey itself which included metros, buses, a ferry and a train, leaving little time to explore the town. This is a place that deserves a full day outing. We found the ordinary Russian people very friendly and helpful. The ones who aren`t trying to nick your wallet are very nice!

We arrived at the dock well in time to catch the ferry back to the mainland but were sent back to a park with a little wooden hut to get the tickets! By the time we ran there of course there was a queue, however, we were lucky and caught the ferry, which goes only every two hours. Several people behind us were not so lucky. Why don`t they sell the tickets in the ferry port? One can only imagine it would be too easy.

One interesting comparison is the price of the bus trip which was about 45 minutes long, about 30km and the price of a visit to a loo on arrival. Both cost 15 roubles! The state heavily subsidises public transport but clearly not public loos! 15 roubles is about 20p. I couldn`t tell a Russian that it cost 4 pounds to take a bus ride between Ambleside and Grasmere!