Saint Petersburg

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We caught a high speed train from Moscow to Saint Petersburg and all went well with the almost 4 hour trip. Although their definition of high speed is not quite the same as the Japanese nor even the Chinese high speed trains for that matter. The girls however still enjoyed it and were able to see some of the Russian countryside. Our hotel in Saint Petersburg would be the Novotel again with the girls favourite part being the breakfast buffet. Although not quite as good as in Moscow it still had all the staples such as croissants, cakes, yoghurt and fruit.

On our first day in Saint Petersburg we ventured out to Nevsky Prospect to catch a “Trolley Bus” down to Palace Square. This is where the impressive Hermitage Museum is located. We didn’t venture inside but you could probably spend days inside this one building.

The Hermitage Museum
The Hermitage
Looking across palace square

After this was the super impressive 1880’s church Savior on the Spilt Blood. The painting and artwork in this church was amazing to say the least. Once again this is a church to rival anything else we have seen. The bonus is that you are allowed to take photographs inside as well.

Savior on the Spilt Blood
The ceiling artwork was amazing

We finished the day with St Isaac’s Cathedral. Another hugely impressive church. However this time we just climbed to the top of the dome to the colonnade which has spectacular views right across the city in all directions. It was very windy up on top of the church and the girls got cold quickly and had to shelter out of the wind.

St Isaac’s Cathedral
From the top
Starting to get dark

On our second full day we headed straight to the Peter and Paul Fortress which is apparently the very first structure to be built in Saint Petersburg. It would have been much nicer but the weather came in and it started to rain. We finished off the day at the shops looking for a new beanie for Abbie and on the way back to the hotel it started to snow. The girls absolutely loved this, they have been waiting a long time for this moment, Ella was even trying to catch it in her mouth.

This capped off our week in Russia and we all enjoyed it immensely. It is definitely a place we would visit again the architecture is amazing, it is relatively cheap, and it is easy to get around. Hopefully one day we’ll come back. Tomorrow we have a high speed train ride to Helsinki with a quick overnight stop before boarding a ferry to Estonia.