Sweden here I am!: Hello Russia, Санкт-Петербург (Saint Petersburg) here I come

Welcome to Saint Petersburg!

From the 14th to the 19th of November I traveled with other international students to Saint Petersburg in Russia. We took the bus down to Stockholm from Umea, then a beautiful cruise boat to join Helsinki from where we took the bus to finally arrive in Saint Petersburg where we spent 3 nights. Discover the pictures HERE

"Saint Petersburg (Санкт-Петербург in Russian) is a city and a federal subject located in Northwestern Federal District of Russia on the Neva River at the east end of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. St. Petersburg's informal name, Piter (Питер), is based on how Peter the Great was called by foreigners. The city's other names were Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924) and Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991).

Founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 27, 1703, it was capital of the Russian Empira for more than two hundred years (1712-1728, 1732-1918). St. Petersburg ceased being the capital in 1918 after theRussian Revolution of 1917. It is Russia's second largest and Europe's third largest city (by city limit) afterMoscow and London. At latitude 59°56′N, Saint Petersburg is the world's largest city north of Moscow (55°45′N). 4.6 million people live in the city, and over 6 million people in the city with its vicinity. Saint Petersburg is a major European cultural center, and important Russian port on the Baltic sea. The city, as federal subject, has a total area of 1439 square km. Among cities of the world with over one million people, Saint Petersburg is the northernmost. The historic center of St. Petersburg is aUnesco World Heritage Site. Russia's political and cultural center for 200 years, the city is impressive, and is sometimes referred to in Russia as "the Northern Capital" (северная столица, severnaya stolitsa)."

We arrived in Saint Petersburg the 15th of November at night after spending all the afternoon in the bus and after going through not less than four passeport checking at the border. We were staying at Moscow Hotel, a really nice hotel facing Alexander Nevsky Square and situated at the corner of the famous 5 kilometers long Nevsky Prospekt avenue. That night we walked along this famous street and ended up in a bar, sushi disco restaurant drinking a beer!

Russian advertising, might be political..anyone who got russian skills gives me a clue...

Saint Petersburg TV Tower at night (315m high)

Nevski Prospekt at night

Chilling out at the russian pub, restaurant, dico (all the 3 concepts toghether)

The 16th in the morning we went on tout sightseing with the bus which was really until heavy snow started to cover the bus windows...still nice though

Saint Isaacs Cathedral square and Monument to Nicolas I. From the top of the cathedral you can have a beautiful view over the city (discovered it afterwards unfortunetaly).

The Mariinsky palace, seat of the Assembly

The Peter and Paul Cathedral in the Peter and Paul Fortress

The Church of the Savior on Blood commemorates the spot where TsarAlexander II was assassinated

Russian lunch: pancakes, tea and soup

Big brother is watching you

After that day discovering St Petersburg we experience the russian nightlife at metro club, really special...no pictures of course because it is not allowed...To give you a taste of metro club, chec the usufull tips posted on their website (u better read them if u intend to go to metro club lol) http://www.metroclub.ru/default_eng.htm

Saturday the 17th of November: visit of the Hermitage Winter Palace

"The Palace is now part of a complex of buildings known as the State Hermitage Museum, which holds one of the world's greatest collections of art. As part of the Museum, many of the Winter Palace's 1,057 halls and rooms are open to the public.

The State Hermitage Museum is one of the largest museums in the world, with 3 million works of art (not all on display at once), and one of the oldest art galleries and museums of human history and culture in the world. The vast Hermitage collections are displayed in six buildings, the main one being the Winter Palace which used to be the official residence of the Russian Tsars. IThe Hermitage holds the Guinness World Record as world's largest collection of paintings. Strong points of the Hermitage collection of Western art includeMichelangelo, Leonard da Vinci, Ruben, Rembrandt, Renoir, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Picasso... There are several more collections, however, including the Russian imperial regalia, an assortment of Fabergé jewellerery, and the largest existing collection of ancient gold from Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The Military Gallery opened in 1826, accommodates 332 portraits of military leaders of the Russian army duringNapoleon's invasion of Russia. After the February Revolution in Russia, the Winter Palace was the headquarters of the Russian Provisional Governement. The assault of the Winter Palace by Bolshevik forces was the official milestone of the October Revolution."

We experienced the russian subway on the way back from the Hermitage... First difficulty to know where you are going when you can't read the map.. secondly a feeling of insecurity accentuated by the way the metro is built (the deepest in the world) ...

Saint Petersburg Metro is an underground rapid transit system. Formerly known as Leningrad Metro (Ленинградское метро), the system exhibits many typical Soviet designs and features exquisite decorations and artwork making it one of the most attractive and elegant metros in the world. Due to the city's unique geology, the Saint Petersburg Metro is the deepest subway system in the world. Serving nearly three million passengers daily, it is also the 16th busiest subway system in the world.