I'm going to be a spoilsport and say that I wasn't overly fond of St Petersburg. There are amazing buildings and museums and castles full of paintings and gilded things and furniture, but it somehow feels like someone has bought a whole lot of stuff and then locked it up and didn't use it. Take the Hermitage Museum for instance: they say that if you spent one minute looking at each exhibit it will take you 10 years to get around the museum - that's without eating or sleeping. Who needs that much stuff? I wonder idly whether a couple of African countries could have their world debts paid off with a small portion of the stuff there. (Not that I think it's Russia's responsibility to fix Africa.I have the same thoughts about a lot of Catholic Cathedrals, too.) People are still living in small one bedroom apartments and the traffic jams are constant because there aren't enough decent roads. The queues are endless and the paperwork is crazy. It's like they don't want anyone (local people incluced)to share any of this vast wealth.Our guide told us that the main street is four miles long and you can walk it in about an hour - or two hours by car. It was very frustrating. On the positive side, St Petersburg only has about 60 days of sunshine a year, and we had two of them.
Nevertheless, I did spend some time at the Church on Spilled Blood - the one they all photograph with the "onion" domes. Which was amazing although again, wildly over decorated. Who decided that god needs all that decoration? And we saw a fabulous folkloric show at night which was great.
Maybe I need to come back some time when we are not so hurried as everyone else seems to love it. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh. But there's a sense that still the local people aren't getting their share of whatever the place has to offer. It's for tourists and whoever is in charge.
