The Soviet bureaucracy is still very much alive and kicking at the Church of the Spilled Blood in St Petersburg! We had already experienced "Red" tape on our trip ... for example, our whole experience of applying for the visa, getting the official invitation, and registering the visas when we arrived..... and our latest example of this bureaucracy came at the Russian/Mongolian border last night on the train when it took us SIX hours to get through customs.
We heard that we got the best train in all of Russia. Our car is a pleasant pastel green, moderately comfortable to sleep in with 4 bunks. Our fourth bunkmate, Alec speaks some German. Aaron also speaks some German, though both speak very little. Even so, this made the awkwardness of such a small space MUCH more pleasant. Also, Alec had a friend, Alex who spoke some English as well and told us much about the "real Russia.";
A day in St. Petersburg felt like a week anywhere else! Each minute was full with sights, sounds, and activity of all kinds. Not just the tourists, we must have seen 6 or 7 couples taking their wedding pictures. Artists young and old peppered the streets, sketching and painting the sights.
They say you spend thousands of years looking at all the pieces of art and history in the hermitage. They aren't me. It only took me about half an hour to get bored. It took twice as long in line for the restroom, and from there I made a bee line to the internet cafe. So here I am! I will say that what I did see was amazing. They say Americans are extravagant spenders but really, how many throne rooms did the Romanoffs REALLY need in one building!?
