I have finally kicked off my adventures and arrived in St. Petersburg Between sorting out things in London, moving out of my flat and actually travelling here, I didn't sleep for about 36 hours before I arrived - I was shattered so I took it easy for the first evening and just strolled around to get my bearings. My hotel is near the main street in the city centre - Nevsky Prospekt. It stays light until late at night here - it's still bright at 10pm; apparently in a couple of weeks they go into 'White Night' where it doesn't get dark for two months! My first couple of days were very hot and sunny (around 27oC) but the next couple of days were much colder (around 10oC); I hadn't packed with this cold weather in mind! Also, it appears my flips flops are not as well worn-in as I thought because they have shredded my feet, at least my boots are comfy…

Initially it is strange to see things that are familiar and instantly recognisable but in the Russian alphabet - McDonalds, Subway, even Irish pubs. I'm struggling slightly with the language - I've learned how to pronounce all the letters and sometimes the words sound the same as the English word, so once I've figured out how to say it then I understand, but obviously a lot of the time that's not the case. I can say some basic words but when people respond with anything more complicated than "yes" or "no" then I'm lost again!

One evening I went to a restaurant where I couldn't understand anything on the menu at all so I had to just pick a random dish - it turned out to be little meat dumplings with sour cream and was very good. Other local food I've tried includes borsch (beetroot/onion soup with meatballs and sour cream), very nice, and blinis (filled pancake, like a crepe), I think they're traditionally filled with caviar but I'm not really a fan of it so I went for a creamy mushroom filling, which was yummy; I also tried a sweet one with a fruity yoghurt filling, didn't like that.

On my first morning in St. Petersburg I had a great tour of the city with a girl named Maria, who is studying tourism and languages in St. Petersburg and was able to explain the stories behind all the key attractions. Later that day and the next, I went back to visit some of the places I wanted to see in more detail. There are so many significant buildings and monuments - I won't write about them all here but I'll put some more info in the captions of the photos (also, don't worry, I won't have this many photos from every destination - I got a bit carried away).

St. Petersburg was apparently modelled as the 'Venice of the North', which is evident in the canals, bridges and architecture of most of the buildings in the city centre (there are more modern-style buildings further from the centre). There are many former royal palaces that now serve as museums, galleries, schools, etc. I could have shown hundreds of pictures of the ornate details on the buildings but I've tried to select just a few.

My favourite place was definitely the Church on the Spilt Blood - one of the few 'Russian style' buildings in the city centre, it's very striking. It has many gold and brightly coloured domes in different patterns and the inside walls and ceilings are entirely decorated with mosaics.

Palace Square is a huge space (they don't half know how to do monuments - everything is 'supersized'), which is where the Winter Palace is located - it is a beautiful building that houses a museum/gallery with acres of artifacts, paintings and furniture. The other side of the building overlooks the River Neva.

Around town there are lots of very young guys in army and navy uniforms - Russia has compulsory military service for boys when they finish high school (about 16/17 years old I think) - it seems strange to see them walking about and on the metro in uniform, usually listening to their ipods. Yesterday when I passed Palace Square there were hundreds of them gathered for some sort of ceremony, I don't know what it was about but it looked impressive, possibly a rehearsal for Friday's Victory Day celebrations.

On my last day in St. Petersburg I took a trip about an hour out of the city centre to Peterhof/Petrodvorets, an old Royal palace that was largely rebuilt after World War 2. I thought I'd done well navigating the metro and local train systems but when I got off the train there was nothing that looked remotely like a palace as far as the eye could see in any direction, neither were there any maps or signposts. I knew it was walkable, I just didn't know how to find it, so I set off anyway thinking it would become apparent... it didn't... but by some bizarre stroke of luck I picked the correct turnings and ended up in the right place half an hour later! A huge building in stunning grounds - a vast garden in front and woods behind that back onto the river, with statues and fountains everywhere I turned, many of them gold and glistening in the sun. I couldn't fully appreciate it because the fountains aren't switched on for another couple of weeks and I couldn't see inside the palace because I went late in the day, nonetheless it was stunning and I'm glad I made the trip.

Some other random observations:

- there are lots of Russian tourists here but not many foreign tourists

- many shops, cafes and other services are open 24 hours a day, which is great

- Russian music videos are SO explicit

- everyone wears BIG sunglasses (which is good because I don't look so ridiculous in my big sunglasses)

- there's no concept of queuing - people push in front of each other everywhere

- it's quite normal to walk around town drinking beer at 10am

- it's quite acceptable to make extensive repairs to a car with brown packing tape!