This was my second night and I was still having problems sleeping waking up at 2am despite exhaustion then falling asleep by 5am adjusting to the time difference. Last night I had back problems but today I slept a bit better.

I watched tv in mute and planned my route waiting to fall asleep or head down for breakfast. This is an older Soviet conference hotel. The river facing rooms are now available for paying guests. The rear facing city views are used by large school groups.

The hotel had been overrun by middle school children, part of some gymnastics event as they would come in their leotards down for breakfast. Despite their strict regiment they were like a pack of wild rats running up and down the aisles in the hallways and especially during the breakfast buffet, piling their plates, going back for 2nds and 3rds, and leaving plates with half eaten food.

It was not western but mostly cooked milk or cheese products of various kinds. This did not sit too well with my stomach.

On Mondays most museums are typically closed after being open all weekend, so yesterday I had crammed museums and today I planned things outdoors and churches that wouldn't be closed.

The first I wanted to visit was Smolny Cathedral which had a very striking exterior from its photos. However it is located a distance from the tourist centre and is not near a metro station. I planned on walking since it was just one street in the same direction after crossing the bridge by my hotel.

I didn't want to try local buses so I just had to keep walking down the main street which would lead to the Cathedral. You could see it in the distance but it was almost an hour walk from the hotel.

It was quite remarkable architecture and there were tourist buses outside. However, there was no ticket office so I was hoping it wasn't closed today after walking all this way.

When I did find the entrance it appeared to be closed today for some private event. The interior was also just white plaster despite its detailed exterior which was a bit disappointing.

Next I was going to walk to Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. This is said to be one of the most important religious sites in St Petersburg. Again I had to follow the main road south along the embankment to get there. However when I got there it had a Metro station by the same name so no more walking.

There was an outdoor ticket kiosk to go into the cemetery which confused me as I thought the Cathedral was free. It was a larger complex and not a single building so hard to photograph.

Inside no pictures were allowed and there were many gold tipped columns. There was a metro station across the road so back to civilization, I can look for food, and no more hour long walks.