Journey to St Petersburg started well by bargaining with a taxi driver to take us to our hostel! The Cuba Hostel is an interesting place, because the buildings have communal stairs they are all in need of maintenance and the walk up two floors to the reception desk had us both wondering what we were walking into. When we arrived at the reception we were met with a warm welcome and the place looked OK so our worries went away. Our train tickets to Moscow hadn't been delievered for our on going journey but the friendly receptionist phoned up the agency and sorted it all out for us.

After dropping our bags in our 10 bed dorm we set off to explore the city. First we went to Kunstkammer (The museum of Anthropology and Ethnography). Then on to St Peter and Pauls fort where we walked around the embattlements. Next we walked to the summer gardens but they were closed so we walked down Nevetzky to find somewhere to eat. Finally we went back to the hostel bar where a beer and vodka orange cost 2 pounds! We wanted to socialise but we were the only people in the two room bar and everyone else was smoking on a tiny landing so we went to bed!

The second day in St Petersburg started with a walk back to Kunstkammer because we had left Bernard (our little bear) by the sign where we had taking his picture. You will never believe it but he was still there!! We then walked to St Isaccs and climbed the 273 steps to see panoramic views of the city. Next we walked to the Hermitage. This building is huge! There are hundreds of rooms with every collection you can imagine, including original pieces of art by Picasso and Monet. We got lost a few times because of its vast size! After the Hermitage we walked (well shuffled because our feet hurt) to Church of our Saviour on spilt blood. This cathedral is very beautiful and the whole of the inside is covered with mosaics that tell stories from the bible. During the soviet rule the cathedral was used to store potatoes! At least they didn't knock it down like a lot of other religious sights in Russia! In the evening after dinner we took a river cruise. It was nice to see the city from the water and not have to walk! Finally we walked back to the hostel to collect our bags and the walked for 45 minutes to the train station to catch our overnight train to Moscow.