Had a great day today with a bit of actual sightseeing. I took my group on their orientation this morning, which after I got to the Hermitage became a bit manic due to road works that blocked my path and having to find an alternate route. Just when you start to relax you hit a problem in this job! Our detour meant we were late for our Hermitage excursion and of course there was a line about ten people long at the ticket office! I managed to get the group in...

I had a very productive day today. I say that, but I actually just mean, I got everything done today that needed to be done. You know you're overseas when a simple task like getting something printed takes three hours of your time, because you have to go half way across town to do said printing. I've not been very well today either, nor was I well yesterday. I think this is the fault of the McDonalds on Nevsky Prospect. I've made a new resolution, no mor...

I promised myself a rest today, nothing, that was my intention. You know what they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It started off restful, I slept in and enjoyed my breakfast at about 8am. Yes, 8am is now officially considered a sleep in again. While I was having my breakfast, one of my passengers came running over to me and informed me that the hotel would not give her, her passport back. Odd. I went up and attempted to sort it out, t...

I woke up, yet again on a moving train at 5:30am and proceeded to go around and wake up my fifteen passengers and tell them to get ready to get off the train. We arrived in at St Petersburg at 6:30am, I took them straight onto the metro and then went four stops to Baltinskaya station. After that it was approximately a 1km walk with all the bags to hotel Azimut. The hotel was crowded and the rooms were not ready this early in the morning, so I got the passeng...

After the epic day that was yesterday, I managed to get a bit of a sleep in before going off and redoing my walking tour. I set out up the street, past the victory church with its bright blue domes and stars on the roof, next passing by St Nicholas church…the patron of sailors and painted pastel blue in colour…again with gold domes. I passed by the Marlinsky theatre where the ballet is held, past the vodka museum and then reaching the biggest gold dome in...