St Petersburg Day 1. The Hermitage

Last night's problems with our hotel room continued this morning, when we woke to find there was no water. A printed sign at Reception suggested that this was not an unusual problem, and it and the staff gave assurances that water would be restored "quickly". Today was Carl's birthday, so it was disappointing to get off to such a bad start.

One of the selling points for the Kristoff Hotel is that it houses a restaurant on the ground floor, and this is where breakfast is served. Breakfast was really good, and counteracted the water somewhat at least. We went exploring afterwards, getting basic directions foam the receptionist. Nevsky Prospekt is the main thoroughfare of St. Petersburg, and is very long. About half way along it, we spotted tickets being sold for the hop-on-hop-off City Bus tour and decided to give it a go, intending to get off at the main river and have a look round the Hermitage. It's all very grand and impressive around here, but unfortunately for us the Hermitage doesn't open on Mondays. Still, we walked around a good bit, admiring the buildings and generally soaking up the atmosphere (as well as the disappointingly bad weather which later turned to rain). The main entrance to the Hermitage is dominated by a set of 16-foot high figures which hold up the portico, and this is the foot of one of them.

We walked along part of the mighty Neva river and then made our way back along the smaller streets behind Nevsky Prospect, stopping off for refreshments and food along the way, all the while highly aware of the constant roar of the traffic (drivers here pay no attention to speed limits and race along the main roads). We got back to the hotel around 6.00 for a well-earned sets before heading out again for our evening meal. We ate in a place off Nevsky Prospekt and enjoyed every bite of the wonderful food, which we didn't sit down to until almost 10.00 pm. After a couple of pitstopskis we found our way back to the Neva for the White Nights ceremony of watching the bridges being raised. It wasn't such a terrific spectacle, really, mainly because of the overcast sky and dark, threatening clouds, but it was enjoyable all the same, and an interesting experience to be in the middle of quite a hectic atmosphere between 2.00 and 4.00 am.

We got a taxi back to the hotel and collapsed into bed.