Piter

Greetings from Saint Petersburg, Piter, Russia!
First impression: Gorgeus! I arrived here late yesterday evening, but already saw the city center, Nevsky Prospekt, walked along Fontanka canal and crossed the Neva river. This is all I can say about Piter so far. But I will tell you about the travel here. If you want to travel to St.Petersburg cheap, pay attention!

From Helsinki: At 10 AM, go to Lasipalatsi and look for girls & women in direction of Eduskuntatalo. You will find some of them holding a sign that says St.Piter. Go talk to her, ask when they leave and how much it costs and you will get an answer: 11.30, 10 euros (!!!!!) and will arrive to Piter at 9 PM, local time. She will lead you to the bus, and show your place to sit. At noon the bus leaves, and Russian rock n roll music is played through the speakers. With surprisingly low volume though :)
I'm the only Finn in the bus. The rest are Russians. Some are preparing smashed potatoes, some just chatting to each other. Drinking tea. I felt the Russian athmosphere already in Finland.
The bus stopped 2 times before the border: both times for shopping. People bought washing powder, bread, lots of COFFEE, and all kind of household stuff you would need everyday.
When we got near the border, I got the immigration card from the guide of that bus (remember to ASK for it, otherwise you get in trouble at the border). No one guided me to fill the form so I had to survive by myself. This took quite long time, but I managed with the information that was written on my visa & other documents, so basically copied stuff from there to this immigration card and hoped that it is somewhat correct.
Anyway, at the border, the crossing was really fast, with no hassle at all. I was really positively surprised. Only one thing I was a little bit disapointed of, and it was that the lady at the passport control just stamped my immigration card without even giving so much attention to it. And I put so much effort on that!
We arrived to near Nevski Prospekt around 9 PM. The busride was really OK, wouldn't expect much more of a Finnish one, except for the fact that you must pay maybe 5 times more...

Today I'm resting, going to center maybe just for a quick visit, but tomorrow I should have energy again to really get to know this city.

Hear you later and wish me good luck!! :)

Edit: image added 2.9.2006