A long weekend in St Petersburg - awesome. With my birthday next week Dasha had organised a great trip to see one of the most spectacular cities in Europe.

After spending USD100 at the Russian embassy for a visa I had high hopes and I wasn’t disappointed - well mostly not. The architecture is stunning, the city huge and the people .. well Russian.

I found it pretty strange I have to say. While the buildings are stunning, I had the sense many times that I had seen them before. We visited the Hermitage, Petergof, Peter and Paul fortress, took a boat tour on the Neva and walked many miles around the city. Catherine tended to copy many of the artist monuments of Europe - or at least import the architects and artists. You can really see this come through so somehow I had a feeling that we weren’t seeing Russian culture. The Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood above was unique and completely stunning - the photos show it well - and most of the tourist areas in the city have been restored by Putin (his hometown) so were also stunning but I felt some soul was missing.

The highlights for me were different. We went to the circus and watched the birthday celebrations of the clown. So many colours and talents on display. Another night we watched “The Nutcracker” ballet and took a stroll at dusk around the canals. We had lunch in the Literary Cafe where Pushkin sat for lunch so many years ago - and had some amazing soup and a beer. We stayed in a hotel that didn’t make the bed or wash the cups for 4 days - which wasn’t great but something to remember - don’t stay in a hotel named “Beijing Garden” in Russia! It didn’t take away from the trip though but is definitely a memory.

Check out the photo’s.... too much to tell here but a fantastic trip for both of us.