When we left the hotel it was pouring with rain so, having got the metro to Gostinnyi Dvor station, we dived into the forbidding-looking Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan for shelter. There was a…

I wouldn’t go quite so far as to describe myself as an art expert, although I have heard of Picasso. Yet the visit to the 3rd floor of the General Staff building to see masterpieces…

We got the green line of the metro from Ploshchad Aleksandra Nevskogo to Gostinii Dvor metro station and walked down Nevskii Prospekt to the General Staff Building at the northern end of Palace Square. The…

We moved into our new room at midday. It is very acceptable for 6,000 Rub/day which is cheap by St Petersburg standards given its position on (almost) Nevskii Prospekt. We then decided to walk to…

In the morning we had a great stroke of luck in meeting the hotel manager, Kseniya, who let us stay in the same room tonight (I hope she didn’t throw anyone out) for only 5,400…

We got the metro to Komsomolskaya station with no problem and then bought tickets for the Sapsan high-speed train to St Petersburg. The journey of 439 miles took 4 hours and passed through endless forest….