Tell me about Moscow and St Petersburg

[Mrs Miggins]

I may make my next trip to one or the other. I assume it's perfectly safe to travel to the big cities of Russia as a lone female. My main interests are art, history, architecture, religious and historic buildings and food.

Go!

 

[Pickman's model]

Make sure you see the hermitage in st petersburg

Take your own kippers as the russians cannot abide herring

 

[Athos]

I may make my next trip to one or the other. I assume it's perfectly safe to travel to the big cities of Russia as a lone female. My main interests are art, history, architecture, religious buildings and food.

Go!

The overnight train between the two is fun.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

The overnight train between the two is fun.

Sounds good! I may make a longer trip and do both.

 

[Pickman's model]

Never get a compartment over the wheels in a sleeper, go for the middle of the carriage - a tip I learned after going from Moscow to Vilnius. It was a long, loud night

 

[Mrs Miggins]

I'm veering towards St Petersburg. Mainly because of the Hermitage.

 

[Pickman's model]

I'm veering towards St Petersburg. Mainly because of the Hermitage.

Ime the food is better in st p than moscow

 

[Mrs Miggins]

Ime the food is better in st p than moscow

That's also a very good reason to go.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

Oh crikey! The Amber Room is also nearby.

 

[Athos]

I'm veering towards St Petersburg. Mainly because of the Hermitage.

If it's a choice between the two, then, given your criteria, I'd definitely say St. P.

 

[Pickman's model]

Oh crikey! The Amber Room is also nearby.

See what's on at the opera too, when I went I saw rigoletto sung in Russian and very good it was as well

 

[Mrs Miggins]

See what's on at the opera too, when I went I saw rigoletto sung in Russian and very good it was as well

Good call! Evenings can be a bit of a drag when you're travelling alone.

 

[paulhackett]

St Petes is far more visitor-friendly than Moscow. More to do and see, more reliant on visitors. And there's the whole daylight at midnight thing in the summer. And visible, tangible history. And canals. And Dostoyevsky walks. Bullet holes from the siege. And some really odd museums..

Didn't go to the Hermitage in my last few visits. I'd argue against going there. Far preferred the State Russian Museum - smaller, more manageable and Russian art. And space to enjoy it rather than crowds. Tretyakov in Moscow is wonderful. If you go there. Hopefully, the tradition of schoolchildren being told about Pushkin by his portrait still exists. Even better is Vrubel's wall-sized Seated Demon. Last time I went, that was the only painting I looked at. For a long, long time. This pic does it no justice at all. Sadly.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

St Petes is far more visitor-friendly than Moscow. More to do and see, more reliant on visitors. And there's the whole daylight at midnight thing in the summer. And visible, tangible history. And canals. And Dostoyevsky walks. Bullet holes from the siege. And some really odd museums..

Didn't go to the Hermitage in my last few visits. I'd argue against going there. Far preferred the State Russian Museum - smaller, more manageable and Russian art. And space to enjoy it rather than crowds. Tretyakov in Moscow is wonderful. If you go there. Hopefully, the tradition of schoolchildren being told about Pushkin by his portrait still exists. Even better is Vrubel's wall-sized Seated Demon. Last time I went, that was the only painting I looked at. For a long, long time. This pic does it no justice at all. Sadly.

Odd museums you say....? I love an odd museum! Tell me more...

 

[Mrs Miggins]

How long does it take to get a tourist visa? I'll need to get my passport renewed as well as I'm planning to go in July and my current passport runs out in November.

 

[paulhackett]

Odd museums you say....? I love an odd museum! Tell me more...

I need to find my black guide to St Petes (I'll put more if/when I do) but the obvious one, and this isn't a recommendation is the Kunstkamera. I was taken there as a boy without being told why. Never bothered going back. I'm trying to remember where the 19th century honey shop was (if it still exists). It's a wonderful city to wander around (go on a canal trip to see places you may want to return to).

 

[Mrs Miggins]

The Kunstkamera looks ace! Right up my street.
I'm definitely going!

 

[Athos]

Odd museums you say....? I love an odd museum! Tell me more...

Last time I was there, a woman tried to take me to see the "baby monsters"; a collection of foetuses and infants with bizarre birth defects, whose bodies had been pickled. Apparently, it was formerly the personal collection of one of the Tzars.

 

[paulhackett]

Last time I was there, a woman tried to take me to see the "baby monsters"; a collection of foetuses and infants with bizarre birth defects, whose bodies had been pickled. Apparently, it was formerly the personal collection of one of the Tzars.

Yup. The Kunstkamera. Peter the Great was the one. He also put a tax on beards. Need him here and now. For the beard tax thing. Not the Kunstkamera.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I'm veering towards St Petersburg. Mainly because of the Hermitage.

My totally unbiased friend from St Petersburg says that it's much better than Moscow.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

 

[Baronage-Phase]

I went from Helsinki to St Petersburg years ago on a day trip. Its beautiful. Would love to go back there for longer.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

I went from Helsinki to St Petersburg years ago on a day trip. Its beautiful. Would love to go back there for longer.

Ooh what's Helsinki like? That's another place in my (very long) list.

 

[Manter]

There is a museum of vodka in St P....

I love them both but they are very different. St P feels like a European city (albeit a very grand and exciting one), whereas Moscow is more alien and mysterious and ‘important’ in lots of ways. Moscow has red square, Lenin, st basil’s, GUM (these days mostly incredibly interesting oligarch-watching), the Kremlin itself, some stunning Art Deco buildings, novospaskiy monastery, some truly amazing monuments to soviet achievements (the Stakhanovite worker and the kolhkoz woman still makes me laugh), bunker 42 Cold War museum, Gorky park, the Tretyakov.... I could go on..... it’s a really fabulous city.

So is St P, but there are loads of cheerleaders for that, so I thought I’d speak out for Moscow

 

[Manter]

I was trying to find a picture of my favourite Art Deco building in Moscow and discovered there is a museum of Art Deco now! Amazing.

Also, I forgot to mention the underground.

 

[Baronage-Phase]

Ooh what's Helsinki like? That's another place in my (very long) list.

I was there in 98 and again in 2001. It's beautiful. I loved it there. It's well worth a visit if you're in Dt Petersburg you can go across by train in 3 and a half hours.
It was expensive though...
As usual my memories are tied to food. And Helsinki had some great confectionaries, restaurants and cafes.
I was there in Spring, Summer AND winter. Obviously it was bitterly cold. The summer I went we got off the plane at 11pm. Sun was shining and it was 34 degrees. Roasting. And plenty mosquitos all round the lakes and forests.

Lots of things to do and see there. I loved it there. Suommenlina fortress was worth seeing. Saw the rock church...and Seurasaari open air museum was really a great day out. Theres some great architecture in Helsinki. I spent another day just finding the places that were used to film Gorky Park.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

If St Petersburg is fairly touristy, do you find much written in English? I'll try to learn some cyrillic script and a few words of Russian before I go anyway as it can't hurt.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

There is a museum of vodka in St P....

I love them both but they are very different. St P feels like a European city (albeit a very grand and exciting one), whereas Moscow is more alien and mysterious and ‘important’ in lots of ways. Moscow has red square, Lenin, st basil’s, GUM (these days mostly incredibly interesting oligarch-watching), the Kremlin itself, some stunning Art Deco buildings, novospaskiy monastery, some truly amazing monuments to soviet achievements (the Stakhanovite worker and the kolhkoz woman still makes me laugh), bunker 42 Cold War museum, Gorky park, the Tretyakov.... I could go on..... it’s a really fabulous city.

So is St P, but there are loads of cheerleaders for that, so I thought I’d speak out for Moscow

You are definitely selling Moscow with the "alien and mysterious" thing.

 

[Idris2002]

My time to shine. . .

Yes, St. Petersburg is where all the cool people go, but it's not just for the Hermitage. The city is full of old museums and historic spots. You can view Dostoevsky's apartment, now a museum of the writer's life, and also the flat where the murder in Crime and Punishment happened is still there, or at least it was in 2006.

A day trip to Kronstadt is also an option, as are Tsarist era palaces in the suburbs. But don't expect anything that commemorates the mutiny when you go to Kronstadt, that's all.

Just make sure you get the visa. People can be and have been turned away at the border, because they think the chit you need to prove you have accomodation in Russia is the actual visa itself. It isn't, it's just one of the key things you need to clear the bureaucratic hurdle.

 

[Pickman's model]

If St Petersburg is fairly touristy, do you find much written in English? I'll try to learn some cyrillic script and a few words of Russian before I go anyway as it can't hurt.

pajavosta is please and spassiba is thank you