First Impression: St. Petersburg

This week I’m off to Mexico for the first time. Since I’m not sure if I will have access to the internet, I’m writing a series of blog posts describing my first impressions of my favorite cities.

Today’s city is St. Petersburg

I was very excited about visiting St. Petersburg, or any place in Russia.  As a child of the 1980s, I always thought about the USSR and how closed off it was.  When the USSR broken up in the early 1990s, it was a strange feeling for me.  Going to St. Petersburg also made me think about the animated movie Anastasia.  My friend and I might have watched it on the ship the night before we docked.  Anyway, the movie always make me think about the Russian revolution in 1917 and how little I actually know about Russian history.

The day and half spent in St. Petersburg created a desire to go back.  The city is filled with a diversity of architecture.  You have the beautiful old building from the time of stars standing across the street from those built until soviet rule.  There’s so much history in the buildings.  The building tell the story of the country’s past.  Unfortunately we were on a guided tour and therefore did not have a chance to talk to many locals.  However our tour guide was lovely.  She was warm, friendly, and very honest.  When we asked her what she thought about the revolution, she said that she wished that it never happened.  Honesty.

Here are a few pictures from my first visit to St. Petersburg…