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  #1  
Old April 7th, 2004, 07:38 PM
Steve Gerdemann
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Default St Petersburg

My wife and I are considering visiting St. Petersburg next summer. I
believe that St Petersburg has some spectacular tourist sites (the
Hermitage, Cathedrals, Nevsikj Palace…) but we are a little concerned
about stories we have heard about crime and corruption. I suppose that
we could avoid these hassles by paying for a tour but we would prefer
to travel on our own.

We have traveled extensively but I would have to say we are not
particularly daring. So are we overreacting or should we be concerned.
Is a tour worth considering?

Thanks for any thoughts

Steve Gerdemann
  #2  
Old April 8th, 2004, 12:14 AM
Pete
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Default St Petersburg

My wife and I are considering visiting St. Petersburg next summer. I
believe that St Petersburg has some spectacular tourist sites (the
Hermitage, Cathedrals, Nevsikj Palace.) but we are a little concerned
about stories we have heard about crime and corruption. I suppose that
we could avoid these hassles by paying for a tour but we would prefer
to travel on our own.


Unless you live in a small town, St. Petersburg will have a lower crime
rate than your American hometown. You will have a bigger problem
with the language. Almost no one over 30 speaks English, and many
young people are equally likely to speak German over English as their
second language. A tour will solve the language problem. You could
also split the difference and use a tour to arrange for the hotel, airport
transportation, and visa, and extend your time and see the city on your
own. Some places are worth a tour, like the Catherine Palace (Tsarkoe
Selo). By the way, the Nevski Palace is a hotel.


Pete


  #3  
Old April 8th, 2004, 03:48 AM
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Default St Petersburg

Taking a guided tour in St-Petersburg just for safety purposes, in my
opinion, does not make sense because this city is safer than other
Western megalopolises.

But you may want to take a tour if you want to learn more than your
guidebook provides (Russian guides used to be pretty good, though it
may not be true any more, with the proliferation of small tour
operators), or just to deal with a language barrier.

If you do it on your own, make sure to visit 2 sites missing from your
list: Peterhoff (or Petrodvoretz) - arguably the most breathtaking
tourist attraction in the world, and the Katherine Palace. Both are in
St-Petersburg suburbs. Not sure what you mean by Nevsikj Palace.


My wife and I are considering visiting St. Petersburg next summer. I
believe that St Petersburg has some spectacular tourist sites (the
Hermitage, Cathedrals, Nevsikj Palace?) but we are a little concerned
about stories we have heard about crime and corruption. I suppose that
we could avoid these hassles by paying for a tour but we would prefer
to travel on our own.

We have traveled extensively but I would have to say we are not
particularly daring. So are we overreacting or should we be concerned.
Is a tour worth considering?

Thanks for any thoughts

Steve Gerdemann

  #4  
Old April 8th, 2004, 12:45 PM
gerald
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Default St Petersburg

One of the safest cities in Europe, which makes it much safer than
anything in the western hemisphere.

Had no trouble with not knowing any Russian. Learn the alphabet.
comes in handy.

Hire one of the gypsy taxi drivers by the day They are inexpensive,
knowledgable, speek some english, and will take you anywhere and wait
for you. They will tell you "how to do it".

Take the overnight train to Moscow, and spend a couple days there.

Subrtact one star from each hotel rating.

On 7 Apr 2004 11:38:06 -0700, (Steve Gerdemann)
wrote:

My wife and I are considering visiting St. Petersburg next summer. I
believe that St Petersburg has some spectacular tourist sites (the
Hermitage, Cathedrals, Nevsikj Palace…) but we are a little concerned
about stories we have heard about crime and corruption. I suppose that
we could avoid these hassles by paying for a tour but we would prefer
to travel on our own.

We have traveled extensively but I would have to say we are not
particularly daring. So are we overreacting or should we be concerned.
Is a tour worth considering?

Thanks for any thoughts

Steve Gerdemann


  #5  
Old April 8th, 2004, 02:59 PM
Ulf Kutzner
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Default St Petersburg

gerald schrieb:

One of the safest cities in Europe, which makes it much safer than
anything in the western hemisphere.


Would agree for the centre/hotel surroundings and for same size cities.
Do not try outskirts at dark.

Regards, ULF
  #6  
Old April 8th, 2004, 04:50 PM
Elena
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Default St Petersburg

Dear Steve,

I am a tour guide/interpreter in Saint-Petersburg. I would advise you to
contact any central hotel like Nevsky Palace, Radisson, or Grand Hotel
Europe, or Astoria. They will send you confirmation of your booking and you
can use this confirmation as a legal paper for obtaining visa in your
country. In Saint-Petersburg I would offer my services as a tour guide, as
well I will provide you a transportation. I am working for a long time in
this field and got many references from my former clients, I can refer you
to them. Saint-Petersburg is a great city, much to see, much to do here.
Don't afraid walking on your own - it is safe, especially in summer, at a
time of famous white nights. English is the most popular foreign language in
Russia.

Let me know if you are interested.
Feel free asking questions regarding your trip.
Sincerely
Elena


----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Gerdemann"
Newsgroups: rec.travel.europe
Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2004 10:38 PM
Subject: St Petersburg


My wife and I are considering visiting St. Petersburg next summer. I
believe that St Petersburg has some spectacular tourist sites (the
Hermitage, Cathedrals, Nevsikj Palace.) but we are a little concerned
about stories we have heard about crime and corruption. I suppose that
we could avoid these hassles by paying for a tour but we would prefer
to travel on our own.

We have traveled extensively but I would have to say we are not
particularly daring. So are we overreacting or should we be concerned.
Is a tour worth considering?

Thanks for any thoughts

Steve Gerdemann


"Steve Gerdemann" ???????/???????? ? ????????
?????????: om...
My wife and I are considering visiting St. Petersburg next summer. I
believe that St Petersburg has some spectacular tourist sites (the
Hermitage, Cathedrals, Nevsikj Palace.) but we are a little concerned
about stories we have heard about crime and corruption. I suppose that
we could avoid these hassles by paying for a tour but we would prefer
to travel on our own.

We have traveled extensively but I would have to say we are not
particularly daring. So are we overreacting or should we be concerned.
Is a tour worth considering?

Thanks for any thoughts

Steve Gerdemann



  #7  
Old April 8th, 2004, 07:06 PM
voyager
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Default St Petersburg

Our visit to St. Petersburg in May/June 2003 has turned out to be one of our
greatest travel experiences. I won't say much were about the sights of the
city as that info can be derived form any number of sources. Instead focus
more on sharing some information about the city and the trip itself.

The views from the train from Helsinki made us wonder what were getting in
to as we neared St. Petersburg. There were derelict rail cars and junk
along the tracks making a naturally dreary area look even more foreboding.
Our arrival at the station in St. Petersburg didn't initially appear
promising. There was rubble everywhere and the station was dilapidated.
What we thought was a rusted out junk train turned out to be a commuter
train still in active service. A most depressing first impression to say
the very least. As we walked into the station we were having second
thoughts and discussing the idea of cutting our planned 5 day stay and
returning to Helsinki the following day. What a mistake that would have
been!

Beginning about 2 months prior to the trip, we had hired a private guide by
contacting an email address found in an old Rick Steves' guide. Through
several weeks of correspondence we had set up a loose itinerary and had made
arrangements for him to meet us at the train station. Alexey was at the
station as promised holding a sign with my name on it. Amid the chaos of
the station, Alexey was a wonderful sight. We exchanged pleasantries and
exited the station to one of the greatest cities I've ever visited. The
next 5 days were fantastic and I was reluctant to leave. Everything there
seems bigger than life and one can only imagine the grandeur of the city in
the past. All those years of communism took their toll and there is a lot
of the city in disrepair but work is progressing everywhere to restore the
city to its former glory. Like you , we were concerned about the tales of
crime and corruption we had heard. We were advised by our guide Alexey that
those tales were greatly exaggerated. We walked the city extensively at all
times of the day and night over the next five days both with and without a
guide. We never found ourselves feeling unsafe and never saw any evidence
to substantiate the warnings. All in all, we felt safer than we would have
in most major American cities.

I can't say enough good things about our guide Alexey. It was a lot more
like traveling with a friend than with a hired guide. His English language
skills are great and his knowledge of St. Petersburg extensive. I would
highly recommend him to anyone. His name is Alexey Aleshechkin and he can
be contacted at .

St. Petersburg can be difficult if you can't read or speak a little bit of
Russian. We too are very experienced travelers but found that the Cyrillic
alphabet was confusing and multi-lingual signs were few. Having a
guide/translator really helped and greatly expanded our enjoyment of the
city. The flexibility was great. We were able to tailor each day to our
specific wishes and not tied to any external schedules. A real advantage of
a private guide is that you can avoid queues at places like the Hermitage
and Peterhof.. While many busloads of tourists queued for entry, Alexey was
able to gain immediate entry for us at every place we visited. Yet another
advantage was the cost. While a 1/2 day packaged tour of St. Petersburg
would have cost about $60-80 per person, our guide charged only $50 per day
for the 2 of us (I believe his current price is in the $60/70 range per day
total for 1-? people). As mentioned earlier, we were also able to set our
own timetables and to linger anywhere we found really interesting.

One of our guide's first questions to us was what kind of restaurants were
we interested in. I told him that we would prefer to avoid touristy
restaurants and visit the kind of places he would take his girlfriend to. We
ended up visiting restaurants that had never seen a tourist or ever heard of
a multi-lingual menu. We also ended up having some absolutely wonderful
meals at ridiculously low prices. Most of our meals were less than $15
(total for the 3 of us) including a beer or two.

We did a lot of walking and some travel via public transit. The subway
system was a real adventure and a real exercise in quick thinking as we
tried to understand the Cyrillic signs in time to make an exit. We found
that a metered taxi cost about the same as it would in a US city but by
having a native as a guide we were able to negotiate some really cheap rides
in gypsy cabs (most any car you see is a potential taxi - just wave them
down and negotiate a price before getting in). Rides anywhere within the
city were typically less than 100 rubles (about $3.50).

As for accommodations, we were most fortunate to accidentally stumble across
a great hotel on the internet. The Marshal hotel is a small (11 rooms)
boutique style hotel in a quiet industrial area near the Tavrichesky Palace
and Smolny Sabor (monastery). (
http://www.marshal-hotel.spb.ru/ ) I
believe a double room is there about $135 including breakfast. The hotel is
about 1 block from the Neva River embankment and reasonable walking distance
(for a good walker) to the Fortress of Peter and Paul, the Hermitage, Church
of the Spilled Blood, and many other tourist highlights. The hotel was
totally refurbished in 2001. It is quietly elegant by any standards and the
multilingual staff very helpful.

I love sharing my memories of this great trip so please don't hesitate to
ask if you have any specific questions .


--

(Remove both slices of mystery meat to reply!)





"Steve Gerdemann" wrote in message
om...
My wife and I are considering visiting St. Petersburg next summer. I
believe that St Petersburg has some spectacular tourist sites (the
Hermitage, Cathedrals, Nevsikj Palace.) but we are a little concerned
about stories we have heard about crime and corruption. I suppose that
we could avoid these hassles by paying for a tour but we would prefer
to travel on our own.

We have traveled extensively but I would have to say we are not
particularly daring. So are we overreacting or should we be concerned.
Is a tour worth considering?

Thanks for any thoughts

Steve Gerdemann



  #8  
Old April 8th, 2004, 10:08 PM
Pete
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Posts: n/a
Default St Petersburg

Hire one of the gypsy taxi drivers by the day They are inexpensive,
knowledgable, speek some english, and will take you anywhere and
wait for you. They will tell you "how to do it".


This is poor advice. I have taken many gypsy taxis, and most drivers
did NOT speak English. Even many regular taxi drivers do not speak
English. Wait for you? Maybe, maybe not. Many gypsy taxi drivers
are people on their way to somewhere and they will give you a ride
(for a price) only because you will not delay them by much.

Subrtact one star from each hotel rating.


This is very true.


Pete


  #9  
Old April 9th, 2004, 12:08 AM
David Horne
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Default St Petersburg

Pete wrote:

I have taken many gypsy taxis,


What an endearing image! What does this kind of taxi do- serenade you
flamenco-style, or offer you a rose?

David

--
David Horne- www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
 




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