A big thank you to Stanj for advice and "handholding," all accurate and comforting.
I was on the Celebrity Century in St. Petersburg on June 20 and 21, docked at a deserted-looking pier, seemingly beyond the pale.
Our party of 3, all with Israeli passports, were issued free visas on the spot, though after a bit of a hiccup. The customs/border official asked for our tour vouchers, of which we had none. Almost immediately another official arrived and explained to the first clerk that we didn't need anything because we had Israeli passports (we garnered that much, though we spoke no Russian). Clerk 1 insisted she was right, a heated argument ensued with the two women yelling really angrily (or so it seemed to us) at each other. After 7-8 minutes, Clerk 1 nearly broke her rubber stamp as she attacked each of our passports in turn, inking them sufficiently to be official. And so we entered Russia!
A taxi kiosk was set up at the pier, (wo)manned by a local with impeccable English and a big smile. We opted for the taxi, split 3 ways the flat rate was affordable, and we were given the option of paying in US$, euros or rubles. I'd tell you how much it was, but I can't remember. It was about a 25-30 minute ride, no traffic congestion. Oh yes, before we got in the cab, we had the woman write the pier info in Russian so we could get back later.
Entering the Hermitage was another hurdle. Our taxi driver was somewhat challenged in explaining where the entrance was (he had little English, we still hadn't learned any Russian). After a few minutes in the line at the Neva River entrance, we garnered that it was for ticket-holders only. We circled the building (in awe and admiration, it must be said) and found the courtyard entrance and joined the surprisingly short line. Were we optimistic! The museum opens for organized tours one hour before the masses are allowed in. We still had over 1/2 hour to wait before the ticket counters opened. Then the pushing and butting in line started. At last we were in sight of the counters. A 1/2 hour later we got our chance at window number 1. The scowling agent yelled "rubles, rubles" (we only had F/C and plastic) and then slammed the window shut in our faces! Frustrated and laughing at the same time, we found a gracious information lady, who explained in good English that we should have been in the line for windows on the other side of the foyer, which accept plastic. When I balked at standing in line for another 1/2 hour, she very kindly walked us straight up to the correct window - yes, there we were, butting in line, already feeling quite Russian.
We did get some rubles later on from an ATM so we could buy drinks and snacks. The souvenir shops (there are several, scattered strategically throughout the museum) all took plastic, but the cafe would only trade desperately needed food and coffee for rubles. BTW the cakes were mediocre.
I read somewhere (was it on this forum?) that Russians, though looking quite formidable, are really smiling on the inside. And so it proved to be. Invariably, the stern-faced Russian matrons on guard at each room (and looking much like prison wardens) melted as soon as we smiled and greeted them. Several times this proved most frustrating. It was obvious to them that we wanted to know what we were looking at, and to us that they very much wanted to tell us all about the treasures on display in their rooms, but for the most part we just couldn't overcome the language barrier. And here I note, there were very few signs or explanations in English. There is an English audio guide for rent, but in most rooms, there seemed to be only one item explained or none at all. The exception was the Impressionist rooms, where all the works had English labels. It was a different - and not unpleasant - experience to see so much and just soak up the sights. I won't go into the details of what we saw, just that we walked through much of the museum and wore ourselves out and hated to leave and want very much to return. Somehow we missed all the medieval and renaissance painting. Last note, we did get lost and turned around in the Hermitage more than once, even with the floor plan and a compass, too!
We found our way to Nevsky Prospekt and supper, a quick look at the front of the Church on the Spilled Blood (already closed for the day or we would have gone in), some souvenir shopping at the market across the street, a quick pharmacy stop for some unanticipated needs, then a canal/river cruise. The guide was amazing - she spoke only Russian and talked quickly and without a single pause for the entire trip! She must have mastered the art of circular breathing. Again, we were seeing and enjoying without explanations. We tried to walk some more but barely made it to the taxi row. At least having got the "authorized" rate in the morning, we knew we weren't being ripped off returning. We showed the driver our precious little note with the pier info and he seemed to know where it was. He did make a couple of wrong turns when he got close to the pier, but he was smart enough to ask directions from other cabbies, and got us safely back to our ship. By the next day, we knew the route, so we were able to direct our driver once we got close to port. It helped that he spoke good English!
And so we returned to ship in time for a drink while watching the sun set, around 11 pm or so.
Day 2. Peterhof. This morning we had no trouble going through passport control, though instead of visitor cards (which you need to get back through to the ship) we were given dock worker cards. We took a taxi again and our driver spoke some English and pointed out a few interesting bits along the way. Entrance tickets to the grounds had to be purchased in rubles. We arrived just minutes before the fountains came to life and quite a wonderful spectacle it was. We then headed for the palace tour, were able to pay with plastic, and truly lucked out by coming in right behind a small group of American university students, who invited us to join them. The had an excellent guide and we thoroughly enjoyed the tour. We wandered a bit in the lower gardens, then took the jetboat back to St P, pooling the last of our rubles to buy the tickets (again, no f/c accepted).
I had a wonderful (and way too short) time in St. Petersburg, and I've put it on my list of must-see destinations. Stanj, I hope you are still around when I am planning my "real" visit.
