High speed train to St. Petersburg

High speed train to St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg, Russia, Asia

Today was mostly a travel day. I took my time getting my stuff together this morning and left Matreshka Hotel around noon. I had to get a couple of metros to get to Leningradsky train station, but eventually I found it with plenty of time to spare. I got the high speed Sapsan train to St. Petersburg. It took about four hours and was a nice ride. I had a seat in a group of four with a table in the middle. I chose this seat hoping that I might meet some other people travelling or at least some people that spoke English, but I was unlucky. I was sat next to a mother and her two little boys, but I guess I was lucky in the fact that the kids weren’t too annoying and kept themselves occupied for the whole ride.

I got to St. Petersburg at about 6pm and it was pissing it down with rain. I knew my luck of nice weather could only last so long. It was really easy to find the street that my hostel was on, but finding the actual hostel proved to be a very difficult task. I asked a girl for directions and she turned out to be American named Jackie, and really helpful. Together we managed to find the hostel and I checked into my four bed dorm and found out I’m all alone. I’m the only person in the whole hostel until Wednesday. While it’s nice to have a room to myself, I was also hoping to meet some travelers here, but it looks like that’s going to be harder than I thought.

I went out to grab a bite to eat and found a place called Long Island that was a diner-style burger joint. I keep looking for typical Russian places to eat, but I don’t think they exist. It seems that they have adopted the western culture so much that they only have western restaurants. Anyway, it was a great burger, and noticeably cheaper than Moscow. I had a walk around in the rain for a while and saw some of the very impressive buildings in the city center before coming back to the hostel.

I’ve signed up for a free walking tour tomorrow morning so hopefully that’ll be a good way for me to see the city and maybe even meet some other travelers. I don’t think the weather will be any nicer tomorrow, but that’s okay. It looks like St. Petersburg is a beautiful city, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy the day regardless of how wet I am.

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