St. Petersburg

Two days after the soccer match, I headed to St. Petersburg. This city was created by Peter I and was the czar’s capital for more than two centuries (from the beginning of the 18th century to the Russian Revolution of 1917). The Bolsheviks, after taking power, then moved the nation’s capital to Moscow. After the communist revolution, St. Petersburg was named Petrograd; then after Lenin’s death, it became known as Leningrad. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, it was renamed back to St. Petersburg. While Moscow is currently the economic/political capital of Russia, St. Petersburg is known as the intellectual hub of the country and is also considered the most beautiful city of the entire country.

I hopped on 12:45am Saturday morning train ready to go. It was my first experience on a Russian train, so I didn’t know what to expect. I entered the tiny room where three other passengers would be passing the night. It reminded me of the beginning of college- four complete strangers from different backgrounds pilled into an 8 by 8 by 10 box. I met my first roommate- Nikita (middle in picture), a 16 year old Russian guy heading St. Pete to see his girlfriend. Later, another young Russian guy walked in (left in picture), my second suite mate. His English was not very good, so I didn’t get to speak with him that much. Ten minutes later, our fourth and final roommate arrived- an older man from Calcutta, India (left in picture). So, there you have it, two Russians, and American and an Indian- sounds like a CBS sitcom.

The train left at 12:45 on the dot and everyone immediately began drinking. That’s right, you can buy alcohol on Russian trains. Hey, what else are you going to do for 8 hours in a small, compact box with four strangers??? While we were drinking and conversing about our home countries, two of the Indian’s friends walked in with a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label, telling us we all had to take shots. “Shots?” I said to myself, “I thought this was a train, not a bar!” But then again, we are in Russia. So, when in Rome…

These random strangers became my good friends by the end of the night- I guess it really was like college. There’s nothing that can bring people together from various cultures like a bottle and a train ride. Maybe we should put all the world leaders on the Trans-Siberian and give them free booze? That’s the answer to world peace right there!

We finally arrived in St. Pete at 9am. From there (with a splitting headache) I jumped into a cab and made my way to the hotel to meet up with my mom and her boyfriend and my sister and her boyfriend. Yep, that’s right, it was my sister’s birthday weekend so a few family members from home decided to come up and celebrate in my new adopted country. It’s always a good feeling to see family and friends from home when abroad.

To make a long story short, I did as much tourist activities as possible within the two short days I was staying there. I walked around the city and scoped out all the magnificent architecture, went to the Hermitage and saw famous art work from around the world, visited all the famous gold domed churches and sampled a variety of great Russian food. St. Pete, as you can see, is a wonderful place. However, its beauty and its charm is also its demise. It’s such an extraordinary place that it’s infested with tourist. For every breath-taking Cathedral, there are five tourist shops selling plastic Soviet icons. For every antique pedestrian bridge crossing a silent canal, there are two cruise ships. And for every world class museum, there are at least 50 tour groups wearing matching shirts.




Now, don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against tourism. In fact, tourism is perhaps one of my favorite past times. But tourism is just like anything; too much is bad. A loud, massive tour group takes away from the spirituality of an old candle-lit Orthodox church, and side-walk-make-shift tourist boutiques ruin the aesthetics of a picturesque old and gloomy European back alley. Nonetheless, this is how the world is. Just about all of the marvelous sites of the world had been discovered and it is only human nature to go to these places and see them in person. So take the good with the bad and the bad with the good; I guess this is one small sacrifice we have to make in the age of commercialization.

Sunday night, at 1am, I grabbed the return train back to Moscow. This ride was nothing compared to Friday’s. Everyone went straight to their bunk and went to sleep. I guess we were all too exhausted from the weekend to introduce ourselves, make small talk, and, especially, take shots! 10 hours later, I arrived home to the hustle and bustle of Moscow and rushed to work as fast as possible. “But wait a minute,” I thought to myself, “where’s all the tourist shops and signs in English? There are none.” At that moment I realized something great- I’m living in Moscow. I’m not just here for a long weekend, this is my new home for the next several months. It was the first time I’ve felt a connection to this city since being here, and to be honest, it felt kind of nice. Maybe this place is starting to grow on me after all.

Other sights from St. Petersburg: