5 days in Saint Petersburg

From Monday, March 20th till Friday, March 24th, 2017, I left to St Petersburg in Russia with my school. This journey was organized as part of the course Russian Business, we were 22 students to participate in this study trip (Finnish students and exchanges students).

It is the first time that I travelled in Russia, and I was very impatient to make this journey to know more on the Russian culture, on their lifestyle, to improve my knowledge on the Russian business and can admire the beauty of this city. 

Flag of Russia

DAY 1:

On Monday, March 20th we left Kajaani at 6:33 am by train and we arrived at 2:27 pm (local time because the 1 hour ago more than in Finland) in Saint Petersburg.

Saint Petersburg is a city situated in the northwest of Russia, at the bottom of gulf of Finland in the Baltic sea.  More than 5 million people live in Saint Petersburg, it is the second Russian city after Moscow, the capital.

The train journey went very well, we were controlled couple of times on the train on our way to St Petersburg. It was pointless to attempt to count down how many times the ladies have checked our seates or looked at us with such expression on their faces.   

When we arrived at the railway station in St Petersburg, a very sympathic guide waiting for us, Ksenia, who gave us a little city tour so that we could encounter with the most legendary sights and even take pictures of them. 
We have seen: Peter & Paul Fortress ; Spit of Vasily Island ; University Emb ; St. Isaac’s cathedral; Mariinsky Theatre ; Nickolskij Cathedral ; Bronze Horseman and Palace Sq and Nevskij.

  Then we arrived at the hotel, Nevsky Grand Hotel, situated in the heart of the city, at the end of afternoon. I must admit, that the location of the hotel was absolutely perfect for all of us if we either wanted to explore more of the city or just simply jump into the first bar available. At the hotel, I shared my hotel room with Lucie, it was situated in the 4th floor without elevator (it made many steps rise with my luggage!).

Upon our arrival, the staff of the hotel asked us to have with us a copy of our passport and our visa and to leave our passport at the hotel reception during week, for "safety reasons".

In the evening, I went to have dinner with friends in a restaurant next to the hotel.

 Before, I went to exchange my euros in Roubles, 1 euro is equal to 61,5778 RUB. In Russia, all services and products were way cheaper in comparison to Finland.

DAY 2:

The day following as every day of the week we've had our breakfast in the hotel. 

At 10:00 am, we went to visit the Grand Hotel Europe, it is a luxury hotel five stars situated in Saint-Petersburg. It was a very magnificent building with an even way more outstanding interior. Our guide for that day, showed us around the hotel. 

We visited the presidential suite, the decoration was wonderful! The total price of this suite is of 11 000 euros per one night including gym, little kitchen, piano, secret doors and a bathroom with a breath-taking view over the whole St Petersburg. Interesting fact was that most of the clients love staying in the historical floor of the building where Dostojevskij or many other famous russian authors used to stay rather than in more expensive and luxurious rooms.

It was also very interesting to see how are the particular rooms looking from inside, to see the bar and the restaurant of the hotel. The decoration of the Grand hotel Europe was just magnificient!

  At 12:00 am we went to have lunch to the restaurant LA RUSS.

After the lunch, we found our Russian guide, Ksenia in the restaurant to go in the Hermitage museum. She showed us "the most beautiful" and the most known works because we had just 3 hours visit planned to see all…

Hermitage is a complex of 5 buildings composed in particular by the "winter palace", which served formerly as main home of the emperors of Russia.

  
We were able to see sculptures and artwork dating of the Greek and Egyptians time. It is the first time of my life that I saw sarcophaguses and mummies. The museum also possesses an incredible collection of paint which come from the whole world, and from the painters very famous such as Michel Ange, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Leonardo Da Vinci but also of numerous French painters such as Poussin, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Alfred Sisley and Matisse.

Then, I went to go shopping with my friends in the streets of the city to buy souvenirs of Saint Petersburg.

In the evening, I went to eat to the restaurant with my friends next to the hotel.

DAY 3:

At 8:00 am we left the hotel to join the subway station NEVSKY PROSPEKT, direction a local University of Management Technologies and Economics.

To join the subway, it is necessary to take escalators and to come down very profoundly in 80 meters on average. The station of Admiralteyskaya in St Petersburg is the deepest: 100 meters!

Here is a small video of my descent in the subway station in St Petersburg:

The subway stations are magnificent and every station has a different decoration it has it makes unique. We came down from the blue subway of St Petersburg to the station BALTIYSKAYA then we continued in feet our way.

We went to a local University of Management Technologies and Economics to present Kajaani University of Applied Sciences to russian students in order to attract them to come to study in Kajaani for either a semester, or as a double degree students. 

The programme started in an auditorium with three presentations about the identity of KAMK, finnish culture and about the location of Kajaani. 

After the presentations, a teacher from the Russian school organized a game to know better the Russian culture. The rule was that a student from Finland had to be in a group with a student from Russia to discuss russian standards and how foreigners perceive russians and vice-versa.

After we had been finished at the local University in St.Petersburg we were transfered to Coca-Cola company to see how the beverages are made and the overall process of production.

We took the subway then the bus to go to the company. We went up in a small bus of the city some of us were lucky to sit down, the rest of the group stood, I was part of it. We were all very tight so that everybody can go into the bus. It was funny but I never had to travel in such condition. Besides, it is necessary to know that the traffic in St Petersburg is very dense and that the motorists do not drive very well. For example, very few people move in bike in town because it is very dangerous to move next to cars and nothing is equipped for them, there is no bike park.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any pictures outside the premises of Coca-Cola company (only inside the museum, which was, the tiniest museum we have ever seen). We were not even lucky enough to see the overall process of production of Coca-Cola sirups because there were some problems in the factory therefore we were not allowed to go there. However, we were provided with a presentation of the history of Coca-Cola and also the beverages that the company produces (such as Sprite with a cucumber flavour which can be only bought in Russia).

Photo of group in the museum of Coca Cola



DAY 4:

The 4th day of our study trip, we had an appointment at 10:00 am in the Finnish-Russian Chamber of Commerce situated unless 5 minutes in feet of the hotel. It‘s Mr. Tarmo Suomalainen, a manager to the chamber of commerce which welcomed us. The conference began with the presentation of each of us to know better whom we were and from which country we came. Then, Tarmo showed us the economic situation of Russia, which are its business partners as well as the business connections which bind Finland and Russia. These 45 minutes of conference were very enriching, it allowed us to know better the economic situation and the Russian market.

At the end of morning, we went to visit Saint Isaac Cathedral.

  I was surprised by the beauty of the building already from the outside, but I was far from imagining ourselves an inside so sublime. I did not know any more what to photograph so much everything was amazing, the decoration was full of drawings, sculptures, details... there was some gold of everywhere, we were impressed by such a beauty. I was also surprised by the size of this orthodox cathedral, which can welcome up to 14 000 people and by its height, more than 100 meters, it‘s incredible! 
 

Then, we took a staircase to go up at the top of Saint Isaac Cathedral. After climbing 200 steps, we arrived on one of the high point of the city. We had a panoramic view on the city, we have even managed to distinguish other monuments as the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood of the other colored buildings which surrounded its. I really adored this visit, it is one of the most beautiful moments of my journey.

The afternoon, I went with my friends to see the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. For me, it is the most beautiful building of the city, the most typical Russian and the best decorated from the outside. I did not expect to see an inside totally in mosaic, that contrasted with the inside of the buildings which I had been able to see previously, decorated with gold of everywhere.

In the evening, we found ourselves in 6:00 pm in front of the hotel to go to see a Folk Dance and Music show at Nikolaevsky palace. The show began in 7:00 pm, this show allowed us to discover more about the Russian culture. We were lucky enough to attend songs of opera and in small ballets accompanied by an orchestra compound of instruments typically Russian as the bailaika. During the intermission, we had at our disposal Champagne, wine, vodka, and canapés accompanied by a classic orchestra. The place of the show was sublime with mouldings on walls and ceiling, a magnificent staircase with a red carpet … we spent a very good evening.

Photo of group in Nikolaevsky palace:

 

 On the way back, I was able to take some photos of St Petersburg of night:

In the evening, I went to eat in town with my friends. 
Every time, that I told at Russian that I came from France, they were very surprised and very happy to be able to discuss with a French person, and they tried to speak to me in French it was very cute. Many Russians do not speak English very well but speak French very well. Our guide Ksenia explained me that many Russians learn French before English because it is a very hard language to learn.




DAY 5:

After having taken our last breakfast in Saint Petersburg, our guide, Ksenia, came to find us to the hotel to make our last visit in Catherine Palace and famous Amber Room. The route by bus lasted approximately one hour, the guide took advantage of this moment to tell it to us a little more on St Petersburg and Russia generally.

When we moved in Catherine Palace and famous Amber Room, we discovered a magnificent blue building with a lot of sculptures and gold decorations. The inside of the Palace was beautiful, very heavy, with numerous paints, sculptures and mouldings. Every room had a unique decoration, we were able to admire the furniture of inside, the dishes, artwork as well as musical instruments of time. We saw the traditional costumes of time, those who was worned during big official receptions were sublime. This visit allowed us to have a bigger overview of the Russian culture by going back up in the past, in the history of the country.

Then we went to join the restaurant by crossing the park of the Catherine Palace under a beautiful blue sky. We had lunch to the Restaurant "Admiralty" around 12:15 am with to the menu a delicious and typically Russian starter: Russian salad "Olivier". 

 

At 1:30 pm, we took the bus during a little more than one hour to join Finljandsky RWST. The departure of our train was planned for 3:30 pm, it left us some time to do some shopping and spend our last roubles. Then the time had come to take the train direction Kouvola, during the route we saw the customs as on the way out to verify our identity and if we were well in order. At 4:43 pm, we arrived at Kouvola where we made a stop about one hour before taking our last train to join Kajaani.

We arrived with a little late, around 10:50 pm at the station of Kajaani. I was a little tired of this journey, but I was very satisfied to have had the opportunity to realize this study trip in St Petersburg. It was an amazing journey!