St. Petersburg

Sorry for the delay in posting about my trip to St. Petersburg, but I have been a bit under the weather since Monday. Not really sure what it is, but it cause me to miss work on Tuesday and I only do that about every other year.

St. Petersburg was great. If you didn't know, I left Sat Oct 25 and returned Sat Nov 1. USG opened a plant there a couple of years ago and it was their time to be audited. So I took my five Russian words over and got the job done. I am happy to report I am now up to 12 Russian words.

St. Petersburg is a very vibrant and photogenic city. At least I think it would be in the summer. It rained every day I was there - I did not see the sun the entire week. That was unfortunate, because it really seemed to be an awesome place. I only snapped a few photos on the Sunday I arrived. All photos are of the Church of Spilled Blood because that's as far as I walked in the rain with wet feet.

I spent most of the week working at the plant which was a normally harrowing 45 minute ride from the hotel. The traffic in St Petersburg has to be seen to be believed. Think right hand turn lane going three-wide into a two lane road.

The city itself was awesome. Even in the rain, there were so many people out walking down the main street, Nevsky Prospekt. Cafes and resturants were everywhere and always full. Most people spoke some English so my lack of Russian did not preclude me from ordering food and the like. When in doubt in the cafe at lunch, I would just have them lift the tops to all of the food trays and point at what I wanted.

On my last night, the plant manager took me on a quick tour by car - quick is relative, due to traffic we went about 10 miles in an hour and a half. At night, just about every building on a main street is lit up due to the city putting the lights on the buildings a few years ago. It looks like there is always something going on. The main city attractions, The Hermitage, St Peter and Pauls Fortress, various other palaces and the sort looked awesome at night - I just wish I could have gotten the camera and tri-pod out. I guess next trip (which will have to be in a summer month next time.)

Overall, a highly recommended visit for anyone who has never been to Russia. Next time I will make sure I go in the summer and take an extra day or two to see everything.

By the way, Lufthansa's business class kicks United's business class' ass. It's not a competition. A couple of the pictures are from the Lufthansa business class lounge in Frankfurt.

See all the pics HERE.