Back, in St Petersbourg (not in the USSR as the song says), after 3 days in Moscow

White nights, here i am again.

Let's get back to last Friday, in St Petersbourg, where i met 2 friends of Bruno, and who I went to visit the Hermitage museum with. Great museum for the building, then for the pieces of art inside, I guess they are great - you know i'm not a scpecialist of Art, and 2 hours in the queue to get in... you need to really want to visist... and enjoy the general mess in the museum... even with a map it's easy to get lost or not to find what you're looking for...

Before going to the museum, i went to buy a train ticket for the very same evening, to Moscow, because the booking i had made on the internet did not work as i expected and i had not recieved the voucher... Having no printer, i had decided to ask the compagny (situated in the USA) to cancel my way to moscow, but because of the differences in time, i did not here from them before 6pm, and when i heard from them i did not know if they had canceled my way to Moscow or not....
So finally i managed to print their vouchers, i cancelled the ticket i had bought in the morning (and lost few hundred Roubles), and.... went to the train station to get my tickets from the vouchers. Then the way to Moskow did not work (it had been cancelled by the US compagny) and i had to buy a 3rd ticket ! So i bought a 3rd class ticket, which, at the end, was cheaper than the 2 other tickets i had booked and cancelled.

On the way, i had the chance to have close to my bed a guy, officer in the Russian Army (so could not travel abroad and even 5 years after he ends working for the army), who spoke some English and started to talk to me a bit. He even offered me a beer and some sunflower seeds, which he got from some neighbours in the wagon.

Anyway, I arrived in Moscow at 6am, after the metro is oppened, and could meet Jolanda around 7 at her metro station VDNCK on the orange line.

After leaving my bag at her student's place (a small quite dirty place with no real kitchen in the student's rooms), and after having a breakfast, we went out for a walk in the center. The Red square was closed because of a parade or so, we could not know for which event, so we walked around and went back there in the afternoon. This square is OMG, big and crowded...

In the afternoon we then went to the Victory park, where the Triomph Arc is, and where a museum with half panoramas about the 2nd world war are. We did not find the strange Gothic people who are supposed to be there...
In the evening there was an Afro concert planned but we were both so tired that we did not join Blanchard, Jolanda's friend for RDC.

On Sunday, i went for a walk alone in the center of the city. I wanted to go to the museum of the Russian History, but the price and the lack of insurance that there would be some english, made me stop. I went to another museum, smaller and all in Russian, about the history of Morcow city. 50 Ru vs 330 Ru... (1 Euro is 43Ru or so at present).
Around 6 pm Jolanda met me at the post office and we then spent the evening at the Exhibition park. We even ate in a Goergian restorant !

Monday morning i went with Jolanda to leave my bag at the train station then went by myself to the Kremlin. I took a ticket for myself and.... once insice joined a group of tourists having a guided tour in Spanish ! I could understand nearly everything, but to ask the guide if i could join the group, or to explain i was from france and could understand but hardly speak... what an effort ! Shame on me...

Then i took the 3:30 train, could see the landskapes (lakes, forests, then fields when we are clolser to St Petersbourg), and arrived back at Bruno's place before he sleeps...

Today (update) last day in St Petersbourg, then the way to Finland will start...
I went to St Isaac's Colonade, to have a panoramaof the city, then walked a lot over the islands and the parks. In the evening I met Alexandra, the daugter of the organizer of last thursday's pic nic. She's amaising and speaks a so good french adter oneyear and a half of studies only!

So, tomorrow, back on the road (again) andhopefully a camping site after 110 km....

Internet back when i am in Finland I guess, july the 3rd or 4th...

Bye then !