Tims Times

Back home again after another 4 week trip to sea, which dragged out in the end to 4½ weeks but I did manage to get to see the center of St. Petersburg and the Hermitage Museum which is really a whole days outing,(and will be in a post soon) I was there for about 3 hours and I was completely overloaded with culture and art. I went ashore with one of the students onboard a 19 year old engineers apprentice, I should have gone alone, it was like being with Beavis and Butthead at the same time, in the museum and on the metro and everywhere he was like a dog with two tails everytime he saw a bit of skirt he nearly twisted his head off, at first I found it mildly amusing but in the end I was close to flipping out. I expressed my irritation to which he replied “it’s only natural!”, and I added “for a complete twat, maybe”, I don’t remember ever being such a gobshite myself when I was 19, maybe I was.
Anyway besides having a 19 year old (he was born in the late 80’s, has no personal memory of the wall coming down or The Smiths, for example) who didn’t know what the capital city of Russia was with me, it was a fantastic experience being in St. Petersburg. The contrasts are amazing, old Ladas and brand new Merc’s, rich executives and war veterans begging on the side of the footpath. This guy below didn’t speak any English so I was unable to find out what happened, he got a few bob for the photo.

Fairly cheap as well, the Metro was 14 rubles( about 50 cents)for a one way ticket, no limits for changes or zones, we only had a few hours to explore and you need a week. It was worth all the shite at the security checkpoint to see such a beautiful city with wide boulevards and fantastic architecture buzzing with life, worth a return visit on civilian time.