Sunday 18 September: St Petersburg to Vienna
Sunday was the third blue-sky day in a row. They say St Petersburg only sees the sun on 60 days a year, and we got three of them! It might have been sunny, but it sure was cold!
We walked back up Nevsky Prospect to the Hermitage, where people were busy erecting a stage, speakers, balloons etc. On the way, we had noticed police men and police cars at every intersection. We asked a likely-looking cop what was happening, and he told us "Zgherovxspktrropsky spazmtolovskivoch", or words to that effect.
None the wiser, we walked down to the Neva, crossed over and took a few pictures. After a long walk along the river and back through the Fields of Mars, we found ourselves back in front of the winter palace.
Paul felt the call of nature, and spied a public toilet - it actually looked like a couple of porta-potties joined together. He went in and was just dropping his pants when a furious lady burst in and demanded 10 roubles. Well he didn't have any change on him, and the lady didn't seem to recognise the concept of "pee now - pay later", so he just had to hold on.
About this time we realised that all the activity in the square was a marathon just about to start, so we got a front row position, and managed to grab some good pictures of the athletes with the winter palace as a background.
We walked back to the hotel, and Sergei arrived spot on time to take us to the airport. St Petersburg boasts some wonderful architecture, palaces and cathedrals. Unfortunately, the international airport is not of the same calibre. The main problem is not so much the facility, but the totally inadequate staffing, combined with the excessively complex procedures. We had to go through X-ray and metal detector just to get in the door. Then a very long queue to have our ticket checked by a lady who didn't seem to have anything else to do, then a further queue to check in (processed by a particularly abrupt and surly young lady). We then queued for passport control, and just walked through the green customs channel. After that was a very long queue for a further security check. After x-ray (including shoes) and metal detector, everybody got frisked. Paul was hoping to be frisked by the rather attractive and friendly-looking blonde, but got the goon with the broken nose instead. Eventually on to the bus for a 50 metre drive to the plane - an Austrian Arrows Fokker F100. The flight itself was smooth and uneventful, with good service and a meal that was actually tasty.
The loudest voice in the world. Some people say the Americans are a loud race, and others single out the Italians. However, the loudest person we have ever heard was a German-speaking lady sitting in the row behind us. For the whole 2.5 hours of the flight she kept up a stream of talk which reverberated around the aircraft, shattering windows and leaving eardrums bleeding. It was at least 24 hours before our hearing returned to normal.
Vienna. We decided not to struggle with our luggage on the airport train, but hired a Mercedes with driver instead. A very civilised way to get into town. We were a bit concerned that the ride seemed to be taking us past the city centre into some less savoury areas, but eventually arrived at the Zipser Hotel - only two blocks from the Rathaus (town hall). The location is actually pretty good - five minutes walk to the rathaus, and only a few more to the main palaces and theatres. The Zipser is a 3 star hotel, and not too bad at all. Better than the Dostoevsky, but not in the same class at the Sokos Viru in Tallinn. However, the beds are appalling! Lumpy, poor support - everything a bed shouldn't be. At least it was clean.
After settling in, we wandered down to the rathaus, where there was a free concert in progress. It was a very good band playing some old-time rock'n'roll. There was a huge crowd, and everybody was enjoying themselves. We were feeling pretty tired after a long day and headed back to the hotel before the concert finished, so we missed the fireworks. (We heard them but couldn't see much).
