maandag 16 augustus 2010

Discovering Petersburg night life

Marta, Giovanni & Peter
As mentioned before, our group loved to go out for dinner and drinks. This being either the whole group or subgroups. We used to agree to meet at Dom Knigi from where we started to look for a nice place to eat. Most of the time we didn't have to go far from Nevsky Prospect, because there were plenty occasions to have dinner. Only sometimes getting a table was not that easy being with a group of 8 people. I noticed that there are many sushi bars all through the city, so of course some of us have tried some typical nice Russian sushi. But we also visited a Russian restaurant twice where we could eat traditional Russian food. It remained a challenge to order the whole two weeks, but eventually, there was always beer, wodka and water on the table and some food, may it be something else than you thought you ordered.
Definitely a taxi-after-4 night
Going out after dinner is quite a funny story in Saint Petersburg. Because of the rivers and canals, the city has many bridges and they open at 01.00h and won't close until 04.00h. This means that if you stay on an "island", like we stayed on Vasilievsky island, you should hurry back home before one, or prepare for a good night of partying. Sometimes we choose to take the last metro home around 00.00h, sometimes we took a taxi between 0.00h and 01.00h or after 04.00u or the first metro around 06.00h in the morning.
Taking a taxi is really something you should do carefully. There seem to be many illegal taxi drivers, which influences the price of a ride, but also your safety as a tourist. "Tourist" seems to equal "rich". But it doesn't cross any taxi drivers mind that even if you WERE rich, you are not anymore after two weeks of Petersburg, but they will try and make the price higher anyway. So. The first time we took a taxi we thought we entered an official one, but actually, putting a light on your car does not make it official. We negotiated about the price and since the driver would not take us for 700 Rubels, we wanted to look for another taxi, but then he called us back, said he agreed. By then he already had the exact address where to bring us. One of the students had been in Petersburg before, so he knew we were driving the right direction. At one point the taxidriver began to complain, saying he suddenly recognised the street where he had to drop us off and said it was a very long street, so he could bring us to beginning for 700 Rubels or to the destination for 800. Arrived at the destination the taxidriver locked the doors and didn't let us out before he had 800 Rubels. To compare, this is actually a drive you can get for 200 Rubels, if you are Russian.
The next taxi experience was with a definitely unofficial one. Even though our Russian teacher arranged it for us on the streets, we'd still have to be in it without guidance. But, all went well, this was actually a quite good experience, because the driver was really nice.
Luba and Sacha
Like I said, the taxi was not the only transportation we used. For example, the last night, we took the first metro and had a very nice refreshing morning walk to our apartment. Because Luba, Yoleens friend in St. Petersburg, had done so much for our group, showing us around, pointing out interesting places, and she really became one of our group, we wanted to take her out for dinner, bowling and dancing (but SHE made the reservations!!! See what I mean?). The preview on the last blog shows our dinner that night.
Group picture after bowling
Yoleen, Stephan and Luba at Fidel
I had never wondered if Russians did bowling as well, but the bowling centre looked the same as the ones I am used to at home. After the bowling we went to the city again. We entered a real Russian disco and had a great time dancing. At least two tough security men held an eye on the dancing people and once a woman set down on a couch after an hour where it was no longer allowed to sit down, and she didn't want to leave, the security did not hesitate, took the woman over the shoulder and carried her out. Because the night was still young we went on to what has become THE place to be for our group, a cafe called Fidel. Fidel is just a small cafe where there is little space to dance, a bar, some tables and chairs and a small lounge space. The music is pretty much Latin, so our Italian salsadancing friend has had the time of his life, being in Fidel every night.
In the early hours of the morning we had to call it a day and accept that the last day of our holiday had arrived. In the most fresh air we have had in those two weeks we walked to the apartments. Some goodbyes were already said, others were saved for a few hours later.
Since my blog has not been chronological, this is not he end of the story, there is still much more to share, so keep coming back :).

5 opmerkingen:

  1. What a fun trip that was! It’s nice that you guys were able to experience different kinds of transportation available in the country. On the other hand, when it comes to dealing with the taxi services in Petersburg, it would be ideal to haggle before accepting the ride. You can also ask around the natives on what the typical taxi fare is.

    Earnestine Novick

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  2. Taking a taxi is really something you should do carefully exactly there are many illegal taxi provider due to a little mistake there may be a big problem for any one its a very great experience and story about Petersburg very impressing.
    we should learn and safe our life.thanks allot for such a important info.
    Saran SMith

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