Novogorod

Day 2
Last nights boat trip was really interesting and at times the canals reminded me of Venice. St Pertersburg is a UNESCO site and there was colour in the buildings - yellow, pink and pale green. These colours are not allowed to be changed and the facades have to remain the same.

Some of us went to dinner after the boat trip and were enjoying the chat when the guide asked a couple of times if we’d be able to find our way back to the hotel. We were puzzled by the question until we realised that it was 10:45! These light nights really throw you.

11pm!

This morning saw a few of us head to St Isaacs Cathedral. First was a visit to the colonade - just 200 stairs upwards. The view from the top was spectacular as you walked around the outer level you had spectacular views over the city. I then walked around the inside & all the decorations were spectacular.

  After a quick lunch we were off to the bus station to catch a bus to Novgorod - 4 hours away. The bus trip was ok as we drove through rural areas and saw small dachas (the ‘country” houses).There were lots of forested areas. The roads were good and the drivers were good - none of the ridiculously scary driving of some countries! 

There was a problem with the train tickets to the Ukraine for four of us which meant we saw Russia at it’s best? To cut a long story short if you were being dealt with & it was the ticket officers time for tea she just closed the window & you just had to wait until she came back. No one complained - they just said to us “This is Russia!” We did eventually get the tickets sorted! 

After a quick shower we started walking towards the Kremlin - not the one we know, that’s in Moscow It’s basically like a fort. We ended up at some flats where we were entertained and fed by a couple of Russian sisters. It was interesting and they answered many questions. Once again the daylight was just fading as we arrived back at nearly midnight. 

I now know three Russian words - Da = yes, Niet = no and Thank you sounds like ‘spicybar’!