A Weekend in Russia - Day 1 🇷🇺

Starting October 1, 2019, nationals of 51 foreign states (including India) could be granted an e-visa to enter the Russian Federation through checkpoints (except via rail) located in the Saint Petersburg region. This was an opportunity I wasn’t going to miss. A few colleagues and I were in Helsinki for work, and since we had a weekend during our stay, we decided to take a trip to St. Petersburg. We booked the Lux Express from Helsinki to St. Petersburg, leaving late Friday night (just before midnight) and reaching St. Petersburg on Saturday morning. The Lux Express bus was comfortable, featuring free Wi-Fi and a machine for complimentary tea and coffee. After about three and a half hours of driving, we reached Vaalimaa, exited the Schengen region, and cleared immigration to enter Russia at Torfyanovka.

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Most of the people on the bus cleared immigration quickly, but one young lady ran into some issues. The bus waited for her while the driver went to try and sort things out. The door of the bus was left open, and it soon started to get cold. After more than an hour, she finally made it back with the driver and boarded the bus, apologizing profusely. Everyone was just happy that she wasn’t stuck there, and we were soon on our way. We reached the St. Petersburg Coach Station around 6:00 AM and walked to the Obvodnyy kanal metro station. We bought a 2-day travel pass (though, in hindsight, we didn’t fully utilize it) and took the northbound Line 5 from Obvodnyy kanal to Admiralteyskaya. We were booked at the No Rain No Pain Hostel, but we arrived too early for check-in. Instead, we had some coffee, showered, changed, and left our bags at the front desk.

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We joined the St. Petersburg Free Walking Tour 🔗 at 10:30 AM. It was raining, but we walked on with rain jackets and umbrellas.

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After the tour, we went to Kazan Mangal, a Caucasian and Uzbek restaurant, for a nice lunch.

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We returned to the hostel after lunch to get our room assigned; we had booked a three-person room. It contained a single bed and a double bunk bed. From the room window, we could see the entrance to the Admiralteyskaya metro station. The room was neat and tidy, the shared bathrooms were clean, and the common kitchen had complimentary tea and coffee. The location was excellent—very close to Palace Square.

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We rested for a while and then decided to spend the evening sightseeing the St. Petersburg Metro 🔗. It was truly amazing to see so many stations exhibiting typical Soviet designs, featuring exquisite decorations and artwork. We came back and had dinner at Teremok, which served freshly made crepes with a variety of fillings.

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After resting for a bit, we headed out an hour after midnight to see the drawing of the bridges on the Neva River. It was cold, but luckily the rain had stopped, so we were able to enjoy the experience.