Antony Gormley

[Alan Marsden]

Bill, yes St. Petersburg is a great place to visit. I was apprehensive prior to visiting, we were informed that we would not be allowed to step ashore unless we had previously booked a tour or had arranged a visa.Not having experienced such restrictions elsewhere I thought that repressive, yet the actual experience when embarking was excellent, well organised, and the coaches in which we toured were new,had good comfortable seating and good a/c . The guides gave us each a pocket mounted receiver and earpnones, all the guides spoke good English, were extremely pleasant and knowledable,they informed about anything we asked including historical and political issues, they all deplored the alagharks revered Mr Putin and his efforts to retrieve from them their ill gotten spoils , and having the receivers could speak normally, without shouting, as we toured the cathedrals,museums art galleries etc. When asked ,the guides said that living conditions in the area had improved immensely in latter years, shops were full of goods /food just as elsewhere in the west, in years past they were sparce, had no variety etc. Most people lived in apartments in the city, but these didn't look at all like the drab gloomy apartments one used to see on newscasts. I don't recall seeing any grafity ( a particular annoyance to me and evidence of disrespect for society and civil order, to me ), in St. Petersburg and surrounds, but I saw ample in several other Baltic cities .
It would be very difficult to negotiate your own way around St.Petersburg, one can identify little from their street signs, the Russian alpabet is completely different from our own http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_alphabet .

Should you be interested in the types of sites in St. Petersburg, I doubt you would be disapointed!