What to do in Saint Petersburg if you have free three hours? Just walk down Nevsky prospect.

After the "Blockchain & Bitcoin" (Saint Petersburg, Russia, June 22) conference had finished, I had three free hours to be spent in one way or another. Fortunately, I was in the city where three hours is not enough at all, it's a catastrophically little amount of time.

My previous visit to Saint Petersburg happened when Soviet Union still had been existing. And, of course, I don't remember it very good, as the city itself has totally changed. It has even changed its name from Leningrad to Saint Petersburg. But some things still don't change:

^{Hero City Leningrad}

That's why I looked at Saint Petersburg as if it was my first time there, and now I want to tell about my impressions about the Northern Capital.

I was in a hurry to the conference and took a taxi in the morning, so my meeting with the city happened the following evening while walking from the "Vvedensky" hotel where the conference had been taking place back to the Moscovsky railway station:

^{The route of my walk}

Evening is not the best time for taking photos, especially with my old smartphone. So I apologize for my quite unprofessional photos. But my main goal was to capture emotions and impressions. If you like these photos (it's my first post for Mapala), I will certainly take a better camera for my next report.

So, let's go! Walking across Saint Petersburg.

First distinction of Saint Petersburg which arrested my attention is that everyone here just loves bicycles and other two-wheel transport: scooters, skateboards and so on. Cyclists are everywhere: both on the pavements and on the roads. And not only young people ride — a pensioner riding a scooter is not unusual here! Also different stores like to use time-expired bicycles as outdoor advertising.

^{They love everything that is two-wheel in Saint Petersburg}

Talking of ads. There are no any banners, billboards, cross-street banners, and posters hanging on the fences in Saint Petersburg which are quite usual in Moscow. You won't see any billboard on Nevsky prospect:

^{There are no banners, cross-street banners and billboards on the streets of Saint Petersburg}

Little stands on the pavements is the only kind of street advertising you will see. And the ads are very specific on them — I didn't see any FMCG advertised which are foisted on TV. It's mostly social advertising and promotion of remarkable events like the ongoing Confederations Cup in Saint Petersburg.

^{The advertised content in Saint Petersburg is culture and important events (Zabivaka was everywhere in the city)}

The fact is that the city is full of events. Alongside with Confederations Cup which was constantly reminded by anthropomorphic Zabivaka the wolf (he was everywhere!), far from Dvortsovaya square you could feel that Saint Petersburg was getting ready for something terrific — you could hear music a kilometre away.

It turned out to be the rehearsal of school leavers' Crimson Sails festival. Gigantic stages and screens were mounted along the Neva quay.

^{Saint Petersburg is getting ready to school leavers' Crimson Sails festival — the workers are mounting the stages along the Neva quay}

The main stage, of course, was on Dvortsovaya square.

^{The main stage of Crimson Sails on Dvortsovaya square}

I was lucky to get there! I visited Saint Petersburg on Thursday, June 22nd, and Crimson Sails were to happen the next day, on Friday, June 2rd. And right in the Thursday evening there was general rehearsal on the main stage full of music, dances and other components of the show which I was enjoying for not less than an hour, having a good time. Until I understood that I needed to hurry and not to be late to my train.

Besides, I was a little hungry. It's interesting that Saint Petersburg has its own catering traditions. I haven't seen any sign of McDonald's or KFC which can be found everywhere in Moscow. Here, they prefer to feed tourists with buckwheat porridge, chicken and doner kebabs. Also I often met the sign of some unfamiliar "Canteen No. 1" (of course, I didn't eat anything there:)

^{Distinctions of catering in Saint Petersburg}

Eventually, I found a Burger King restaurant which was familiar to me and had a dinner there. If I had known that posting checks had grown in fashion on Golos.io, I would have taken photo of my own one. But I don't keep checks so you just have to believe me.

After having a meal and recovering a little (as I had to make half of my way), I kept walking down the main street of the city — Nevsky prospect. Unusual comfort was surprising for me. As I had expected, there was a lot of people on Nevsky, definitely more than on Tverskaya street in Moscow. But the crowd didn't annoy me, as distinct from Moscow. Everybody was moving and not bothering each other.

And I can't say the people were walking slowly. No, the pedestrians were moving quite quickly but without that distinctive vanity of Moscow. Even moving off the common beat didn't cause troubles to other people. I don't have any psychological explanation for this phenomenon, probably there is something in the air of Saint Petersburg which allows you not to hurry anywhere and to be in time everywhere enjoying oneself's walk. Or probably we have to thank street musicians who play their own repertoire every 50 metres of Nevsky prospect for that.

^{Nevsky prospect is the most favourite place of all musicians in Saint Petersburg}

Listening to that constant background music, I walked down Nevsky prospect to Sadovaya street which is crossed by underground passage. It's not worth describing, but it's quite a long passage where dozens of little shops are located.

^{World of souvenirs in underground passage under Sadovaya street}

Sly businessmen burn some aromatic herbs in the passage to make occasional tourist buy something there. So, I got high on those herbs and a fervent desire to buy something, and I spent quite a long time choosing a fridge magnet.

I guess, long time of herbs breathing made me look thoughtful or somehow else inspired other people to look at me. Right after leaving the passage I was encountered by some strange guys who offered me to visit an erotic massage saloon, private striptease club and a Jacuzzi show. They gave me a pile of their flyers.

Or maybe it's just a matter of place — I am not familiar with the seamy side of life in Saint Petersburg. I remember how I got in the same situation in Shenzhen when I decided to take my friend (who could hardly eat local cuisine) to the rear Chinese McDonalds. So, lots of pimps who tried to attract foreigners were hanging around McDonalds there, too.

But it’s obvious that a foreigner is easily recognizable in Chinese crowd. And what condemned me as a guest in Saint Petersburg? That moment I remembered a famous anecdote:

Stierlitz was going across Berlin... And something imperceptible condemned him as a Soviet spy... Either a tilted budenovka or a parachute courted behind him...

After rejecting the services of those guys, I almost reached Moskovsky railway station. There I was awaited by not a very pleasant surprise of a large crowd which looked just like in Moscow Underground in rush hour. It was hard not only to sit down but even to walk through. It was about an hour and a half until departure of my train and I was quite tired after my 8 kilometres walk, so I just needed to sit down. But it was hard to find a place even to stand in the main waiting hall of the railway station.

But five minutes later the railway station's announcement system announced information about waiting room located to the left of platform No. 5. I had nothing to lose so I went to look at it. And there really was a separate building near train platforms on the 3rd floor of which there was a "secret" waiting room. Surprisingly, it was almost empty, had comfortable seats, televisions, and announcements were well-heard there.

So, if you leave Saint Petersburg by train — wait for it in this waiting room. It's far more comfortable than the main station building. Also it's closer to the trains.

^{Comfortable and empty "secret" waiting room in Moskovsky railway station}

In that comfort, I wrote the main part of these notes and spent the time before departure. Soon my train was announced:

It was a pity to say goodbye to hospitable Saint Petersburg. I've received lots of impressions — caused both by the conference and the city itself. Even this report about little walk doesn't contain even half of things which attracted my attention — the story has already become quite long, and there are several dozens of photos kept in my phone's memory. Maybe, I'll tell the rest of the story next time.

Or you better visit Saint Petersburg yourself. This city is worth visiting, even just for one day.