Anyone been to russia ?

[Langley]

Am going Sept 18th for one week, to St Petersburg & Moscow. How was it there ? what currency is best ?, any information or tips would be most appreciated. What impressions did you get of the country. I have heard that it is very expensive, is this so ?

 

[Springal]

Expensive, everyone is miserable and unhelpful. Hate non-Russians....... that said hope you have fun!

 

[supaseagull]

Expensive, everyone is miserable and unhelpful. Hate non-Russians....... that said hope you have fun!

You've not been then?

 

[LadySeagull]

Am going Sept 18th for one week, to St Petersburg & Moscow. How was it there ? what currency is best ?, any information or tips would be most appreciated. What impressions did you get of the country. I have heard that it is very expensive, is this so ?

My Son went there earlier this year in fact to Moscow and St Petersburg. He says that it was great, really beautiful and like a fairytale at some places because of the colourful palaces but also really really cold! He also thinks that Russian Rubels are best as not many places seemed to accept English money. In Moscow he recommends you visit Red Square at night if you can. This is when it becomes illuminated and it makes it look much more special. He says he didn't find it to be especially expensive; probably similar to England but he says that alcohol was ridiculously cheap!

 

[Sergei's Celebration]

I havn't but i moscow one day. Its meant to be lovelly.

 

[guster]

Yes been to both Cities. Take a few Rubles, you can easily use your card to draw some out from cashpoints too and you will get a much better exchange rate within Russia itself.

Learn the cyrillic alphabet, this will help you navigate easily especially on the metro (which is fantastic by the way).

Buy the majority of your souvenirs in Izmailova Market in Moscow, its huge and half the price of anywhere else. Its on the blue line (metro) stop is Partizanskaya.

All the people i spoke to were very friendly and helpful, even the police!!

As for prices, its actually very very cheap. Metro is about 50p and you can travel across the whole city making as many transfers as you need. Food is cheaper (well depending where you eat of course). Prices to enter attractions is also very cheap, rarely will you be paying more than £3-7.

Be sure to visit Lenin's Tomb, id be interested to hear whether you think he is real or wax.

St Pete is a walking city so take some comfy shoes. Try "Teremok", its lovely food!

If you have any other questions just reply back and i'll try answer them for you.

 

[Springal]

Maybe going for the England game meant we did not get a good reception....

 

[Durlston]

Moscow is a great city and has so much to see. Would love to go back there again and for longer. Be very careful with taxi drivers (they'll try and charge more) and foreigners are targeted by pickpocketers quite a lot so caution is needed but I found Russians to be very friendly and the women are absolutely beautiful.

 

[PFJ]

Went in the good old days when it was still part of the Soviet Union . Travelled from Poland to Russia . Was turfed off the train at the border only to met by a plain clothes policeman and two soldiers who had my passport !!!!!
I think Paul Daniels must have done a tour of the Eastern Bloc prior to my visit.

 

[moggy]

Been to both, st Petes twice, fantastic cities both of them but st petes is my fav.
There's too much to recommend so I'll leave that for the others, I.e., the hermitage, st Catharines palace, peterhoff etc .
Actually, I will recommend a restaurant. I went with BMF in st petes called chaplins a few years back.
You get served by pretty girls in French maid outfits, once youve eaten and done your drink, there are 2 rooms just off the main eating area, one marked hard and the other marked soft.
Basically you can shag the waitress that been serving you all evening in which ever room you so please.
In case you're wondering, we didn't bother, but thumbs up for a novel idea

 

[BrickTamland]

Never been to Russia itself but I've met about 10 different Russians (students and in Germany) and each one was a horrible person. Ignorant and rude.

 

[Don Quixote]

Yeah I went to St Petersberg and Moscow and it was amazing, though the Russian people are a bit backwards. It is still a kind of third world country with lots of tramps on the streets.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I managed to spend ten days there without spending more than a few roubles. Mind you, this was Omsk, which gets hardly any western tourists and the people are incredibly generous. Our accommodation was paid for in US dollars and everything else - including quite a lot of meals - came more or less free (or in exchange for the odd packet of Marlboro).

I guess it's probably changed a bit in the last 15 years, though.

 

[Gwylan]

Learn the cyrillic alphabet, this will help you navigate easily especially on the metro (which is fantastic by the way).

This is a must - really hard to navigate otherwise.

I haven't been there since the end of Communism so I'm not the best judge (and I got arrested by the KGB which won't happen to anyone else).

Moscow's a great city. Buildings fantastic, some great art galleries and really friendly people. I loved it there - even New Year's Eve when we went out in temperatures of -17 C

 

[El Presidente]

Taught in Moscow on a part time basis for fourteen years. It is a lot more expensive than the (bad) old days, but today you can get whatever you want (at a price).

The icons are all worth a visit, watch out for pickpockets in St Peter's Square, as well as scammers who will accidently 'drop' some roubles on the floor and try to engage you in conversation then mug you.

Loads of great night life, the metro is fantastic, incredible architecture, very frequent and ridiculously cheap, just buy tickets by going to the metro station and showing with fingers the number of tickets you want. You can get them on smart cards for 10 tickets, and it is one fare regardless of how far you travel.

People are in the main very friendly, agree about exchanging cash, go to one of the little offices and they will normally give you a good deal.

Girls are very friendly, especially if you tell them you know a football player or pop star back here in the UK, not sure if they have heard of Lewis Dunk though.

Language was a problem, I was very lazy and only learnt about half a dozen words, one of which was blowjob.

 

[Jay Seal]

The women are beautiful

 

[cheshunt seagull]

I was in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod with work in May. My impressions of a brief spell in Moscow were:
- use the Metro where possible, cheap and efficient, and easy to navigate if you know the cyrillic for your destination.
- roubles; I used nothing else.
- street stalls are good and cheap for snacks.
- restaurants in areas like Arbat and Novo Arbat are pricey but there is more chance they will speak some English.
- I got a taste for Kozel dark beer.
- if you ever worry about how much you drink, 10 mins in a Moscow park and you will feel like the healthiest person alive.
- Russian women appear to be strictly split between ex-Soviet (solid of build and gold of tooth) and Anna Kournikova lookalikes.
- if you're flying back from Moscow Domodedevo, leave plenty of time before your departure, the security is intense and it gets very crowded.
- never forget that you are in a country with a rather different take on the balance between security and human rights and treat any uniformed types you encounter with respect. I smiled a lot and said I was English and it seemed to work well.

Overall though it is a fascinating place and a very different culture. People can be initially a bit guarded but, as I and my liver discovered in Nizhny, they can be very hospitable. Enjoy.

 

[Kazenga <3]

In Soviet Russia, it eez not complicated.

 

[Lethargic]

I enjoyed Moscow and found the people very friendly. 2 tips if you use the metro write down your destination before you attempt it, it's amazing but can be confusing, do not get into a drinking competition you will lose.

 

[Giraffe]

I spent four days in Moscow when England lost 2-1 there in the last Euro qualifiers.

Kremlin, Red Square, Lenins Tomb all worth a visit.

Be careful because the Kremlin is not open every day.

We found the metro quite confusing because we hadn't prepared as someone said above. We therefore used taxis most of the time. Skodas galore! And be prepared to haggle the fare. Food was variable, bit hit and miss whether you get what you think you've ordered!!

Traffic jams everytime you go into Moscow by the way.

Police are severe and are everywhere!!!

Overall it was interesting but don't know I'd do Moscow again. Would like to go to St Petersburg though.