The other picture is of my Russian visa. Al spent hours and hours and literally hundreds of dollars to get it! We both thought we had gone nuts to go through the hoops to get them. (i.e list employers and supervisors for the last 10 years!) Turns out it was well worth it. Our small ship pulled right up to the English Embankment just a few blocks from the Hermitage on the Neva River.
We were in long walking distance from almost everything and we did walk and walk and walk. One afternoon we did the main drag, Nevsky Pr, and walked at least 7 miles. We really saw St. Petersburg.
All the larger ships were 20-30 minutes from our location and had to shuttle or taxi. From that location a Russian visa might not be worth it. However after the first day when the paperwork for everyone took forever we were able to just walk in the special booth on the dock and show our passports. When we exited immigration today the agent who had come to recognize us asked if we enjoyed his city and when we said we did "very much" he beamed and was so happy.
We took 3 tours offered by the ship but the rest of the time we explored on our own. Will blog more about St. Petersburg separately.
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