I took an early flight on the Aeroflot domestic service, a Tupolev jet with seats for about 50. I'd been up most of the night before. I met my driver for the trip to the airport. Note that the international and the domestic airports are both named Sheremetyvo, but there is a number 1 or 2 that indicates which actual set of terminals. There is a transfer service between the two, but unlikely to be fast as they are at least 10 minutes apart. My tickets did not show which flights were from which airports, so the hotel transportation desk called to verify as the Aeroflot folks only speak Russian.

Russian domestic flights are a little bit scary. The flight attendants sit in a curtained alcove at the front of the plane during takeoff and landing and basically couldn't give a crap as to whether passengers are sitting or standing on their heads. The airplane looked ok from the outside with the exception of the russian grafitti on one wing. The interior was circa 1960, probably when the plane was built. No screens for windows (actual curtains), seats that fold all the way forward (flat which I discovered on landing when the empty seat in front of me collapsed without warning).

Arrived in St. Petersburg and realized that this is a really small airport. The taxi mafia are actually civilized here and wait until you are stepping out of the building. It was $40US to my hotel about 25 minute drive away on Nevsky Prospect (the main street).

I checked in and the room was not ready, so I decided to go for a walk. I walked all the way down in what turned out to be the opposite direction from the Hermitage Museum. Past the underground station and the monument, the street name turns to Alt. Nevsky Prospect (the old or original street route). I found out the next night that this is an area for street walkers, but saw no evidence of it in the morning. The station has a whole bunch of vendors selling pirate music cds (not the mp3s that I had seen in Moscow). I ended up buying three Shakira albums!

When I returned to the hotel, I decided to take a nap. Turned out that I guess I was real tired and slept until about 6PM. So much for seeing the Winter Palace. I went out for a walk the other direction and dinner.

I exchanged some money, but didn't get the advertised rate of 31.10 (got 30.60) and the security guard pocketed the difference. He said in St. Petersburg, only Russian citizens could get the good rate. I told him that in Moscow, everyone got the same rate. He said, thats Moscow, but St. Petersburg is a smaller town.

Anyway, found a restuarant with some really good musicians and had an ok meal. I had done some homework and read the local nightlife guides, but wasn't sure where to hit first. I had just walked by a strip club called Golden Dolls that was supposed to have a sauna upstairs. I went back and paid the 590 ruble cover charge with 600 rubles and got no change. That should have been my first clue. Then I went into the bar and was given a drink menu. The first pages had 5000 ruble bottles of champagne listed. I finally found a glass of wine in the back for a mere 200 rubles. I ordered that and got a small glass and a bill for 300 rubles. I pointed to the price in the book and the guy pointed to the top where it said 100ml for 200 rubles ... turns out he gave me 150ml for 300 rubles. Security is such at these places that you don't argue, although I told them that I thought this was sleazy.

There were some cute girls dancing topless, but nothing that would be out of the ordinary at any high-end US strip club. The guy next to me ordered a girl drink and I watched her polish it off in less than 3 minutes. He didn't even get a whole song. The club was full of Koreans (which apparently patronize a lot of the clubs because they are used as workers in Finland and come to Russia to relax). They will drink, but typically don't tip which tends to piss off the girls. These had to be some of the hardest of the hard mercenary girls. I lasted about 20 minutes and bailed.

I spent the next few hours walking around downtown. There were huge crowds and a candle lighting ceremony at one of the monuments. There were tons of beautiful girls walking around, often hand in hand or arm in arm with each other. I think there were a lot of gay guys too, and at least two tried to pick me.

I finally found a disco with plenty of eye candy, but the girl to guy ratio was about dead even and no one was interested in struggling to talk in english when there were better looking and younger russian guys around.

I headed back to the hotel. As I crossed one of the bridges a pretty blonde said hello and asked me for the time. At this point it was just about 1AM (still early by Russian time), but I was tired and just went back to the hotel. The next day I was kicking myself for not going after her ... maybe even was a non-pro and she spoke some english. I just had already given up and had slow reactions.

So net result ... 1 day in St. Petersburg and nothing to really report except that there are tons of good looking girls that are all dressing like hos. It is like the 80s never ended with short mini-skirts, fish net stockings, stilleto heels, and combined with the low cut pants and tight, see-through blouses that are currently in style it is something else. It was unseasonably hot for May too (28C), and about one in three had no bra. Immensely frustrating, but I resolved to crack the nut tomorrow.

Thanks for the very valuable report. I know the frustration and wish you good luck in the coming days.