Russia
Bed & Breakfast in St. Petersburg
1996
For a unique travel experience stay at a bed and breakfast in St. Petersburg, Russia – a city of beautifully decorated pastel buildings on elegant canals where people in orange uniforms sweep the sidewalks with twigs made into brooms.
We approached the idea of staying at a bed and breakfast with caution and received lots of advice: don’t drink the water, stay on main thoroughfares, don’t hook up with anyone too friendly, beware of gassings on trains, and any other horrors people had ever heard. When we picked up our train tickets in Helsinki, Finland, the agent raised her eyebrows with surprise when we told her we were staying at a B & B, but she quickly assured us it was in a nice area of the city.
Crossing the Finnish/Russian border on the Finnish train went smoothly - friendly border guards, and no hassles -- you just have to fill out a form listing your money and jewels that are with you and present your visas and passports. Because of border formalities, the trip from Helsinki to St. Petersburg took about 6 hours. Arriving in Russia we passed forests and the lace-curtained dachas where Russians have summer gardens and as we got closer to St. Petersburg larger and some newer homes came into view.
As soon as we got off the train we saw a grinning fellow holding a piece of paper on which our name was clearly written. He led us to his van and drove us through the wide, busy streets filled with people, trams, and cars bustling about in this city of 5 million people. We stopped on a narrow street lined with 6-7 storey buildings that were built in this century and didn’t look well-cared for. Our driver took us to a rather untidy old wooden door and rang the buzzer. The door opened and we stepped into a concrete hall that was large and clean but completely devoid of decorations except for blue paint on the bottom part of the walls and white paint on the top part. Up a flight of bare concrete stairs with a metal railing took us to a small elevator that stopped in the large staircase between floors. So, up another flight of steps we went to a large brown quilted door with # 13 at the top. We had no idea what awaited us!
The door opened and a lovely blonde woman smiled at us and invited us into her home. Her fifth floor apartment was one of only two on the floor and overlooked the courtyard in the back of the building. Off her apartment’s entrance hallway to the right was the toilet in one room and a bath/shower and sink in another. Next to that was the small kitchen with a table beneath the white-curtained window. Further down the hall was a door to our hostess’s room and then the guest room -- a large room about 20 feet by 14 feet with a double and single bed plus a couch and tables and chairs.
The spotless apartment was decorated with small knickknacks, plants, artificial and dried flowers. It had wooden floors and the walls were decorated with framed pictures and also with posters or colourful advertisements for a Teflon pan, a cutting board, a ballet performance, a trip to the south seas.
The location of the B & B was excellent – within a block of the Nevesky Prospect, the main street of the city. Any streetcar will take you to the famous Hermitage and St. Isaac’s Cathedral area. The modern subway for the more adventurous is also close by. It was always a treat to stroll along the city’s canals looking at the marvelous palaces, the art nouveau buildings, the cathedrals, statues, and charming architecture.
At our B & B we lived with our host, shared the same bath facilities, and ate our meals together. Our B & B had good facilities with a good shower and lots of hot water. Every morning and evening we were provided with boiled water to use to brush our teeth. Our hostess grew up in St. Petersburg and said that boiling water to drink was always a part of her life.
She prepared very tasty breakfasts and dinners for us. The table always had baskets of fresh bread, crackers and pretzels, plus coffee, tea, and boiled water sweetened with fruit juice were always available. Two mornings we had pancakes with butter and jam plus yogurt with chopped fruit. Other mornings we had boiled eggs, peas, sliced sausage and cheese with tomatoes and cucumbers. One dinner was ravioli with green beans and beets. We also had fish fingers with boiled potatoes, beets and carrots, and we had wieners with seasoned rice with sliced tomatoes and cucumbers. Our hostess had a flair for presentation and each meal was beautifully arranged on our plates. Dessert was yogurt with chopped up bananas and apples and toppings such as chocolate sprinkles, kiwi fruit, or marmalade candy and nuts.
Having an English-speaking hostess to talk to about the city and life and politics in Russia was a real plus. Our hostess had a small black and white TV that sat on the ledge of the window by the kitchen table where we ate our meals. Our hostess happily translated some of the shows for us.
For tours in English you can go down the street to the classy Nevesky Palace Hotel which has pricey western style rooms but allows anyone to book tours from their concierge. These tours allowed us to get to the enchanting summer palaces of the czars.
Before we left on our trip we were lucky to have recommended to us an engaging Russian who we called and he gave us a tour of the Hermitage and of the Russian Museum and other interesting sites.
So, if you prefer to spend your dollars on sightseeing in this spectacular city and prefer to see more of the Russian culture in a friendly atmosphere then a B & B would be for you.
SIDEBAR
We found information about B&Bs at the Russian Travel Bureau in Toronto. Today, one can find them on the internet quite easily.