Because of the quagmire that is the Russian tourist visa system for Americans, we took an overpriced but worthwhile two day guided bus tour around St. Petersburg. As the bus left the port, I was greeted by the communist-era concrete apartment complexes that I was expecting in Estonia. According to our tour guide, these now rent for top dollar.

The whirlwind tour took us to many of the major tourist sights of St. Petersburg. The first stop was the Hermitage museum. Because of all the tour groups, it was super crowded in the museum and we spent most of the time rushing from room to room to see a small painting of Di Vinci or a small statue by Michelangelo. We also visited the Church on Spilled Blood, which Valerie was really looking forward to seeing. The rest of the tour was a series of palaces (Catherine’s, Peterhof, Yusupov), boat rides, and hydrofoils. One of the recurring themes on the tour was that most of the historical places were destroyed (either by WWII or communists) and were rebuilt for cultural and touristic purposes. Sadly, due to a lack of funds, most of the reproductions are slightly lacking. For example, the amber room in Catherine’s Palace contains only one piece of amber. The rest are fake.