The worst thing about travelling is the “waiting”. We got to the airport in lots of time for our flight (even had time to check the Internet in the morning before we left the hotel). We hung around the airport waiting to go through security, customs, etc. and check in for the flight. We have had lots of time for reflection and discussion on the various events we have experienced over the past 4 ½ months.
St. Petersburg was a treat to visit. Where Moscow was energized, colourful, and “in your face”, St. Petersburg is serene, grey, and reserved. It has a beautiful city centre, friendly people, and a rich and colourful history. That said, the Navy Day celebrations were a “joyous affair”, and one shouldn’t be lulled into thinking that St. Petersburg is a pristine city. As mentioned before, you can walk around drinking beer, many people do, so there are often empty beer bottles lining the canals and river embankments, and you can certainly meet your fair share of those who have imbibed a little too heavily! However, this is all cleaned up very quickly and the city is generally quite clean.
Our three-hour flight from St. Petersburg to London on a BA A331 was smooth and comfortable, left and arrived on time, and posed no problems to our now “used-to-overcoming-challenges” attitude. Several times we looked out of the window and over the white layer of clouds we were flying over to see another plane literally “whiz” past us in the opposite direction at a combined speed of about 1000 to 1200 miles per hour. Of course, although they seemed awfully close, I am sure there was plenty of room between us!! Once at Heathrow we took the Heathrow Hoppa to our AAA-graded 3-star hotel where we arrived around 7 pm. The hotel was very active with lots of business groups, and we enjoyed dinner in the dining room with a much appreciated glass of wine before retiring to bed and enjoying two shots of CSI: CSI Miami, and CSI New York which were luxury entertainment to our English-TV starved minds, before turning out the light.
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