Extreme vacation

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

The train arrived at 8 am. They bought a map of the area at the station, and began orienteering. Destination - "McDonald's": works around the clock, so you can eat, wash, put yourself in order. It turns out to be very easy to feel like a homeless person in an unfamiliar city, but you do not feel any discomfort: you know that in 36 hours you will already be sitting on the train and rushing back to the shower, warm bed, toast in the morning …

Not even an hour had passed before we rolled to Peterhof. Here it is, a cultural holiday. Petrodvorets museums, fountains, the Gulf of Finland … Beauty. By 6 pm we had already splashed in the bay, took pictures in the fountains, fell into one of them, inadvertently climbing onto the torso of the sculpture. But local tourists rushed to catch us, and now about 20 people filled the fountain in order to take a picture. The water overflowed the banks, the statue looked around in fright, and we, wet from head to toe, sat on the lawn and dried in the sun. Good knowledge. The bottom of the fountain was slippery. The stones at the feet of the statue are not secured by anything. The pipes from which the water flows are already rusted. It is very pleasant to forget about your age and higher education, and it is better not to think about the consequences.

In Peter arrived at nine o'clock. There are no places in hotels. Even in Moscow, they advised "registration", but there were more people there than in the metro at rush hour. And why do we need a bed when there are white nights ahead, i.e. one night and one day. After a bite to eat in one of the restaurants, we sat down to study the scheme of the city and the time of opening the bridges. Having chosen a couple of good clubs to spend the night, we orientated ourselves on the nearest bridges. We decided to guard the Shmitovsky bridge, taking the most convenient positions. Sipping beer, we spent up to 4 nights on the lawns near the Neva. Now you can get into the club. Opinions differed as to which to give preference to. While we were defining our immediate future, our company grew; and we split up. At 9 in the morning it was decided to meet at the Pillar of Alexandria for a tour of the museums …

The queue to the Kunstkamera was huge. But there is still a whole day before the train, and we survived. Lenka was lost in the museum. They found her on a bench in the hall of ancient peoples, she was mistaken for an exhibit, but the clothes were painfully different from the outfits of our ancestors. Woke up.

For some reason, everyone wanted pancakes or, at worst, scrambled eggs and ham. Finding nothing of the kind on the ground, we went into the water. A ship with the sign "Restaurant" flopped on the water. The ship swayed, and the surroundings beyond it rose and then slowly descended. Seasickness began, it was time to eat and get out. After tasting the fish menu, salad, drinking coffee, rushed to the beach nearby. Finally, you can lie down. They laid out their belongings in the shade of the trees, deciding to rest for a couple of hours and go to the Hermitage. We were worn out, and wanted a bainka. They began to imagine how we slept through the train. There are no tickets, and we, hungry, stomp on foot to Moscow, tattered, in sneakers worn to holes. And at home … it's so good …

… There were 3 hours left before the train left. I had to wash somewhere, put myself in order. The roadside eatery came in handy. Now - to the station. We went on foot, taking pictures at last near each remarkable place. Here comes the train. They took the linen and in a minute everyone was asleep. I have never slept like that …

Later we tried to calculate how many kilometers we trampled in St. Petersburg, lost count. Photos turned out excellent. About how they spent the night in the clubs, they kept silent. But Lenka still calls up with Edward, who diluted her loneliness in the Metro club. One of these days he is going to come to Moscow, he is bored.

Of course, we did not fulfill the "maximum" program, where trips to all known and unknown museums were planned. But we rested and gained impressions for the full program. And most importantly, they managed to miss home, work, college.

Irina MARCHENKO