Hermitage, Winter Palace, Church of the Saviour on Blood

Jet lag, you are my worst enemy. For the past 2 days I've been walking around resembling a drunk zombie, teetering from side to side as struggle to stay upright. This is what a 6 hour time difference and little sleep does to you. Not to mention the fact that it doesn't even get dark in the city. It's 10:30 at night and the city is busier than ever, almost all the shops are still open. Which begs the question, does the city ever sleep?

Today our destinations included the famous Hermitage and Winter Palace, Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, a seedy little café and a ballet perfomance.

Starting with the Hermitage. All I can say is, it is huge. We only walked around on the 1st floor, but there are 3 in total, each floor dedicated to specific items. My tour guide said that it would take you 9 years to walk through the entire building while only taking a glance at everything. The Hermitage spans for 24,000 square meters so make sure you wear your most comfortable shoes.

The Hermitage and Winter Palace are famous for its mosaics and vases. Almost everywhere you go, the walls and furniture are decorated with mosaics made from microscopic coloured tiles. The work is so detailed it's hard to believe it's all made from little stones. The table tops and walls are made from lapis lazuli, nephrite, malachite, marble. Giant vases and cups decorate the hallways, rooms are covered from floor to ceiling with gold. This place really is fit for royalty.

The staircases at the entrance

The ballroom (It's a shame I didn't bring my ball gown, I would have totally reenacted the scene from Anastasia) 

Listening to my virtual tour guide

One of the many cups made from Lapis Lazuli

The royal throne

This is the room where Catherine II greeted her guests

Table top made from coloured stones

Statue made from Malachite

The Winter Palace wouldn't be complete without a Gold Room, despite the fact that everything is already decorated with gold.

The Malachite Room

Mosaic floor

Church of our Saviour on Blood. This is still an operating church as well as a tourist attraction. They offer services on Sunday mornings but afterwards it's open to the public.

Inside the church

A portion of the floor inside. Most of it was carpeted to prevent it from being damaged by the public 

After all that walking, my parents and I were just about to collapse. You see, unlike back home the main form of transport here are your own two feet. You walk literally everywhere. So if you do end up visiting St Petersburg, bring the most comfortable pair of shoes you have but leave the flip flops at home. No one wears flip flops here.

We left the Hermitage, and found the nearest café. Your idea of a café might be a nice clean little place with good lighting and air but this was like an underground pub. I'm not saying they don't have nice café's here I'm just pointing out that they can vary greatly. The food was delicious though. You can't go wrong with classic Russian food, although be weary, it is possible to  get food poisoning if you're not careful about what you eat.

One thing that I dislike about St Petersburg is the amount of smokers. With cigarettes being sold at approximately $2AU per packet, it's no wonder that the majority of the population are smokers. Many buildings also allow smoking inside and not all of them have proper ventilation. I have never inhaled so much cigarette smoke in my life. Moscow is a lot worse though.