Tonight we moved to our new hostel for one night to meet our tour leader Dimitry. We have 16 in our group. Mostly Australians, a couple from N.Z an American living in Australia and three from Portugal. A mix of old, that's us, not so old and young ones. It's always interesting meeting everyone for the first time. Dimitry is Russian in his early 30's. Very intense it seems was our first impression. After paperwork was completed we headed off to dinner at a Georgian restaurant. It was intimate. We all talked non stop. It was very noisy. Dimitry started the evening with a lot of local customs and local knowledge. Particularly the benefits of vodka. He extolled the virtue of toasting three times throughout the evening. Mostly to our health, happiness and whatever else was applicable. Later he told us we were the noisiest group he had had right from the start all chattering to each other.
The food was amazing. Shaslicks and local salads, vegetables and side dishes. Great evening to kick start the tour.
He suggested that we rent a small boat to see the bridges opening to let the large boats and ships from the sea off the coast of Finland to access the port of St. Petersburg. We had to meet at 12 midnight as the bridges started opening at 1.01 am. Only a handful decided to sacrifice sleep. We figured we would never get the opportunity to experience this.
We ventured out onto the water with the threat of rain, we were fortunate as we only had a litte sprinkle. We passed beautifully lit up buildings along the river.
Tourism is becoming very important so recently more and more museums and buildings have permission to be illuminated. It was a special night and we realized how passionate Dimitry is about his homeland. It was exciting to see other boats, cruisers, even a wedding party enjoying what is an event that attracts interest from travellers and locals alike.
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