St. Petersburg - sightseeing

Today I did the obligatory sights of St. Petersburg including Saint Isaac's Cathedral, The Bronze Horseman, The State Hermitage/Winter Palace, Church of the Savior on Blood and Kazan Cathedral among some other things while walking along the Nevski Prospekt. Hermitage was closed so I was not able to go inside which could be considered also a good thing since the collections there would require/deserve several hours/days/weeks/years of investigation depending on one's level of interest and expertise.
As a Finn I must take credit for the pillars of Saint Isaac's Cathedral which are Finnish granite. As is the granite on which the Bronze Horseman is standing. I thank my guidebook for these honorable details.
Dinner today added one more ethnic food to my list: Shawarma - fast food a la Arab world.

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St. Petersburg - initial Russia

Hello.

I flew to Pulkovo international airport on Friday evening to visit my friend here in St. Petersburg. We had a first night out at Nevski Prospekt area where we enjoyed sushi and couple of beers. On Saturday we did a day trip to central park at Jelagin island and today we were watching Zenit-Krylia Sovetov Russian league game. After the game we had nice dinner at Cat -restaurant.
Ok. So how is it here? (I admit that my expectations and conceptions towards Russian things have always been somewhat negatively charged.) The most difficult thing is clearly the language. And since English is not so commonly used you'll find yourself in challenging communication situations unless you have your personal interpreter. Food? Good, whatever you want - tried solyanka, saslik, blini, pelmeni, khachapuri (Georgian cheese bread).. Public transportation? Ok. Services? All you need. So what is different? I'd say that the level of comfort and certainty of the level of service are the things that are the most different compared to Finland for example. Especially alarming have been the examples that I have heard about the level of medical treatment here - even in international medical centers.
So far - no big surprises one way or another. I think Russia is probably a lot easier for a Finn than for a number of other western guests because the mentality and some customs that are found strange in middle-Europe for example are more familiar to us Finns. Tomorrow I'm going to do the usual sightseeing tour and then I still have a good 1,5 days to absorb more of St. Petersburg.

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