From Russia with Love IV: St. Petersburg

English only may apply.

The arrow is pointing down to the canal where we caught the boat.

We really weren’t pushing for big projects on our last morning in St. Petersburg. We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast with several other German guests* at the Ibis Hotel. We took our time re-packing. We enjoyed the bathroom with all fixtures in working order and plenty of hot water. The one thing left to do was the canal cruise on an open air tour boat. Having heard hawkers everyday from the #3 Bus we knew exactly which stop and where to go.

We had to descend steep concrete stairs to the landing. JJ who handles tickets & fares, saw the schedule posted on the ticket booth, that the next tour was at straight up noon, and would last one hour and 15 minutes. That was just perfect because we had to catch the speed train back to Moscow at 2:30. When he asked for two tickets the vendor, a middle-aged woman, refused to sell them to him. When JJ asked why, she indicated with strong sign language that the tour in English was at 1:30, and that we had to take that one. When JJ asked why again, she couldn’t make herself understood, although she did some loud explaining in Russian. Finally, we both understood that the 12:00 noon tour was in Russian, but the 1:30 tour was in English. The vendor was not going to sell English-speaking tourists tickets for a Russian Tour. JJ had already noticed that the English fare was about a third more expensive than the Russian fare. The vendor thought she could bully JJ into buying the English fares; JJ  insisted that he wanted the Russian tour and not the English tour. Yes, he was giving her a hard time. But for us, it was either the Russian tour or nothing.

Did we need to understand Russian to enjoy this?

The boat was chained off at the top of more concrete stairs which one climbed down & hopped safely onto the boat.  Like rides at the fair, the entrance was chained off, & a "chain-guard" held his arm out, and said we couldn’t go on the boat. JJ managed to scoot past him when he was distracted. Then, JJ spoke to the tour guide, who understood English quite well. it was fine with her if we wanted to take the Russian tour. I was still stuck at the top with the "chain-guard." JJ called for me  to join him. Now that the "chain-guard" knew he had been tricked, how was I going to do that.  (Recall that JJ had no tickets.) Now the "chain-guard" had me hostage. The vendor and the "chain-guard" kept arguing loudly in Russian that we were not going to be allowed on the Russian tour. We kept arguing loudly in English that we didn’t care about being on an English tour. Finally, the tour guide had the last word and told these two to give it up, & sell us tickets for the departing Russian tour. Actually, she was filling her quota, & she needed two more fares to leave the dock. 

Just visiting his family & returning soon to the US

Once again we had found ourselves as tourists on the defensive. I’m sure we missed some important information about old St. Petersburg because we didn’t understand Russian. The point wasn’t really to stuff our brains with more info, it was to have an idea of the size of the old city & take pleasure riding an open air boat on the canals. However, better yet, we met a naturalized Russian-American couple who had been living & working in New York for 25 years. They were on vacation, staying with family in St. Petersburg. They both still had very thick Russian accents, but were pleased to visit with us. Of course, the subject was  the altercation they’d just witness between the ticket vendor, chain-guard and us. After so many years of freedom and simplicity they, too, were scandalized at how we were treated. While they were certainly enjoying their visit, they were looking forward to getting back to the land of the brave and the free.

As a tourist, it’s never pleasant to enter into a confrontation. Not knowing the language puts one at a definite disadvantage. There’s only one way to win: make a scene & make it loud. It works almost every time. Cheaters & bullies usually don’t come out on top in these situations. Now you might say, “Don’t lower yourselves to their level.” I would reply, “I’d feel worse if they got away with it without a fight.” 

Difficult to decide which photo to close this post. I guess this one will do. 

*Maybe the Germans are the only Europeans who can afford to stay in the Ibis. But there were a sprinkling of Brits.