Every time I met and talked to Russians, they always praised the beauty of St. Petersburg, and that really made me wanted to see this city which was once the capital of Russian Empire. In the late evening, by the long-distance bus from Novgorod, the city of St. Petersburg welcomed me with heavy snow, after managed to take subway to city center, I still had to struck at the subway station entrance for two hours because it was almost impossible to go and find my hotel, so my first day in St. Petersburg was totally white. However, in the next day morning all snow had gone, I decided to walk to the famous Hermitage. After walked through the ceremonial arch gate, the vast winter palace square was absolutely breathtaking. After seeing gorgeous collections of Hermitage, and its equally impressive interior design, I continued my trip to Saint Isaac Cathedral to see its imposing golden dome and then Peter and Paul Fortress which I was impressed with the scenery of the city from the fortress wall, before back to Church of the Savior of Blood which was the only Russian architecture in this very European town.

The next day I went to Peterhof Palace and Katherine Palace, there two palaces are located outside the city; I need to take train and bus to reach both places. The two palaces were unbelievable with their lavish decoration which easily made all European palaces in shame. I never saw too many chandeliers, fresco, golden baroque and rococo stucco, marble and amber crammed in such small rooms likes these places before. Also, its gardens were impressive even in winter, sadly that I had no chance to see Peterhof's famous cascade in its glory as it was closed in winter. After palaces I spent my time in the famous Nevsky Prospect Street to see many city landmarks such as Kazan Cathedral which really made me feel that I was in Germany!

St. Petersburg turned out to be a very beautiful city with many grand buildings and impressive landmarks; I also enjoyed Russian food a lot from many lovely restaurants near Nevsky Prospect. However in my opinion St. Petersburg did not have a Russian charm liked Moscow or Novgorod, maybe the city was very European and lack of many fanciful of Russian unique architecture which was my ideal Russian style, but this was a true intention of the city founder, Tsar Peter the Great who want this city to be very European, and from my experience he did very well and his dream was still lingered in the air of this city. All in all, St. Petersburg was another must see World Heritage Site.