Hiring guides is great. I hired them twice on my trip to China. They make getting around in places where language is a problem much easier as well as having better knowledge of the local sights and the best way to see them.
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dusters
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Has anyone from CFC been to Saint Peters-burg? The one in Russia, not USA one. What would you suggest to go and see?
The Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage Museum (Russian: Государственный Эрмитаж, romanized: Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, IPA: [ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ]) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was founded in 1764 when Empress Catherine the Great acquired a collection of paintings from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. The museum celebrates the anniversary of its founding each year on 7 December, Saint Catherine's Day.[3] It has been open to the public since 1852. The Art Newspaper ranked the museum 10th in their list of the most visited art museums, with 2,812,913 visitors in 2022.[4]
Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise over three million items (the numismatic collection accounts for about one-third of them).[5] The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors. Apart from them, the Menshikov Palace, Museum of Porcelain, Storage Facility at Staraya Derevnya, and the eastern wing of the General Staff Building are also part of the museum. The museum has several exhibition centers abroad. The Hermitage is a federal state property. Since July 1992, the director of the museum has been Mikhail Piotrovsky.[6]
Of the six buildings in the main museum complex, five—namely the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage, New Hermitage, and Hermitage Theatre—are all open to the public. The entrance ticket for foreign tourists costs more than the fee paid by citizens of Russia and Belarus. However, entrance is free of charge the third Thursday of every month for all visitors, and free daily for students and children. The museum is closed on Mondays. The entrance for individual visitors is located in the Winter Palace, accessible from the Courtyard.
www.saint-petersburg.com
The State Hermitage Museum (Russian: Государственный Эрмитаж, romanized: Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, IPA: [ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ]) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was founded in 1764 when Empress Catherine the Great acquired a collection of paintings from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. The museum celebrates the anniversary of its founding each year on 7 December, Saint Catherine's Day.[3] It has been open to the public since 1852. The Art Newspaper ranked the museum 10th in their list of the most visited art museums, with 2,812,913 visitors in 2022.[4]
Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise over three million items (the numismatic collection accounts for about one-third of them).[5] The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors. Apart from them, the Menshikov Palace, Museum of Porcelain, Storage Facility at Staraya Derevnya, and the eastern wing of the General Staff Building are also part of the museum. The museum has several exhibition centers abroad. The Hermitage is a federal state property. Since July 1992, the director of the museum has been Mikhail Piotrovsky.[6]
Of the six buildings in the main museum complex, five—namely the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage, New Hermitage, and Hermitage Theatre—are all open to the public. The entrance ticket for foreign tourists costs more than the fee paid by citizens of Russia and Belarus. However, entrance is free of charge the third Thursday of every month for all visitors, and free daily for students and children. The museum is closed on Mondays. The entrance for individual visitors is located in the Winter Palace, accessible from the Courtyard.
St. Petersburg Top Twenty - the best sights and attractions in St. Petersburg
The top twenty recommended visitor attractions in Saint Petersburg. Discover the city's best travel experiences and much more about visiting St Petersburg, Russia.
danjuno
Cole Phelps, Badge 1247
If conditions allowed a trip to Russia, I'd wanna check out Kronstadt and the naval-history related stuff around St. Petersburg.
Have any USians here been to Italy recently and had to have a visa interview?
My niece (my sister's daughter) will be running in a marathon in Copenhagen in May. My sister wants to go there for the race. She asked me if I knew what would be a suitable amount of time needed to enjoy the city and get a nice taste of Danish life. I have no idea, but @EvaDK and @Angst might! Your thoughts and ideas would be helpful.
Angst
Rambling and inconsistent
just copenhagen itself, or the surrounding area too?
if she likes just doing some walks and enjoying the area (as you said, taste of danish life, as much as you can get as a tourist) then a week should be good. copenhagen as you probably know is a lovely city, but is a bit strange to visit as there's not a lot of explicitly compelling touristy stuff, we don't have a lot of particularly iconic architecture and such, and all of our touristy view-things are infamously underwhelming (like the little mermaid, the round tower, etc). copenhagen is more charming for just being there and experiencing the city. a lot of our touristy things are charming because of their quaintness, not because of overt awe; going to lovely areas instead of actual monuments. if that's exciting to your sister, she'll have a great time.
i think the classic thing to do is to at least spend some time in nyhavn, strøget, and such, take a walk in some of the parks perhaps, and take a chance at some restaurants. danish restaurant quality is reportedly quite high even if it's expensive (intro joke of this video, it's like 10 seconds, is quite poignant
i suggest also getting a bit out to vesterbro (istedgade) and nørrebro (blågårdsgade, elmegade, and assorted areas) is also worth checking out, although it's more just regular streets being regular streets and being nice. everything there is also really close. for istedgade, shoutout to https://kaffeistedgade.dk/ this tiny coffee shop which is completely uncomfortable to sit in because the wooden harsh furniture was done by some artist, and it's great. i basically wrote my novel there when i lived in the area.
these are all standard suggestions btw (besides the tiny weird coffee shop), and the cool part about copenhagen is that they're all within the vicinity of the city centre. i think just taking a walk along strøget, nyhavn, exploring for coffee shops, checking out torvehallerne and kødbyen, and checking out literally any park, doing a walk around the lakes, all this could be somewhat comfortably done with some time to spare over three days i think? i don't know her pace of doing stuff. if she rushes a lot, all of it can be even done in one day. everything is really small. but i feel she wouldn't take as much in. i bluntly don't have a good sense of time management. i would easily suggest spending a week here. would also mean she'd be able to visit some of the more site-y things (there's some great art museums around, and if she spends a day in roskilde she'll be able to see some actual viking ships at the museum).
for getting a real taste of danish life, do understand that you should enter copenhagen with the expectation of not making much friends or conversations with strangers. danes are reportedly really cold and stoic when you don't know them, so she shouldn't expect chatting someone up in the bus. just also understand that it's not that we're unfriendly. if she asks for directions for example, the scandinavian robot will usually light up completely and be fully ready to help out. it can be a bit whiplashy. i'm trying to relay what i've been told of us, of course, the experience of everyone being indifferent and doing their own thing is a common one among tourists. to me nothing of our behavior is strange. if she manages to make a friend, we're however usually serious about it. just don't expect to, heh.
i know she asked specifically for a duration, but that's the best i can give. i suggest three days minimum, and a week is probably fine, if she's nice with just walking around a lot, checking out the city and taking in the nice areas and such. would also leave her some time checking out some art and stuff. the best part of copenhagen is to take a nice walk, find a lovely place to sit down, do that for a bit, repeat. this takes time, but isn't particularly site-specific.
Thank you.
What @Angst said. 
I've been a 'tourist' in Cph some 12-15 times, mostly work-related. There are cafes, food outlets, bakeries and restaurants everywhere, so whatever her heart desires, she should be able to find something. Definitely try real Danish pastry (which mostly came to us from Vienna, but nevermind that).
Also, I've always been a shopper myself when there. Not really into the sightseeing thing, because as Angst mentions, that's not really the main attraction of Cph imo. 'Strøget' is the huge shopping street going through central Cph from the train station and towards the Parliament and beyond. No cars allowed. The Tivoli Gardens next to the central train station may be of interest; one of the oldest amusement parks in the world. There's an underground metro in Cph, but I'd say you can get about just fine by walking in the central city.
I've been a 'tourist' in Cph some 12-15 times, mostly work-related. There are cafes, food outlets, bakeries and restaurants everywhere, so whatever her heart desires, she should be able to find something. Definitely try real Danish pastry (which mostly came to us from Vienna, but nevermind that).
Also, I've always been a shopper myself when there. Not really into the sightseeing thing, because as Angst mentions, that's not really the main attraction of Cph imo. 'Strøget' is the huge shopping street going through central Cph from the train station and towards the Parliament and beyond. No cars allowed. The Tivoli Gardens next to the central train station may be of interest; one of the oldest amusement parks in the world. There's an underground metro in Cph, but I'd say you can get about just fine by walking in the central city.
And Legos too?
Angst
Rambling and inconsistent
i completely forgot about tivoli, i'm such an idiot. tivoli is indeed important, it's a really strange amusement park, it's a mixture of really nice and pleasant design, some fun rides, some strange ones (den flyvende kuffert is an important one, she should ride it in english) and a lot of really small, weird and old corners of the park are just telltales of it being old.
Angst
Rambling and inconsistent
there is a legoland but it's in jutland
there are lego shops i believe but it's well like shops with legos
i think mostly tourists use them but i could be wrong. nothing wrong in getting some legos ofc
?? There is a Denmark outside of Copenhagen?
Angst
Rambling and inconsistent
it's like millions screamed and suddenly turned silent?? There is a Denmark outside of Copenhagen?
She's into Legos?
There's a big Lego store on Strøget and a smaller one next to Tivoli. I'm not judging, because I frequent the big one myself when there sometimes haha.
Also many shops with clothes and fashion, both known brands and some smaller shops with mostly Scandinavian brands. On Strøget and some of the offshoot streets attached to Strøget. Usually expensive though
She is not, but I do love them and we still have many many of them that our kids enjoyed. I have sent both of your responses to my sister.
Angst
Rambling and inconsistent
let us know if she has any more questions!She is not, but I do love them and we still have many many of them that our kids enjoyed. I have sent both of your responses to my sister.
She and her daughter will be there for the May 11? marathon
Angst
Rambling and inconsistent
hope they have fun! the marathon is somewhat divisive in copenhagen because it shuts so much transit down lol, but i enjoy it for what it is. it's lovely to have like running stuff going on
