I had purchased 4 tickets during November before teams were known and based only on the venues as I knew that I wanted to visit both St. Petersburg (SPB) and Moscow (MSC). When the teams were drawn many months later, we were very lucky as the matchups that were randomly drawn for our tickets were Brazil vs. Costa Rica and France vs. Denmark. We also later found out that there was a 2nd set of Americans that we knew working at PwC CH that had the same games as us so had a large travel group. We had planned to be in SPB from June 19 to June 23, then take an overnight train and be in MSC from June 24 to June 28.
Arriving in Russia was much easier than anticipated! As part of the ticket application process, ticket holders would apply with their passport for a Fan ID that then allowed free entry into the country rather than going through the lengthy, expensive passport process. The trip immediately started with adventure as I landed at the airport and boarded a bus into the city. Within the first 10 minutes of the ride, the bus rear ended a car and we were forced to de-board into a downpour to try to figure out where to go next. I then boarded a random bus heading the correct direction that then terminated at the metro station (much too early). I then tried to take the metro, but was unable to purchase a ticket without smaller bills without waiting in a long line. I then defaulted to Gett, which is Russia’s Uber with success.
St. Petersburg
While visiting St. Petersburg, we went on a free tour, Hermitage tour, Canal tour, went to the fan zone, went to the soccer game, and I covered some ground on my own while running throughout the city. Everyone in the city was very welcoming and we even met a PwC colleague from SPB for dinner that I had worked with in Istanbul during the prior year.
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| Church of the Savior on Blood |
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| Hermitage |
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| Excellent weather for the canal cruise |
Biggest shock of the city was adjusting to the White Nights as the sun would ‘set’ at midnight and then ‘rise‘ around 3am; however, generally there was almost constant daylight I felt. This shifted our dinners to around midnight after the last WC game of the day and bed time to 3am....
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| St. Petersburg Stadium |
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| Costa Rica vs. Brazil |
Moscow
We arrived in Moscow after an 8 hour overnight train on Saturday night to arrive at 6am on Sunday morning; the train ride was not too bad, but we still arrived on little sleep and much too early before sights and restaurants were open.
Similar to SPB, I went on the free walking tour, Kremlin tour, and toured the city on foot while on runs. Moscow was further south so we experienced normal day lengths and it was very hot!
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| Red Square |
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| St. Basil's Cathedral |
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| Inside the Kremlin |
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| France vs. Denmark |
The city is about twice the size of SPB and feels more of the business center of the country than the cultural focus of our first stop. The red square, Kremlin, and Basil’s cathedral were extremely impressive along with the ‘Seven sisters’ and other architecture of the city. Kevin and I also did a day trip to Sergiev Posad to get a taste of the golden ring cities, which was also a fun excursion as we had only experienced large Russian cities before then.
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| Sergiev Posad |
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| Vareniki (Russian Pierogi) |
The atmosphere of both cities was very fun, exciting and different than what I had expected. Granted we were travelling during the World Cup, which I would equate to March Madness in the US. In every city, everyone is watching every game at every bar with fans dressed in the jerseys of their favorite teams.
The country was more similar to the US than most other Western European countries that I have visited; for example:
1) The people speak primarily one language.
2) Both are almost entirely self-sufficient on their own and would not need to rely on the products of others
3) Atmosphere of restaurants is similar where there are sports bars with people going to support their favorite teams.
4) Conveniences - Stores are open 24/7 and the metro comes every 2 minutes.
5) Gett is the equivalent of Uber and is everywhere; similar to the US, this an opportunity for amateur drivers to practice their racing skills...
5) Gett is the equivalent of Uber and is everywhere; similar to the US, this an opportunity for amateur drivers to practice their racing skills...
5) Technology - For at least the cities we were in, everything felt very modern.
6) Both landmasses are large.
Definitely would recommend people to visit!
