Day 16-17: Last Night in St. Petersburg / Parting Ways

After we got back from Peterhof, we set off for a Ukrainian restaurant called the Shinok to celebrate a successful trip.  Lance, Liz, and Jasper would part ways with us the following day to get back to Korea while Dad and I would continue westward on the train towards England.  The restaurant features live music including an ensemble in traditional Ukrainian dress.

The Ukrainian folk ensemble, along with Jasper and another girl who both decided to start dancing to the music.	Dad and I prepared to dig into vareniki (dumplings – center platter) and our other assorted dishes, with the now-familiar kvas and mors to wash it down.
The “party boat” out on the canals at night.	The former name of the St. Petersburg metro was the “V. I. Lenin Order of Lenin Leningrad Metropoliten” – only in Leningrad can they work three Lenins into a single name.

The next day, we checked out of the Nord Hostel and made our way back to the train station.  Instead of taking an overnight train, we took one of the daytime fast trains, called the “Sapsan”  In contrast to the four-person sleeper berths we’d experienced on the previous train rides, this was more like standard airline seating.  The trip took about four and a half hours, reaching a top speed of about 140mph.

The Sapsan.	The interior of the “fast train”

Once back in Moscow, we parted ways at the Belorusskaya Train Station, where a train takes passengers directly to Sheremetovo Airport.  After two weeks traveling across Asia it was sad to see them go.  Personally, I enjoyed their company even with the extra unpredictability (and joy) that comes with having a young child on the trip.  Jasper is quite a trooper!  He learned his first Russian word on the trip (“Da”) and he definitely caused us to meet and interact with new people along the way (whether Svetlana because of his fall or Vika and her family on the Trans-Siberian).  Lance and Liz helped bring balance and diversity to our conversations and to the trip (Dad and I tend to think similarly) and being able to share the experience with them and to be the “tour guide” was a lot of fun.  Despite seeing some of the same places as I did during my previous visit to Russia, the dynamics of the trip were entirely different and I would take the trip with them again in a heartbeat.

Parting ways at Belorusskya Station.