Trip to Russia...and back

Last week Qualiteers went to Russia! The first ever Russian training was a DayTick training in Saint Petersburg last Thursday. Ten attentive software developers took part in the training and from what I've heard they will at least give the technique a try. I can't really ask for more than to provide the method and hope that people see the benefit in the short time and then take it into use for their own good.

It was the first training in Russia, but it was also my first visit to Russia ever. I never went to the Soviet Union. Saint Petersburg is a city of opposites. On the one hand you have glorious palaces with golden cupolas and magnificent statues everywhere. On the other hand the city is full of cars, the air seems polluted, the bridges collect traffic jams regularly, many houses need renovating and only the tram rails protruding from the asphalt slow any of the cars down. Crossing a street is a dangerous business. But then comes the night and the sun sets and you don't see the dirt, you can just imagine yourself in the imperial court...
The Bronze Horseman (Peter the Great)
(in Wikipedia)
The Church of the Savior on Blood
(in Wikipedia)

The train trip to Saint Petersburg was exciting, although uneventful. Before the border, the passports were collected and only just before Vyborg were they returned with arrival stamps on the visas and special coupons, all to be kept extra carefully for the return trip. The landscape at and around the border didn't show the best of Carelia. Although the nature seemed gorgeous, the farm houses seemed abandoned and having seen better days. Junk-Ladas on cinderblocks were a typical sight.

For the return trip we made good preparations: we ordered a taxi from the same inexpensive taxi company who had received us and taken us successfully to our hotel on the first day. The plan was to leave one hour and fifteen minutes before the train's departure in order to be able to stay in traffic jams for some time. The distance was perhaps three kilometers, but it was smack right in the middle of the city. Ten minutes before the agreed time, the taxi company calls the hotel reception saying that they can't come and get us after all. The receptionist does the best she can and calls for a normal black taxi. We step into the black Volga as planned about one hour and twenty minutes before the train is supposed to leave. Everything is fine, although there are no seat belts in the back seat. It might have been yesteryear's model. Twenty minutes later, one hour to lift-off, we arrive at a train station, pay, unpack and ask for a receipt from the driver who speaks practically no English. To balance this out we speak practically no Russian. To be absolutely sure I show the driver the map of the city and ask him to verify that we are on the Northern Station, the Finlandskij. The driver is somewhat annoyed as it turns out that we are on Viterbsiy Station, some four kilometers away from the right one!

Well, no worries, we still have an hour and the road to the Finlandskij Station is a direct and straight one. Unfortunately, it seems that all the cars in the city want to be on the same road. The road is completely jammed. In the first half and hour we make probably half a kilometer progress. It seems hopeless. We'll never make it one time. The train that we are going to miss is the last one today and our visas will expire today. Tomorrow we are illegally in the country. What can we do? We consider taking the underground, which would only need two stops to reach the station, but decide it is too difficult to learn as we haven't even tried it once. Another possibility is to jump out, take all the luggage and run. It seems a better alternative, that's how slow we have been moving. Then at about twenty to train departure, we reach Nevskiy Prospect, the main shopping street of Saint Petersburg. It crosses with our street and that's where everybody has been queueing. The traffic clears, now we make progress from one red traffic light to the next, instead of about five meters. We reach the Finlandskij Station about ten minutes before the train's departure time, give the driver the rest of our Rubles and move swiftly to the platform. Five minutes before the train is supposed to leave we enter it and sigh a deep breath of release. The train leaves about seven minutes behind schedule, but we still remember the feelings of inevitable desperation standing in the middle of immobile cars with nothing that could help.