More English, fewer bears

Moscow in 2011 didn't seem all that different from what I remember from being there in 2004. But St Petersburg feels a lot different. St Petersburg has always been the most European part of Russia, but it feels a lot more European now than it did seven years ago. People still don't speak much English, but there are a lot more translated/transliterated signs. All of the subway signs have English versions, and a lot of street signs are written in both English and Russian. From my last trip here, I remember usually being a little afraid to cross the street and often waiting until I could follow someone because there mostly weren't cross-walks and the the cars would run you over; now there are cross-walks everywhere. The air is cleaner: I'm not constantly blowing black stuff out of my nose like I was then. The water seems cleaner, too. I'm still not drinking it, but at least it doesn't smell terrible like it did last trip. And I haven't seen a single live bear. There's a tapas bar called Barcelona on our hotel street, and there are sushi bars and hookah bars and martini bars everywhere. And more American fast food chains. There are two Zaras on Nevsky Prospekt.

Slightly kinder, slightly gentler, but it basically still feels like anarchy here. Horrible lines and terrible queueing behavior at the Hermitage, a thousand personal injuries waiting to happen from sinkholes and loose railings and rusty nails, the occasional blacked-out dude with some kind of open wound. And, the architecture is still stunning in its sad, neglected way and and the Hermitage still has rooms full of Picassos and the Church on Spilled Blood is still my favorite church in the world. As long as you can still drink beer in the streets, I promise I won't wring my hands too much over the Carl's Jr.'s and the Burger Kings.