Pounding Pavement in St. Petersburg

Rule #3: Embrace challenging

It's noon, it's starting to get overcast, and you've just arrived in a strange city with a strange alphabet. You have two large bags and a backpack. The simple way to get from the train station to your hostel would be a taxi, except that you're America and you don't like to negotiate the price of a cab ride with a Russian who probably won't speak English and wants to rip you off. On the other hand, the signs for the metro aren't in your language. They aren't even in your alphabet. What now?

I went the metro route, which wasn't easy. However, I was rewarded with some of the coolest Soviet-era architecture Russia has to offer anywhere outside Moscow. Pictures soon. In the meantime, there's been a lot to check out.