Volunteer drivers and the Russian Versailles

Adaptability is a great virtue if you are in Russia to be part of the World Cup. We were desperate to get flight tickets from Kazan to Saint Petersburg so that we could cover today's first semifinal between France and Belgium. With no flights available, we decided to take a hired van instead of taking the hazardous route of going to Moscow first and then taking another train to Saint Petersburg.

The distance between Kazan and Saint Petersburg is just over 1,500 kilometers and the impression we got from our 'would be' driver was that it would take 17 hours. But when a 30-seater minibus arrived to pick us up, we were surprised to see that it was a common transport that picks passengers from different spots.

After a small matter of 26 hours, we finally reached Saint Petersburg. It was more like my first long ride from Dhaka to Cox's Bazar via Chittagong way back in 1982. The driver was constantly communicating with passengers he had to pick up. At midnight he stopped the bus at a place which was more like Ramu, with no establishments on the horizon.

After about 20 odd minutes the passenger arrived with his family in a car. There were several unscheduled stops until the bus was full. After that it was an otherwise uninterrupted journey. Halfway through, the self-starter of the vehicle conked so it needed some pushing to restart the engine, and the driver dared not stop the engine for the remainder of the journey.

Along the road we could hardly see anything but the long ranges of birch and pine trees. Surely, the transport drivers are the busiest workers during the World Cup in Russia. They do overtime to earn some quick money. We had come across a driver who claimed to have been behind the wheels for two days without sleeping for even an hour. It was evident when he, for a brief period, actually happily complied with a request of a volunteer to drive for a while so that the official driver could sleep.

PETERHOF PALACE

If you are in Saint Petersburg and don't visit the Peterhof Palace you are going to miss something very special. We took a taxi in the morning and it took us about 40 minutes to reach Peterhof Palace. The popular tourist destination was brimming with travelling World Cup fans from many nations, including a 20-member Bangladeshi group. The Palace on the upper ridge of the huge facility will give you an impression of any other palace in Russia, but the beauty of its lower ridge and the fountains leading up that lavish garden takes the breath away.

If the Grand Palace of Peter the Great is the biggest attraction, then the Grand Cascade below the grotto and on either side is really captivating.

There are 64 fountains but the most attractive one is the Samson Fountain that depicts the moment when Samson tears open the jaws of a lion, representing Russia's victory over Sweden in the Great Northern War. You will be amazed to see jet of water from the gilded lion's mouth shoot up 21 metres, and the display of power hints at why the Germans destroyed it during the Second World War. Now what we see is a replica of the statue installed in 1947.

The amazing aspect is that no pump is used to operate all the fountains. The natural spring water, coming from the upper ridge, is channelled through reservoirs. The garden in the lower ridge of the vast facility is also a beholder's delight and you can hardly feel tired if you walk along the greens covered with big trees. The Russian version of the famous Versailles is an ideal place to enjoy your weekend with your family.