Corinthia St Petersburg Hotel

I'm an American working in Moscow and needed a hotel for a visit to St. Pete with a friend who was visiting from the U.S. I picked the Corinthia because of its proximity to good restaurants and businesses. It's a short gypsy cab ride or metro ride to all of the top tourist spots and with a Nevsky address, you're guaranteed that your taxi driver will know where you need to go even if you don't speak Russian. The restaurants at the hotel are expensive and the food is average. Unless your room rate includes breakfast, skip it because it's 1400 rubles (about $46 USD) there are Russian coffee shops on the same block or a McDonald's two blocks away and you can order a large cappuccino for 66 rubles (a little more than $2). My [...] rate was for a "superior room" but they did not have any superior twin rooms when we checked in. They "upgraded" us to a deluxe twin that was larger, but the furniture and furnishings seemed a bit dated and was likely not one of the rooms updated in their recent renovation. We were glad to have the two beds and didn't mind the older style room. We were disappointed that there was no tea kettle or coffee maker in the room. Almost all business hotels have these standard and it seems odd that they don't. Seems like they are trying to force you to have their pricey breakfast because even on the room service menu you cannot just order a pot of coffee without breakfast! The lobby is beautifully decorated and trendy. I attended a conference at the Corinthia in April and all of the conference equipment and reception rooms were very modern and well appointed. The reception food was even good and the staff was professional!From Pulkovo airport you can hire a taxi for 700 rubles (go to the taxi desk rather than hiring the drivers who approach you when you enter the arrival hall. That way you're sure to get the official price. Our first day as tourists we hired a local guide for a city tour and trip to the Hermitage. The second day rained cats and dogs so we slept in and had a great lunch at a wine bar about a 5 min walk away from the hotel. After lunch we walked to Gorstiny Dvor and bought excursion tickets for the next day to take a bus ride with an English speaking guide to Peterhof, the summer residence of Peter the Great. A few blocks away we ducked into the Romanov Dynasty in Waxworks at the Stroganov Palace. It's a small exhibit, but once you've been immersed into the history of the Czars and Czarinas, it's a fun way to get a feel for what they looked like. Nicholas II was about half Peter's height! Ask for an English guide when you pay your 200 rubles entrance fee and they will give you a few laminated sheets of paper with a description of the exhibit and the high points about each Romanov's life story. It's not a long tour, but well worth the 200 RUB (about $6). The English Peterhof tour was interesting, but it felt rushed because traffic to the palace was awful on a holiday weekend.