Moscow and St. Petersburg itinerary and general questions

I can answer only a couple of your questions:

1) yes

7) I think the best is to book an e-ticket on the Russian Railways(RzhD) website. 3rd class is called platzkart in Russian and it is the preferred way for most Russians I think it's not worth to pay more for kupe(4 berth sleeper). Just avoid the berths parallel with the corridor!

Check out this website for detailed descriptions and photos of different train classes and how to book online on the RZD website:

http://www.seat61.com/Russia-trains.htm

Think about spending a day less in St. Petersburg and see Novgorod on the way between Moscow and Piter.

There's a night train from Moscow to Novgorod, which is actually cheaper and less busy than the trains to Piter. See the sights of the city than continue to Piter by train in the evening(a 3 hour journey).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veliky_Novgorod

About the question 5. Euroset and Svyaznoy are the shops (but they sell SIM cards), MegaFon is a telecom company, but it also has shops in Russia. We have four telecom companies: MTS, Beeline, Megafon and Tele2. I've never tried MegaFon, but heard that its prices are quite good. For my experience the most expensive is MTS and the cheapest is Tele2, but it depends on the service package.
For you it is better to ask in the shop the best option for the internet. And tell them about travelling to another city. The problem is that you can buy the SIM with cheap internet for Moscow, but when you will go to St Petersburg it will be charged by roaming price what is more expensive. You can ask for the SIM card with cheap internet for Moscow and outside or telecom companies usually offer to buy an additional package for travelling what could help to save money.
Anyway in Russia there are a lot of places with free wi-fi.

3) Any shop that is not in the center of town (except maybe for sportmaster) Go for big and medium malls on the outskirts. You can also try shops that sell military/hunting clothes like Splav or work clothes.

3) I would go for any (informal) outdoor market outside the city center. (Sorry, forgot names but you could do web search.)

Three items would be high on my shopping list: Insoles (the Russian variety), a hat or cap (again, a local product) and a coat/jacket.

Hello

1. I think you have enough time to buy winter clothes on the Internet . I believe It is the cheapest way. Center of Moscow is rather expensive place. I know two not expensive shop near center of Moscow metro station Smolenskaya and Novoslobodskaya “Spotrmaster”. By the way you should take few pair of warm shoes and many socks because streets will be very wet in this time (Streets will be covered defroster)

4 . As I recall big queues In Kremlin museums and Hermitage . It will be better to buy tickets by Internet.

1. I would recommend Euroset or Svyaznoy, they are distributors and they can offer SIM different providers. Will be better use different SIM In Moscow and St. Petersburg because we have local rouming in Russia . I think call in Brazil will be expensive. Use local SIM for Internet (Google maps and Google translate ) and call to hotel. For calls home would be better use Skype I think it is the best way

Hey guys, thanks so much for helping! You have no idea how much you're helping!

[balkanexpress]
Hi! Actually it's really a lot cheaper in Russian Railways website... Like, really really cheaper. Thanks for this.
I think I'm going with the 3d class indeed. I just don't know which train is best, I'll leave some options at the end of the topic, if you can suggest any that would be great.

[Irina90], [Turbo99] - SIM cards
Thanks for the info. I didn't know there would be roaming between Moscow - St. Pete, but we have something similar here in Brazil. I honestly don't think I'm going to make calls to Brazil, internet for whatsapp is just fine. I'll ask when I arrive!

[frostbite], [altona], [Turbo99] - clothes
Good to know. I even found a Brazilian store with good prices yesterday, so I'll be able to buy something before arriving, at least a fleece. Upon my arrival I'll look for the stores mentioned. Thanks!

[Turbo99] - museums
You said the streets will be covered defroster. Do you think I'm gonna be able to see falling snow?
Thanks for the info on the museums, I'll try booking these two before departure.

--

Searching for trains, I found many options (3rd class).
016A - Arktika $ 40
064A - Dve Stolitsy $ 47
026A - Smena $ 47
038A - Aphanasiy Nikitin $ 47
020Y - Megapolis $ 64 (the least expensive 2nd class)
Is there a significant difference or a recommended one?

Well, the questions are almost answered, I just need some help on 2 (the Peterhof rooms).

About the hotel, I think I'll stick with Ibis. They're both rated 8+ on booking.com and 650m from the metro is fairly close, I think. Anyway, other options are always welcome.

Again, thanks so much for helping!

I don't think there's much difference between these trains. I'd choose the one with the best timing. It's not nice to arrive very early morning in winter when it's still dark and there's nothing to do, leaving too late (like Arktika after midnight) is not exactly convenient either.

Afanasiy Nikitin sounds good, leaving not too late and arriving not too early.

Haven't you thinked about my idea to spend a day in Novgorod instead of going directly to St. Petersburg?

This way you can see something else of Russia, than only the 2 big cities and it's a classic win-win game, because you'll see more, but pay less. I just checked ticket prices(Using 17th November as the date, because February is too far away to book tickets) and it's 1040 rubel in platzkart/3rd class) for the Moskva - Novgorod(on th RzhD timetable Novgorod-Na-Volhove) and 374 rubel for the Novgorod - St. Peterburg train(that train has only seats, because it's only a 3 hour journey). All together that's only 30 USD!

Novgorod is like a cradle of Russian culture and civilisation, worth to see it!

Hello
There is no falling snow everyday in Moscow, But you can enjoy winter in parks .
1. Kolomenskoe park http://mgomz.ru/posetitelyam
There are buildings 14- 17 century and reconstruction of wooden building and winter attractions skating-rink, sliding down the hill on snowtubing and Riding in a troika
2. Tsaritsyno http://www.tsaritsyno-museum.ru/ru/
This place was renovated recently. There are large nice park and palace of Ekaterina Great .
3. Sokolniki http://park.sokolniki.com/rus/visitors/winterentertainments.aspx
It is park of rest with nature and winter attractions (skating-rink, sliding down the hill on snowtubing )
also there is ice museum http://www.led-sokolniki.ru/
In the center of city snow is disgusting wet and dirty
I realize that you aren’t going to call at home but just in case some offers for calls to Brazil
Megafon
Any plan with option “Call in all country”(zvoni vo vse strany) 60 RUB turn on option and 14 RUB per minute
MTS
Any plan with option “favorite country”(lubimaya strana) 70 RUB turn on option and 14.90 RUB per minute.(command *111*101*55#)
Beeline
Any plan with option "My calls to other countries"(Moi zvonki v drugie strany) 1 RUB per day and 25 RUB per minute.

By the way if you want to ask people about something on a street would be better ask “ Can you help me” most people try to help you but if you tell “Do you speak English?” most people go past.

P.S. I will try to answer to other questions later

[balkanexpress]
Hi! Thanks once more for helping.
I would love to spend one day at Novgorod, but since 4 days already seem too few for what we intend to do in St. Petersburg, I can't find a way to make our stay one day shorter. Have you taken a look? Do you think I can do all that in 3 days? Any suggestion would be great. It would be awesome to see Novgorod. We even would like to go to Siberia, it's a pity we don't have more time.

[Turbo99]
Thanks once more for all the suggestions. I'll definitely take a look in each of them.
Regarding the SIM cards, I think I'll search for the MTS. I've read a good testimonial about this company.
Thanks for the advice. Glad to know how to approach people in Russia! ;)
Your responses to the other questions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys once more!