St. Petersburg, Russia - Day 3

Thursday, June 27, 2013

St. Petersburg, Russia - day 3

We were up early again today but headed into St. Petersburg for a day on our own. We had about 5-6 hours to wander around the historic area and it was a really nice time. We went in search of moose and squirrel, with a few sightings in various pubs along the way. They seem to enjoy pubs.

We hung around in the Alexander Pushkin park for a bit, wandered through stores and stopped at interesting locations for a few beers. Though I have thoroughly enjoyed the museums and palaces over the past two days, this was a great culmination of our stay, immersing ourselves in the interesting culture and history of this city - overall an awesome day!

'That voice. Where have I heard that voice before?' 'In about 365 other episodes. But I don't know who it is either.' They are securely onboard and headed back to America!

St. Petersburg, Russia - day 2

Wednesday, June 26, 2013



St. Petersburg, Russia - day 2



We started the day at Catherine's Palace which was built for the wife of Peter the Great in Pushkin, about a 45 minute drive from St. Petersburg. The exterior facade extends for about 1,000 feet. I asked our mean tour guide (many good stories about her) why the statues were all looking down, she said can't you tell, it's because they are holding up the palace. The interior was another amazing display of extreme opulence. Built in the grand Baroque style, this palace closely resembled the extreme gilding and decoration of the Peterhof Palace from yesterday, but it far exceeded the size. We toured the "lost Amber room" where pictures were not allowed. This room was covered in amber mosaics, floor to ceiling. It is believed that amber has healing powers and the amber room was used for healing. There was room after room of gold and ceiling paintings all of which are completely unbelievable. We had lunch in the palace which was interesting and fun. 



Peter and Paul Fortress and Cathedral were the next stop in our tour and it was a fairly quick stop since we all wanted to get to the Hermitage. Peter and Paul fortress was built in 1703 to protect the area from Swedish invasion and the first site chosen by Peter the Great to build his new city. Inside were the impressive Citadel and the former Royal Mint and the Peter and Paul Cathedral, with its tall golden spire. The cathedral is the burial place of all the Russian Czars and their wives and children, including Peter the Great and Catherine. 



Our final stop was at the Hermitage Museum is located on Palace Square in the former winter palace. This is one of the world’s largest exhibits of treasures of fine art and applied art with over 3 million exhibits. This enormous collection is in direct competition with the impressive palace and its furnishings. Unfortunately we were 1.5 hours late arriving at the museum so we practically raced through and saw only a tiny portion of the rooms.  

It’s been two days, but we believe we are close to finding moose and squirrel. At the Hermitage we found squirrel and maybe moose, but it looked more like a deer (I have photos to prove it).

St. Petersburg, Russia - Day 1

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

St. Petersburg, Russia - day 1

Today we hit Russia. It was just 5 minutes off the ship, standing in the passport control line with all our paperwork and our 'migration' cards and we’re surrounded by armed security.  Glenn decided to share with the guy behind us that "Putin is nuts!" Really, you gotta be kidding me!

Must say I was a little disappointed by the number of people on tour, I thought there were no more than 20 but it turned out to be 30 people. Not as bad as a RCCL tour, but still a lot. Traffic was super crazy, with a free for all everywhere...imagine NYC with no traffic lanes/painted lines. WOW!

Anyway, our first stop was Peterhof Palace, the summer palace of Peter the Great and his wife Catherine. Photos were not allowed in the interior, but it was absolutely stunning. Never before have we seen such opulence. Gilded rooms, with gold gilding on intricate carvings nearly covered all of the walls. Each room of the palace was themed differently than the next, yet not so differently that the themes themselves clashed with one another. There are tons of pictures on the internet of the interior; they do not do the place justice.  During the 2006 G8 summit, the world leaders had dinner in the palace. The dining room display was full table setting. Under the dinner plates were bowls that were used to hold hot water and keep the foods warm because dinner typically lasted for 3-4 hours. After the interior visit you stroll through the Grand Cascade which is an amazing display of a series of fountains, each more stunning than the next.

We drove back to downtown and had an authentic Russian lunch which was quite good. We had a beautiful salad followed by a creamed chicken with rice and fresh veggies. Dessert was a jelly roll with a raspberry filling...yummy!

Next stop was St Isaac's Cathedral. This was commissioned in 1818 and took more than three decades to complete. It has a massive gold dome, one of the largest in the world and it’s covered by 220 pounds of pure gold. All of the paintings were mosaics with the exception of those they removed and replaced with actual paintings in order to display the mosaics close up. It was exceptional artistry to create these masterpieces; in the pictures it is impossible to determine these are mosaics.

Then on to the Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood which was built on the site of where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated. It's built in the Russian revival style with the onion domes. This was absolutely stunning inside and out. The mosaics inside were built in the traditional style so a little less painting looking.

What an amazing day...even got Glenn back on board with no arrests!