What is this thing??? This was our first view of St. Petersburg from our balcony. It looks like an enormous missile beside Noah's ark. Really, it did. We would find out later it is an office building for an oil company. Interesting...Very Interesting!!
Today's shore excursion was taken with our tour group. We booked this tour through our trusty travel agent. There were 25 people on the tour including two tour guides. However, since we were from all over the United States, we each flew from a different direction. Claude and I first met six other people from our tour group when we arrived in Copenhagen airport. Their planes arrived at about the same time as ours so the eight of us were picked up and taken to the hotel in Copenhagen at the same time. There were two other times this bus would pick up the remainder of our group. After we checked in at the hotel, we really didn't see any of these people until the next morning when we boarded to bus to tour Copenhagen. Then all 25 of us were there together for that morning and until we found our staterooms. They were all in the same area on deck 13. However, we only saw two couples during the entire cruise and that was when we were on our balconies watching something. The couple next to us were a mother and daughter and we talked with them the most. Since we each picked and paid for the shore excursions we wanted, we found it interesting that of the five cities we picked our own shore excursions for, not one of the people in our tour also picked that excursion. So, basically, Claude and I were on our own cruise. However, the travel agency did plot the two days in St. Petersburg and everyone in our tour group purchased the travel agency's two day tour of St. Petersburg. This was a good thing. So many things to see and doing this allowed us to maximize the things we would get to see. Our first day in St. Petersburg would also prove the most grueling of the tour days.
This country requires a Visa to enter. The travel agency acquired those for us. This was the only country we had to go through an immigration/customs kiosk to enter. We were in that line literally an hour the first day. The second day was much easier. It was just as grueling to get back on the Breakaway that first night but much easier the second night. The other thing everyone commented on was the lack of smiles and cheer with most of the Russian people we encountered. Not all, but most. I am a smiler and always have been. It was painful to smile at people and get absolutely no response.
After clearing immigration we waited until all our tour group could clear. Tedious at best. We split our group of 25 into two groups so that we could fit in two buses. Our group was called the swans and the other group was called the ducks. Each group had it's own Russian tour guide. Ours was Inna and she was excellent. Very knowledgeable about every single place we visited and sharing information as the bus went between places.
Our first stop was on the Neva River. This river runs through the heart of St. Petersburg. They sometimes call St. Petersburg the Venice of the North. So many rivers and canals running through the islands and they are all connected by bridges. This would happen again in Stockholm.
These are pictures of the drive to our first photo op stop on the Neva River. The first picture is the new soccer stadium built to hold the World Cup of Soccer that Russia is currently hosting. Brand new and very expensive to build. It was not very far from where the Breakaway was docked.
This first photo op was on the bank of the Neva River. The sphinx are from Eqypt and are real. They are roughly 3,500 years old. There is also a griffin that we were told would bring you good luck and fortune if your rubbed its head. Claude obliged.
Our next stop would be the Faberge Museum. These are pictures of the journey there. I want to describe two of these pictures. The third picture is of a rostral column in front of the Old Stock Exchange building. There are actually two of these columns. They would have served as beacons with an oil light at the top to alert and guide ships when they were first built in 1811. Now they have gas fixtures that are used for ceremonial occasions. The fifth and sixth picture are landmark places we would pass many times going to different sites. In the fifth picture you see is Vasilievasky Island. On it is the Old Stock Exchange building with the rostral columns on either side at the base of bridges to the island. If you cross the bridge on the left you can turn left and you will be at The Hermitage. If you cross the bridge on the right you will come to Peter and Paul Cathedral and Fortress. This is the original site of St. Petersburg. This is the heart of St. Petersburg, Russia. The sixth pictures is a closer view of the Old Stock Exchange building.
Now we visit the Faberge Museum. The building is an old palace of which there are plenty in St. Petersburg. It has been restored and serves as the museum. This was the first place we would learn of disposable slippers. Many of these buildings have amazing wood inlay floors. Elegant woods and intricate patterns. To protect these floors, which are works of art themselves, you are given disposable slippers, one size fits all, to wear during your tours. Into the trash they go after the tour. This was fine for me. But, poor Claude has a very large foot and his sneakers are built to protect his feet as he spends hours walking so they were not light at all. These slippers were not made for men with feet that large covered in large shoes. He struggled to get them on and keep them on. I have a picture of them when we get to Catherine's palace.
This is the entry way into the Faberge Museum.
At the top of the stairs is the room with the Faberge eggs. So, I will first post a few pictures of some of these over the top elegant and very detailed eggs. There are Imperial Faberge eggs which Nicholas ordered and gave to Alexandra. There are actually 50 of these eggs. Then there are other Faberge eggs that were not given as gifts by the Imperial family. The first photo is the very first Imperial egg. It was simply a porcelain egg. Inside each of these eggs is a surprise. The contents of the first egg are on display in the case.
The surprise in this egg was the carriage used in one of the coronations. It is a fully working, very miniature royal carriage. Wheels turn exactly as the real one would.
The surprise in this egg is the three pictures you see on top. They actually fit inside the egg and when you press on a certain pearl they pop up and out of the egg.
The clock in this egg works!!
These are hand painted on porcelain portraits of the Imperial family.
The leaves on this tree were made of jade.
We were set free to roam the other rooms on this floor of the museum. I have chosen to post pictures of some of these rooms so you can get the variety of style and decor in the different rooms. In some rooms the items on display are items gifted to the Imperial family. In some there are works of art. In some there are items from snuff boxes to ladies hand bags that belonged to the Imperial family. I tell you it was a veritable wonderland of things to see and try and take in. Hopefully the pictures will give you a feel of that.
As we exited back down the stairs, I realized this was a statue of Eve with the serpent giving her an apple.
Now we will drive from the Faberge Museum in St. Petersburg to Pushkin, Russia to see Catherine's Palace. Here are some of the views during this drive. The first picture is one of the many canals with bridges over it. The second picture is a bridge with four horses, one at each corner. These horses depict four stages of taming and training a horse. One of the Imperial Faberge eggs has replicas of these four horse statutes. The third picture is another iconic bridge, Lomonosov Bridge. It is the best preserved of the towered movable bridges that were typical in the 18th century. The fourth picture is just an ordinary shopping strip like you would find anywhere. It was interesting to see this as we got out of downtown St. Petersburg. The last picture is of a traffic police woman. We were told they have traffic police and police that deal with crime, two totally separate types of police. We were also told that since Putin was in town, the presence of traffic police was unusually heightened during the time of our visit.
When we got to Catherine's palace it was clearly time to feed this crew of people. They have a place that is used as a cafeteria. We could go down the buffet line and select what we wanted to eat. Claude and I picked a cold soup. We were told the name of it but it didn't register at all. Fortunately, Inna was able to write the name down for me and she told us her mother was fixing it for her to have at home that night. It is called oroshka. It was quite tasty.
From lunch we walked around the back side of Catherine's Palace to find the gate to go through to enter the Palace grounds. If you look closely at the first picture, you will notice that below the steeples is not really the building. It is a drape covering the building but it is painted to look like the building. When they are doing work on something, it appears they often cover it with a drape so you see what you should see if no work were being done. That is simply cool.
Through this gate we will enter the palace ground proper.
And... here is Catherine's Palace. I mean, how much home does one family need. Really. The first picture is a view of the length of the palace and the second picture is the gate across from the center palace entrance. We entered through a side gate, not the gate in the second picture.
Time to go inside. More disposable booties. Claude really struggled with this pair. First, the entry stairs.
This is the first room we saw.
Several times we would look through a door and see many more doors right on down the building.
This are our disposable booties. Classy, really classy.
Now we'll stroll through some of the other rooms.
The objects in the corners of the rooms that look to be made out of blue delft tile were actually used to push steam heat through the palace. This one Inna pointed out to us because the characters on the tiles are dressed in period costumes of the palace. It is like a photographic journal of the way people dressed.
These last two paintings are very neat. The first one shows the disrepair of Catherine's Palace before the restoration work was done. The second is after the restoration work.
Back to St. Petersburg we road in our Swan tour bus. It was time to visit Peterhof. This palace is known for its many, many, many fountains. We would walk down the main entrance toward the front of the palace.
Every palace for the Imperial family had a church. This is the church for Peterhof.
Where's Claudo?
Through this gate we would have access to the back of Peterhof. So, we went there where some truly magnificent fountains are found. The stairs going down to the Gulf of Finland, which empties into the Baltic Sea, are lined with statues of gold and all these fountains. It is awe inspiring to look at. The other very interesting fact is these fountains all work from a spring or source further up from the castle. The water pressure coming down to them is what makes them spew up with water. They have shut off valves and the fountains are turned on in the morning and off in the evening about 6pm, at least on the day we visited. We were there as the fountains shut down. Truly a beautiful place.
From these main fountains in the back of Peterhof we strolled on this lower level, in the picture above, to more gardens with more fountains. The building is the Orangery used as a green house for the gardens. The last picture of three girls are high school girls in their school uniform making a visit to Peterhof.
After Peterhof we were back on the bus for the drive to St. Isaac's Cathedral. Here are scenes along the way.
St. Isaac's Cathedral was originally St. Petersburg's main Russian Orthodox Cathedral. It was built between 1818 and 1858. The Saint Isaac is not the Isaac of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Saint Isaac this cathedral is named after is Saint Isaac of Dalmatia. He was the patron saint of Peter the Great who was born on feast day of Saint Isaac.
This is a replica of the wood framework used to construct St. Isaac's Cathedral.
The main Altar. Note there are not chairs on which to sit to worship. Russian Orthodox churches do not have seats for the worshippers. Only recently have they added a few benches along the sides for the elderly. Our guide explained that if you get tired of standing the next thing one would do is kneel for the service. My knees would not handle kneeling for very long on that marble.
Replicas of the stages of development of St. Isaac's Cathedral.
These were mostly mosaic works of religious art. Here is one of the mosaic pieces with a close-up shot following of how tiny these pieces of glass are for this mosaic. Can't even imagine the hours to do this one piece much less all the art in the cathedral. Wow!!
The next three pictures are of the main altar and zooming in and over it.
Remember the lesson about knowing the name of the Russian Orthodox church by the artwork on the front altar. In the center is the focus on the Savior. To the right of that will be two paintings. The one on the left will always be the Savior. The one to the right will tell you the name of the church in painting form. In this case, Saint Isaac of Dalmatia.
One final picture before we go back outside.
Okay, the plan was for the tour guide to drive us around the city at night to see the White Night or city lights. Evidently this is worth the effort but reality set in. We had all gotten up very early and be at it hard all day long. We were exhausted. So our tour guides took us back to the Breakaway per our request so we could recoup before the second day in St. Petersburg. The other reality is that this time of year it doesn't start to get dark until 10pm at night. That would have put us back on the ship at midnight probably for another early rise the next day. It was good to get back to the ship, have a nice dinner and find this cute monkey on our bed.
What an amazing day. Absolutely amazing. What would Day 2 in St. Peterburg hold for us?
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