Getting ourselves through the immigration section after leaving the ship was not nearly as tedious this day as the first day. We met up with all the other swans and found our bus. And we were off for our second day in St. Petersburg.
Our first stop was an area call the Seven Bridges. St. Petersburg is lots of islands formed by rivers and canals. These are connected by lots of bridges. In this area you can find seven of them very close together.
Our morning was to be spent at The Hermitage. We would see some interesting things along the way. The first was passing a Jewish Synagogue. Interesting brick color choice here.
We were dropped off the bus and walked up to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan. It was built between 1801 and 1811. The inspiration was St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The church housed the "miracle making" icon of Our Lady of Kazan in the 1830's and it is from this that it derives its name. Today it is both a museum and also holds services.
Along the front of Kazan Cathedral is Nevsky Prospect. This is a huge boulevard and a main street in St. Petersburg. Across from Kazan Cathedral is the Singer Building. In 1902 the Singer sewing machine company purchased the land for 1,000,000 rubles. This building Singer built was the first in St. Petersburg to be built using a metal frame allowing for larger windows on the bottom. It was also the first to have a glass-roofed atrium. It also boasted elevators, heating and air conditioning and an automated system to clean snow from the roof. Today, Dom Knigi has made this building into the most popular bookstore for over 70 years. I just liked it because I have may Mother's old treadle Singer sewing machine.
We would walk down Nevsky Prospect in search of the Hermitage. But first we would find Mikhailovsky Palace. This palace was built for Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich whose father was Emporer Paul I. In the 1890's Emporer Nicholas II bought the building to house the Alexander III Russian Museum. Today it houses the main collection of the Russian State Museum.
Before long we reached Palace Square.
Originally the Winter Palace was built here with this great open space outside of it. The Winter Palace is the blue building in the first picture. Catherine the Great loved this view and was greatly dismayed when they started building houses on the south edge of the square. She wanted an appropriate building put there which resulted in the semi-circular General Staff Building you see in the last two pictures. In the center of Palace Square is the Alexander Column. It is named after Emporer Alexander I of Russia and was erected to celebrate the Russian defeat of Napoleonic France.
Alexander II was the last Tzar to live in the Winter Palace as a home. Attempts were made on his life and it was realized the residence was to large to protect him there.
The Winter Palace would have many changes over its life as it was renovated and added to. Today the Hermitage encompasses six buildings including the Winter Palace. Catherine the Great started collecting paintings and the collection has grown to fill these six buildings and more that is not displayed. Five of these buildings are open to the public. As we toured, Inna would pull back a curtain on a window so we could peek out and seek that we were actually leaving one building and entering another.
From Palace Square we would walk along the front of the Hermitage to the entrance. This faces the River Neva. Across the River Neva is Vasilievasky Island with the Old Stock Exchange building and also St Peter and Paul Cathedral and Fortress. Lots of history here people, lots of history.
We entered the Heritage at the Jordan Staircase which is part of the Winter Palace. Spectacular.
The first room we visited was a throne room that serves as a memorial to Peter the Great. Please note the floors again. We did not have to wear the slippers here. They said they put some type of treatment on the floors to allow us to walk on them.
The next room house an enormous marble vessel. These were often gifts to the Imperial family. They highlighted the grains of the marbles used to make them. They were a thing of beauty and served no other functional purpose. The largest of these we would see toward the end of our tour of the Hermitage.
The next two pictures highlight that effect of looking through door after door after door and the beauty of these wood floors.
Every palace had a church. This is the one for the Winter Palace.
This is the coat that Alexander the II was wearing when he was shot at killed. Remember this when we visit The Church on the Spilled Blood or Resurrection Church.
This was an interesting room. The walls were lined with military leaders paintings.
These pictures are of St. George's Hall or the Great Throne Room. Note the floor in the second picture and the ceiling in the third picture. The ceiling is directly over the floor and the patterns in each are a mirror image of the other. The last two pictures in the group highlight the double-headed eagle which was the crest/symbol for the Romonov's.
A few interesting views. The garden through the window is actually built on the roof of the floor below.
One room is full of chandeliers. Just teeming with them. It too has an amazing floor. There is a clock in a glass case that is a peacock. The peacock's head and objects move when time the hour begins. It did not go off while we were in the room but they have strategically placed a monitor with a video of when it does go off showing all the moving parts. Again, amazing.
This was one point where you could look out the window and see the River Neva, Vasilievasky Island with the Old Stock Exchange building on it. So lovely a view.
More mosaics. This is one of two tables in the room with a mosaic picture under the glass cover. The next picture is a close of those tiny, tiny pieces of glass that make up this mosaic. Oh the hours of work to complete something like this.
And we're walking, we're walking, we're walking...
This was one place your could tell we were walking from one of the buildings to the next building.
And we're walking, we're walking, we're walking...
And this sculpture is a Michelangelo original.
And we're walking, we're walking, we're walking...
There are people who come to the Hermitage just to see this painting and nothing else. It is the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt. It is the original. It was likely completed within two years of Rembrandt's death in 1669. This is such a good parable in the New Testament. So many valuable lessons learned from it. I took two close-ups of the son.
And we're walking, we're walking, we're walking...
This was the largest of the marble vessels. Huge I tell you, HUGE!!
This was the Egyptian room.
And we were done visiting the Hermitage. Whew. So many things to see and we only touched the tip of the iceberg. But Inna made sure we saw all the highlights. Kudos to Inna for herding all the swans through this adventure.
Back to the bus and a drive to Peter and Paul Cathedral and Fortress. We would pass the Military History Museum of Artillery on our way. It is right across the street with the two wooden bridges to the island with Peter and Paul Cathedral and Fortress. We passed it several times in our two day visit to St. Petersburg and Inna always said it was a great place for men and boys.
Now we will visit the place of the origin of St. Petersburg, Peter and Paul Cathedral and Fortress. There really are fortress wall all around the perimeter of this island.
Inside is the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
And to get to it you must walk across...you guessed it...cobblestone!
This is the interior of the Peter & Paul Cathedral.
The Emperors and Empresses are buried in this cathedral. This is to the right side of the main altar and the people are standing in front of the tombs.
These are the tombs of Catherine I in the middle and Peter the Great on the right.
On the tops of these tombs are Russian Orthodox crosses. They are a little different from the crosses you usually see. They have three cross pieces. The small one at the top represents the sign that was nailed to Jesus cross. The longer cross pieces represents Jesus being crucified. The shorter bottom cross piece is always at an angle. It represents the two thieves crucified with Jesus, the one going to heaven (points up) and one going to hell (points down).
The Throne...Two-headed eagle is the Romanov symbol.
Saint Catherine's chapel is the burial place for Tsar Nicholas and his family. All their remains have been found and identified and are buried here. Even Anastasia.
These tombs were made of two different types of marble.
These are grave markers in the floor over the crypt where the person is buried.
Now I want to share a few pictures of the island on which Peter and Paul Cathedral and Fortress are located. The first picture is the entrance we used to get into the fortress. The second picture is one of the two wooden bridges that cross the water to get you onto the island. The third picture is a view of the fortress wall on the east side of the island with the cathedral inside the fortress. The last picture was taken from the front of the Hermitage looking across the River Neva at Peter and Paul Cathedral and Fortress.
Our last site to visit in St. Petersburg is The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood or sometimes called the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ. There was a bit of restoration work happening on the spires.
And out front was a tourist trap. Four period costumes which you could stand behind and have your picture taken for a fee. We had no rubles. I asked the lady if she would take American money. She said, "Yes." I said, "How much?" She said, "$6." I turned to Claude who was already pulling out six $1 bills. And we got this great picture. I really don't think they had sun glasses in that time period but it really doesn't matter now, does it? All the swans were pulling out their cameras and having a good chuckle.
Now, inside the Church on the Spilled Blood. It was on this spot that Alexander II was killed. Remember the jacket in the Hermitage that he was wearing.
This is the main altar.
This is another example of telling the name of a Russian Orthodox church. To the right of the center of the main altar will be two paintings. The one on the left is Jesus. The one to the right next to it represents the name of the church, in this case, The Church of the Resurrection.
And we're walking, we're walking, we're walking...
Remember the onion domes on the outside of the cathedral. In a Russian Orthodox church there is usually a center dome representing Christ. Then there are four other domes representing Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Inside the Church on the Spilled Blood there were paintings inside of each of these onion domes. I will only share one because it is unique. It is a painting of Jesus as a boy. The first picture is looking up inside the dome and the second picture is zoomed in on the painting.
This just fascinated me. It is a replica of the Church on the Spilled Blood...but it is for blind people. It allows them to touch it and learn by that touch what it looks like. This was such a great idea but I was really fascinated by the fact it is painted so carefully. I don't think blind people would see that color.
Usually in cathedrals there are chapels to either side of the main altar. These are the altar pieces for each side in this cathedral. The first picture is to the left of the main altar and the second picture is to the right of the main altar.
This is one of two different artist renderings of Nicholas and his family as religious icons.
Outside the Church on the Spilled Blood you can see the canal that runs under it.
Time to head back to the Breakaway. We would find a towel animal that looked a lot like a previous towel animal. We believe the one on the left might be a pig and the one on the right is a rabbit. What do you think?
We watched the Breakaway depart St. Petersburg. There was a veritable caravan of ships leaving at the same time. In front of us there were at least 3 and behind us you could see 5. Counting the Breakaway that was 9 ships departing St. Petersburg.
This island is Ft. Kronshlot.
This was a picture I took for fun. If you look closely you will see the moon with a jet plane leaving a contrail below it. Cool.
On our side of the Breakaway we watched a Russian submarine with two tug boats keeping watch over it. One the other side of the Breakaway was a big military island and the submarine was probably heading there. Reminded us of The Hunt for Red October.
As you finally depart St. Petersburg that is a highway that is like the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. There is a similar road as the last thing you pass leaving St. Petersburg. This road goes above water and at time is a bridge or on land when there is an island. When it gets to the point in this picture, there is a tunnel under the channel and the cars go into the tunnel and under where the Breakaway is, then out the other side and back on land. Claude and I noted that on this side (and I later confirmed on maps) there is a big arm that can move out into the water and totally block this entrance as it connects with another arm on the other side. That is some major security there.
Rest and wake up in Helsinki, Finland.
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