Travel Log Star Date 4 And the adventure continues. As we hit the halfway point of our cruise, we sail into the Gulf of Finland and into the 2 nd largest city in the Russian Federation, St. Petersburg. It is May 9 th, and in this time zone, we are one hour ahead of most of Europe, including Germany. So, when the armistice, ending the World War II in Europe was signed late on May 8 th, it was already the 9 th here. So, once again, we are visiting a country on a major holiday, as Russia celebrates the end of the war in Europe on May 9 th. The main attraction, the Hermitage, is closed. It seems that the entire population of St. Pete has taken to the streets in various parades. Many are in uniform. There are bandstands with music blaring. Most people are waving flags of various meanings. This would all make things interesting, if it didn t cause massive traffic jams. We had arranged for a two-day excursion with a private tour company, using small vans. We had only 14 people and we used headsets for communication. This worked out very well. It was a power packed agenda, covering almost all of the popular tourist attractions. Because of the holiday, the order of things had to be changed, but we got it all in. On the first of two nine-hour days, we visited a slew of churches, palaces, and other major physical attractions. We started with a bus tour of part of the huge city, with a few photo stops. Spectacular church domes towered above huge buildings in every direction. The St. Issac Cathedral was worth the initial photo stop, followed by an inside visit later in the day. A large square in front of the cathedral offered photo-worthy visuals in every
direction. In addition to the church, there were monuments & statues and a multitude of large, grandiose buildings. This was repeated throughout the city. Large (I mean HUGE) were the operative descriptive words, coupled with sprawling, opulent, golden-hues. Did I say huge? Our ride took us past several canals and more churches and then back to St. Issac s for an inside tour. Spectacular is an understatement. Even the photos don t do it justice. But here are just a few. (Catherine s Palace). This is a sprawling and opulent (sorry for the repetition) building spreading several blocks (is there a word that means greater than sprawling?). No cost was spared on the materials, including a lot of (fake) Delft tiles, and an entire room made of amber. The Amber Room is a specified highlight of the tour. Our tour guide was well versed in all of the places that we visited and she provided a running Next came a drive to the country residence of Catherine the Great commentary over headsets which made it easy to get the stories behind each room and artifact. In the photos, here, our little tour group is walking toward the palace. The interior shot features a ceiling that appears to be curved. It is, in
fact, totally flat. Last, are the gardens out back. To save time, we were given a box lunch to eat on the van during the 50 minute ride. As we approached the village the streets were completely blocked by thousands of Russians marching in parades for the holiday. We were blocked from reaching the palace and ended up walking a fastpaced mile or more to reach the palace (rather than wait for the marchers to go by). The palace tour also included a walk in the extensive gardens, where we found our van waiting for the drive back to the city. We made stops for extensive tours of several other extraordinary churches, including the Church on Spilled Blood and the Cathedral at the St. Peter and Paul Fortress, arriving back at the ship about nine hours after our start. The second day called for us to board the van at 7:30, so we had an early breakfast and were ready to go for an even more powerpacked day. We were driven to a Metro stop and took the subway for a ride. The Metro is very deep (over 400 meters down) and the escalator ride seemed to go for ever. Sprawling (there s that word again) murals were scattered throughout the vaulted corridors and platforms. The trains were frequent, fast, smooth and quiet. Again, our van was waiting as we exited, to take us to our next
conveyance, a canal boat. St. Petersburg was built as a planned city, created by draining a massive swamp. Needing a place to corral the water, the city was designed to be the Venice of the north, and it has a network of canals. Next, we boarded a hydrofoil tour boat for a ride to the Peterhof. We arrived at 11 fine meal (better by far than the box lunch). AM, just as the spectacular array of fountains sprung into action, accompanied by a brief concert of music over a massive speaker system. The gardens of the Peterhof are spread over several acres on several levels and are the most impressive that I have ever seen. We returned to the city by our van and were dropped at an unimposing hotel and taken into a restaurant that belied its simple exterior. Within the columned and well decked out eatery we were treated to a very Now, we were ready for the main event (postponed from the previous day because of the holiday. The world-famous Hermitage is more than a museum, as it is housed in a complex of buildings that are, in themselves, museum quality. So the guided tour included coverage of the various rooms and buildings as well as the extensive art and sculpture within. Although the museum was packed with people, our guide seemed to know have to maneuver through the place as if we were the only tour group there. My personal opinion was that the buildings outpaced the art work in interest and that other museums that I had seen did a much better job at selecting and displaying fine art.
example. During the various drive arounds, I was amazed by the size of everything. In addition to the huge palaces, there were numerous apartment structures that ran for several blocks without a break. Below is one such And lastly, here is a photo from one of the canals.