Mother Russia

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I arrived in St Petes almost expecting the worse, slow and rude bureaucracy, little English and police officers wanting bribes and pickpockets as far as the eye could see. I must say so far, there has been none of these issues.

We were clever enough to secure a private city tour before we left Perth and we woke on our first full day in St Petes, filled with anticipation. St Petersburg as a city is only 300 years old and has gone through several name changes before arriving at the city we know it as today. In 1924 it was renamed Leningrad after the great ruler Lenin and after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 it was again renamed, this time to St Petersburg, after Saint Peter, who is said to be the holder of the key to paradise.

Nevsky Prospect is the main street in the old Leningrad, filled with shops, restaurants for todays era aswell as palaces and Cathedrals from older times. The Prospect was named after Alexander the Great by the Alexander Monastery in 1718.

St Isaacs Cathedral is the 4th biggest Cathedral in the world, and is big enough to hold 12-14000 standing Russian Orthodox followers. Russian Orthodox religion states that people are not allowed to sit during their services.

The hotel Asterioya is across the road from St Isaacs Cathedral and is the place that Hitler was to hold his victory celebration after capturing Leningrad. This of course never happened but the plans for the celebration were found in Berlin many years after the war had ended.

Alexander the 3rd built the Split Blood Cathedral, literally on the spot where his father died. Alexander the 2nd was a hero in Russia, he was a leader that established many society reforms including abolishing slavery and giving the children of peasants free education. There were 7 attempts made on his life, two in one night including the one that ultimately ended up taking his life. He was mortally wounded in a bomb blast on the embankment of the canal, and Alexander the 3rd demanded that the site of the Cathedral be built over this site so that the Cathedral juts out into the canal. Alexander the 3rd was also responsible for reversing all of the reforms that Alexander the 2nd introduced. A Nazi Shell was found in this site in 1970, when postwar restorations begin.

We had also booked a cruise through the canals of St Petersburg, which was beautiful to see but cold, and at times a little frightening. The day before our guide had been saying she was unsure if the cruise would go ahead as the rivers were flooded. We couldn’t get over this and thought what difference does a little water make? However going under bridges that are only 2.5metres high from the bottom off the ocean and some with a clearance of about 20cms, you definitely appreciated why it would be impossible to do in flooding.

Unlike the grand castles and palaces of the rest of Europe, that are awe inspiring outside aswell as in, Russian’s palaces are very plain on the outside. Granted this would be because the weather here is so harsh, the exterior would take quite a battering. Yusupov‘s palace is no exception however walking inside, you would be forgiven for thinking there must be some sort of mistake. The staircases and chandeliers having from the walls, need to be seen to be appreciated and the State rooms are incredible. This Palace also depicts the night Rasputin was murdered here, after fears he was getting too close to the Royal Family and soon would cause the destruction of Russia.

The drive from the airport revealed a number of monuments depicting Lenin and World War 2 tributes and after our palace tour, we got the driver to drop us off at the Lenin monument, a good 20mins out of the centre of town. It was snowing and you could tell they thought we were crazy but off we went! Luckily the guide was nice enough to show us the metro and to buy our tickets, it could’ve been an interesting experience otherwise! Seeing Lenin in the snow was fantastic and in the increasingly heavily snow, we headed off in the opposite direction to find the “Siege of Leningrad” monument. I have never been so cold in my life, frozen legs and a frozen face (however my feet were fine thanks to my new Russian boots!) but it was definitely worthwhile to see the monument and also experience the snow. Back to the metro we headed after being well and truly frozen and were pleased to discover it was a very simple system and also very cheap at 20roubles a ride.

Not going to the Hermitage Museum here would be like not going to the Lourve in Paris, although being art gallerys, I think I did both at the same speed. Chris and I worried we werent really appreciating the art.. Which is probably very true but meh!

Ive just finished reading a 3part series based in Leningrad during World War 2, which for me made St Petes all that more exciting. A walk to the Summer Garden was definately in order.. Although is really was a great walk and our feet were aching. Unfortunately the Garden was closed too so we couldnt go inside.

All in all, St Petersburg has been great! Looking forward to the next bit of the adventure, Moscow

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Photos

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Michael's Palace

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Cathedral of Split Blood

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Pretty coloured building. Peter the Great introduced a law that any buildings that were grey or brown would be taxed. He wanted a pretty city

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Lenin in the Snow!

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Snowball fight!!

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Nevsky Prospect