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Church of the Resurrection of Christ
Also known as the "Our Savior- on- the- Spilt- Blood Church. Beautiful tiles!Today is definitely a “tour bus” day as we do not have individual visas and a guide and can not go off on our own without a visa. The ship has obtained group visas for us to get off the ship and onto the tour buses with guides… so here we go… it’s about 20 minutes from the docks into St. Petersburg and we are doing a “whirlwind” 2 days.
First of all St. Petersburg is known as the “Venice of the North” as it was built on marshland and 42 islands are connected by canals and bridges. We cross the Neva River many times during the day and lesser bridges as we see churches, government buildings and shopping districts. One question we were asked before we left was, “do they dress differently in Russia. The answer is a resounding NO. The people on the streets here are dressed just like home. We saw dresses (long and short), jeans, slacks, short shorts, stiletto heels and tennis shoes. Mothers in sundresses with buggies and kids with “Michael Jackson” t-shirts with I-Pods and skateboards ;-)
After traveling through 12 or so countries this is the first time we’ve had to show
our passports and go through customs. It was soooo hot. Once again a scorcher, especially for the Baltic. Around the high 80’s. Russian people were sunbathing in parks, along the river banks, everywhere they could find a spot for a beach towel;-) We were roasting too. The bus in Helsinki and the bus here were not equipped for hot days. We were told by our tour guide that they only get 30 totally sunny days a year!
We visited the Peter and Paul Fortress that was begun in 1712 and finished in 1733. We saw St. Isaac’s Cathedral (Note to Isaac Perales, Jean’s great nephew… you’ll have to look this one up on the internet as you have the same name… are you a Saint?
)
The drawbridges open for 3 hours at night to let the ships go through. During that time you can’t get between islands by car. We were told that teenagers like to use the raising of the bridges as an excuse for not getting home at a certain time…kids are the same everywhere.
Oh my gosh, one of the highlights was the incredibly ornate “Church of the Resurrection of Christ (Our Savior-on-the-Spilt-Blood) Peter the Great's Palace
Fountains and Canal to the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea) built from 1883-1907. It’s turrets and tiles an looks like something out of the Arabian Nights.
We also visited the Winter Palace of the Romanov Dynasty and the largest section is the Hermitage Art Museum. It is so incredibly large that it would take you 3 years if you just spent 10 seconds at each item. There are paintings from Monet to Rubens, Russian artists and Rembrandt. In addition there are sculpture galleries and Egyptian galleries and on and on.
Okay, so if that wasn’t enough for one day, Sharon and Jean headed off in the evening to the Russian Ballet and saw a performance of Swan Lake… what can we say, Swan Lake at the Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia…doesn’t get much better than this!! They loved it!
We thought the Winter Palace was magnificent until on our second day in St. Petersburg we visited the Palace of Catherine the Great. It is about an hour out of St. Petersburg in Pushkin. Her palace and gardens rival Versailles outside of Paris. Ornate and golden are understatements! There is the Malachite drawing room, the Gold drawing room and the Amber Room along with a hundred more that are all, just , well, awesome. The wealth of the Czars is incomprehensible.
Next stop another hour away, in the opposite direction, across St. Petersburg, the Peterhof Palace. This was the Palace of Peter the Great. It started out as a small summer palace (maybe 30-40 rooms) but his daughter, Elizabeth wanted something grander so started building and expanding the gardens. Because the palace is on the Gulf of Finland, in the Baltic, Peter the Great had a canal dug from the gulf right up to his door so that he could watch the boats arrive at his doorstep and greet his guests!
The history of Russia during the 300 years of Romanov rule impacts the world even today. Peter the Great was responsible for getting a foothold in the Baltic with St. Petersburg and Catherine the Great with her war against Turkey was able to secure the Black Sea as a port. We are so lucky to have been able to visit this magnificent city!
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Claudia
non-member comment
Great write up
I want to come to St. Petersburg!! You are a great ambassador for the city. But most of all I want to see the Hermitage. How many hours were you able to spend there? Your basil is growing like gangbusters! Even Fiorella was admiring it a few days ago.