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Published: June 26th 2017
Distance from Tallinn to St Petersburg = 160 nautical miles
Total distance travelled = 798 nautical miles
Today's comedy German word (and my favourite):
Botschafter. A Botschaft is an Embassy. The Ambassador is known as the Botschafter!!
Today we have booked an organised tour. The only organised tour of the trip as in Russia this makes life so much simpler. If we were to do our own thing, we would have needed to have obtained a Russian Visa. As these cost around £80 each, it is cheaper to pay for an excursion. In that way, you are included on the ships generic visa.
The organisation of the tours can be a little chaotic at times, being give a time and a meeting place then made to wait ½ hour whilst every tour departs except yours!! On this occasion the organisation was very good. We handed our ticket in at the makeshift desk in the Manhattan Lounge, it was passed to the assistant who was dealing with the English speaking tours and two stickers were handed back containing the number 1 inside of the MSC logo. These were to be clearly displayed on an outer garment. We were
only sitting for five minutes before our bus number was called. We then followed everyone down to the deck 4 were we disembarked and headed toward the arrivals hall. Immigration in Russia is very thorough, having to stand away from the arrival booths behind the red line clearly marked out on the floor. However, several passengers ignored this marker and crossing the red line, stood immediately behind another who was currently being 'dealt with'. They were in no uncertain terms told to stand back behind the red line. Thoroughness also meant that all the booths were being utilised so we were not queuing very long before we were beckoned to a booth where the officer prepared our landing card, stamped our passport and waved us through.
Today we are off to visit Catherine's Palace in Pushkin. We will more than likely bypass all the great stuff in the centre of the city so click here to read about Chris and Roisin's previous visit to St Petersburg.
For fear of repeating myself I'll be brief about the background:
St Petersburg is located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea.
In 1914 the name was changed from St Petersburg to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad and in 1991 back to St Petersburg. St Petersburg was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 27 1703. From 1713 to 1728 and from 1732 to 1918 St Petersburg was the Imperial capital of Russia. It is Russia's second largest city after Moscow and has 5 million inhabitants. It is the northernmost city in the world to have a population of over 1 million and is the cultural capital of Russia.
We took our place on a 54 seat coach of which only 9 were part of the English speaking group. Both the German guide and Marina, our English speaking host, handed out radios and ear pieces. This was so both guides could communicate in their respective languages simultaneously without disturbing each other's group. Marina looked and spoke 'old school'. It was difficult to put an age on her. She could be anything between 55 and 65 and could have passed for anyone's Great Aunt!!
It wasn't long before the German speaking tourists were laughing as the German host must have been making light of the short but somewhat turbulent past
of St Petersburg. Meanwhile in the English camp, Marina was laying down the law:
'
Do not stray away from the group…look me in the eye when you ask a question…do not speak when I am talking…you will like Catherine's palace'. I don't think that last remark was an order more of a guarantee. However she started every sentence with a very polite but in a
don't mess with me tone: ‘
Dear Guests'. Our route to St Catherine's Palace took us through an area with typically constructed post war Soviet style apartments; all grey and concrete. There is evidence that building work on new apartments is in progress but from what I've seen, they are bull dozing the post war, Soviet style apartment blocks and replacing them with apartment blocks that look suspiciously like post war Soviet style apartment blocks (retro, I think they call it!!)
Catherine's Palace is situated 25km north of St. Petersburg in the town of Tsarskoye Selo, literally ‘
Tsars village' this is now a part of the town of Pushkin, named after one of Russia's most celebrated poets who lived from 1799-1837. The Palace was commissioned by Catherine I, Empress of Russia
in 1717 as a summer residence. It took just under an hour to arrive at the palace. We were rounded up and followed Marina through the front court yard (in silence) as she continued to explain how the Palace was built (every single brick of the 300m Baroque façade!!) As we approached the entrance she asked if we wanted a toilet break but before anyone could answer she suggested we wait until after the tour of the Palace. No one dared put their hand up. Marina, gave a smirk as if to say:
‘Is the right answer!!' And with that she strode forward as we all broke in to double time to keep up with her as God forgive anyone who was left behind!!
After being ordered to put on elasticated paper coverings over our shoes we were led up the grand central staircase and entered the Great Hall. My first impression was ‘so much Gold' apparently over 100kg of gold was used to decorate all the chambers in the Palace. Considering that the gold leaf is thinner than a human hair, that's a lot of coverage!!
The Great Hall was intended for important receptions such as balls,
formal dinners, and masquerades. The hall was painted in two colours and covers an area of approximately 1,000 square meters. Occupying the entire width of the palace, the windows at the front look out to the palace plaza while the windows at the back look out onto the park. There are a total of 696 lamps on the 12-15 chandeliers. I wonder what electricity tariff they're on??!
The rooms seemed to follow in to one another and the Gold still took centre stage in most of the rooms. Passing through the dining room for the courtiers in attendance, we entered the Portrait Hall, 100 square metres of ceiling to wall portraits. We all seemed worried that Marina was going to explain each painting to us but she briefly pointed out the large formal portraits of Empress Catherine I and Empress Elizabeth Petrovna as well as paintings of Natalya Alexeyevna, sister of Peter the Great, and Empress Catherine II. The next room was the Drawing Room of Alexander I. It was designed between 1752 and 1756 and belonged to the Emperor's private suite. Not that he was narcissistic or anything but he has a life size portrait of
himself hanging in this room!! Alexander I eventually became Tsar and was credited with defeating the French Grand Armée in 1812. Marina explained that the French word Bistro comes from the Russian Bistra: to hurry or quick service. After Napoleon lost the Battle of Paris a few years later in 1814, the Russians swarmed all over the city. Bistra was the word uttered to the French waiters requesting them to hurry up with their service. This was over a period of time, misheard and then adopted in to the French vocabulary as
Bistro, a small restaurant serving moderately priced simple meals in a modest setting.
The Amber Room was the only room where photos of any kind, with or without flash, were not allowed. The original amber room, completely covered in mosaic made up from various quality and colour of pieces of amber, was destroyed during World War II only to be reconstructed in 2003 where five tonne of amber was used to restore this room to its former glory.
We eventually arrived back at the cloak room where we were told to remove the elasticated paper shoe coverings (Dear Guests!) You may now use the wash room.
I stood waiting for Roisin and was approached by Marina. ‘
You can sit over there', she said to me as she pointed to an alcove with some empty seats. I moved over to the alcove but stood in case anyone else wanted to sit down. I had no choice.
‘Sit', Marina said. I found myself hypnotically obeying without protest or rationalisation. A lady sitting opposite me leaned over and whispered (for fear of being caught talking):
‘I feel like I am on a school trip with a very strict school mistress wanting an excuse to put you on detention!!' As we walked in the park of the Palace, Marina was explaining the importance of the colour red. For example in Red Square. Most people think that this has something to do with Blood or revolutions and massacres. The word
red in Russian is красный (Krasny). This is also the word for
beautiful. As Marina was half way through her story, a squirrel ran across the path from one lawn to another. ‘
See' started Marina,
‘Even the squirrels in Russia are red'. I was the only one of our party to raise a smile at this attempt at humour although
I have my suspicions that this was not a case of ad lib but a well-rehearsed line. I found out later that nobody else shared Marina's joke as everyone, except me, by this time, had switched their headset off!!!
One the way back to St. Petersburg, we passed the Palace of Alexander I. Build in 1792, could this be the original ‘Ally Pally'??
Before returning to the ship, we were taken to a souvenir shop where we were treated to complimentary Vodka and coffee. I can get complimentary coffee on board the ship!! The Vodka, a clear type as well as what tasted like a cherry vodka were pre poured in to small plastic cups. However, the assistant left the bottle on the table unattended!! The few vodkas that I sampled did take the edge off listening to our Russian host for the final 20 minutes!! I even tipped her.
‘Oh thank you, you're so kind', she said as I put a €5 note into her palm. She was probably thinking
‘The Vodka. It gets them every time!!' We had the run of the ship in the afternoon as our second tour had been cancelled. Passengers
were either out on a full day tour or had opted for an afternoon tour. We played our game of mini Golf. It was a close game. I finished second being beaten by five strokes. It had been raining and the course was damp. I went first making the green smoother and drier for anyone who followed on from me!! (I can't think of any more excuses!!)
Tonight in the restaurant was Italian Night. The waiters wear the red, white and green cummerbund and/or waistcoat of the Italian tricolour, the menu is Italian cuisine and toward the end the lights dim and
Volare is blasted through the restaurant whilst everyone waves their napkin in the air. These are also always either red or green. The photographer, never one to miss an opportunity, inevitably snaps that magic moment for you to view in the photo shop and, if you like, it is yours for only €19.95!! As passengers who booked the Fantasica package (don't ask. It is far too complicated for me to understand!!) we are entitled to not one but two free photos from this celebratory evening.
Our dining neighbours strolled in today at 7:15. Now they're taking
the piss!! We learned from Alexandriu, our assistant waiter that they are from Bulgaria. I'm not sure about them being in the same time zone as the rest of the ship! As we were just about to leave as they sat down, I'm not sure if they got served but the waiter wasn't too impressed
Back to the photos. A knock came at our cabin at about 10pm. It was a delivery from our cabin steward of the photographs taken from the Black card members' party last night. This must be at least €60 of photos we have received in the past hour!!
Our final duty for the evening was to head for the theatre for the late showing of tonight's production: Pura Passion. Four dancers, two male and two female, danced their way through a variety of Flamenco styles from raw energy to moody and laid back individualism. The stamina was, at times breath-taking. Having now seen flamenco close up, some of the synchronised choreograph reminded me of River Dance but in a foreign language!!!
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Claire B
non-member comment
Brilliant, love that Roisin whoops you at golf!