We woke at 7 in great anticipation of our tour in Russia. The ship was supposed to dock so we could disembark by 8, but in the end we couldn't get off until about 8:30. Then, the Russian customs took another 30 min. to get through, so we couldn't start our tour until 9, an hour behind schedule. However, the touring company seems to plan for delays, so it didn't hurt our schedule too much. The company we went with is SPb Tours, there we 12 others in our group including a family with 2 kids. We rode in a large van or small bus and it was very nice. Our guide was Elena, our driver Peter, and our tour awesome. We started with a drive through the city, catching glimpses of a few sights, and learning history of Russia and facts about the buildings and countryside around us.
Our first stop was Catherine's Palace, for Catherine the Great, also used by her daughter Elizabeth. Quickly, some fun facts and lineage: St. Petersburg was founded by Peter the Great, who built a bunch of palaces for himself and his wife Catherine. Catherine (Katerina) was actually his second wife, and is a Cinderella story princess for the Russians. She was low-born, became a servant to a military person, then to a noble, then became a favorite of Peter and eventually his wife. His other wife was forced to enter a nunnery. When Peter died, Catherine ruled as czarina. Her daughter Elizabeth also ruled. Elizabeth's son Peter lll also married a Catherine who also ruled after her husband's death, and this Catherine became known as Catherine the Great. Catherine loved beautiful things, after she died they found 15,000 dresses, and her palace rooms are covered in gold, although at some point she apparently said she was tired of gold, it was a strain on the eyes, so several rooms are decorated in a lovely Classic style.
The outside of the palace is colored blue and yellow, the yellow originally of course covered in gold.
During World War ll, the palace was bombed and burned, and restoration was started by the Soviets. It took 20 years to restore the main hall alone. We saw perhaps 10 rooms in all, including the famous Amber Room, room completely covered in amber panels.
As you may know, amber is tree resin millions of years old, and the older the amber, the darker the color; the amber in the Amber Room ranges from honey amber to amber almost black. This is not, however, the original Amber Room. The room has an interesting story. Originally, Peter the Great travelled to Prussia and saw the panels there, he wanted them but couldn't persuade the Prussian ruler to give them to him. A few years later, Prussia wanted Russia's alliance, and presented the amber panels to Peter as a diplomatic gift. During WWll, the people took all pieces of artwork they could carry to the huge basement under St. Isaac's Church, knowing the Germans would not destroy the church because they needed its shiny and tall top for perspective. However, the amber panels could not be moved fast enough. Instead, they covered the panels with a fake wall and hung lesser works of art to make a gallery. Sadly, Hitler sent spies earlier on to find the location of the amber room, and eventually the Germans found the hidden panels. They took it all back to Germany, where it vanished. The Russians had black and white photos of the original room, and thus were able to eventually restore it.
This palace was full of splendor, with all the gold, the beautiful tile stoves,
the wall decorations, and of course the wooden floors. I loved it...
...once we got in. For some reason all the SPb Tour groups were not allowed inside for about 40 minutes. We don't know why, and our distressed guide said 'it's completely illogical -- but this is Russia!' However, the palace made up for the wait.
Next we went to lunch at a local restaurant, the food was so-so but there was a short live performance that was very good.
Our second sight-seeing spot was the grounds of the Peterhof Palace. The drive was almost an hour so we learned some more about Russian history and saw more countryside.
Peterehof was built by -- yes -- Peter the Great, modeled after Versailles. The highlight of Peterhof is it's grounds, the highlight of the grounds the cascading fountains. The main fountain is flanked by gold statues of Greek gods, and the centerpiece is Sampson defeating the lion. Sampson represents Peter, the lion is Sweden (since their flag has a lion).
The piping for all the fountains is mechanical, not electric. Peter had them built in an old style that now allows the fountains to run for most part of most days (whereas at Versailles the fountains run only a couple hours a day). Another cascading fountain we saw was the chessboard fountain, which had been added to in different styles. At the top are colored dragons, to the sides stone statues of Greek gods, and in the middle is a large checkered section like a chessboard.
In addition to the fountains the gardens hold trees from other parts of the world, and tons of manicured tulip formations.
Not really pretty but certainly fun are the trick fountains Peter had placed in the gardens. On the sides of the wide entrance path, where visitors would walk to reach the palace, are tiny pipes. At his signal, they would release long arcs of water, spraying the guests. At another part there was a bench, where guests might want to sit after the long walk, and they would be sprayed with water.
We walked down the gardens to the sea, following the canal. At one point, before the main fountain was complete, visitors could ride in a boat right up the canal to the downstairs entry to the palace. I think that's a nice touch, one I'm certain to include in my own summer palace.
The palace's most intriguing visitor:
It was a beautiful location, right on the sea, extending 7 km, and from there we took a hydrofoil across the sea and up the main river right to the Winter Palace (the Hermitage).
We didn't go there next, since it's closed on Mondays, and we were out of time. We went back to the ship, dropped people off, then the three of us were driven to the Nikolovsky Palace to see a Russian folk performance.
Mia says it was the best part of the day, and I almost agree -- it was excellent, even Rich liked it. Musicians played traditional instruments in the back, and there was singing and dancing. There were three groups: a cappella singing, song and dance, and dance. The singing was great (of course all in Russian so we will never know what they were singing about), the dancing fantastic, the costumes beautiful, and I loved the music.
At intermission there was champaign and a light buffet (very light), so we didn't starve, but we were definitely still hungry. The performance ended a little before 9:00, and we gathered with members of other SPb groups who had seen the performance. Our departure was sadly delayed because we seemed to be missing 3 people who never appeared, but eventually we were returned to port. No, it's not the end of waiting -- of the 20+ passport control booths, we could not find one that was open. Were we to be stuck in Russia overnight? Fortunately no, we found a person and were eventually able to get through.
Dinner at 10:00 was very good though we were practically asleep, and accompanied by a lovely sunset. We also talked to the couple at the table next to us, the woman was from Austria (with a British accent), her companion from New York (also with a British accent?). He brought up the subject of holidays and counted out the 10 federal holidays we get over the year, and asked here to tell us what holidays she gets (in addition to her month or so of vacation time plus sick time), and she said that in June alone there are 5. What a difference!
We slept well that night.
~Myra
This is a most wonderful description, and so interesting, as Ari and I got to see an episode on Russia in 'Building an Empire' from the History Channel. So we saw all the fountains from St. Petersberg. I would loved to have heard all the tour guide said about Russia, and it's wonderful that you had such a high quality group to guide you. No surprise about all the waiting, but must be a frustrating aspect to visiting Russia. Aren't you glad that you were on a cruise and not in Russian control when aboard? Well, we've got Myra home now, and can't wait to see Mia Thursday. Much love, Mama (where's Rich?)
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