Russia controlled access to their country by requiring a tourist visa or an invitation to tour from one of their tour companies. Everyone on a Carnival tour had to have a ticket (which acted as a tour invitation) and their passport to get off the ship. We were told not to joke with the customs people as they were quite serious. As we presented our passports, none of them smiled and none of them said anything at all. Interesting and a little unnerving...
If you were going on a non-carnival tour, you had to have an invitation from the tour company and your passport. We heard that there was at least one group that did not have the correct paperwork and were not allowed past customs and were required to go back on-board. I never did hear if they had everything fixed for the second day.
If you wanted to go into Russia on your own, you had to get a tourist visa which cost $400. Plus, you had to complete an application that was several pages long. I talked with one person who said the application wanted to know who your relatives were, your military service, what country your distant relatives came from, who you knew in Russia, and more besides all the other demographic information. He eventually quit filling it out and just booked a Carnival cruise.
So, we booked the 2 day Grand Tour of St. Petersburg.
As we traveled into the city, you could see the Soviet Union apartment buildings.
That was one of the better looking buildings. Some of the others were even plainer. As we start getting into the old city, the buildings become much more interesting.
Our first event on this tour is a ride through the city's canals as St. Petersburg is nicknamed the "Venice of the North."
As we go through the canals, we pass under several bridges. they are all low and all have ornate ornamental ironwork.
What we saw from the canal barge was interesting and exciting. Since this was a two day tour, we would be seeing these more and many of them up-close.
Here we are about to go under the a connection between two buildings of the Hermitage. More on the Hermitage next time.
Here we get a glimpse of the Hermitage Museum.
This is the Peter and Paul Fortress. This is also on the agenda for the second day.
This appears to be an old three master windjammer, but it is actually a modern replica and is nothing more than a floating restaurant on the Neva River.
Here is a an old Russian Naval Ship sitting in front of the St. Nicholas' Naval Cathedral.
Some of the canals are so busy they have to have stoplights for getting under the bridge.
Not sure what this building is, but it sits next to the Stock Exchange across from The Hermitage Museum.
This is the old boat house located in Peterhof Palace and Garden, which was once the formal garden built for Peter the Great.
These spires are of the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood.
The variety of light poles were very different from other cities in Europe. Actually, most of them were very ornate
In the background you can see one of the spires of the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood.
Next, we head to Catherine's Palace in the town of Pushkin, about 25 km from St. Petersburg.
We passed a couple of familiar sights. Even in the Cyrillic alphabet, you could still figure out what they were.
We arrive in Pushkin, Russia (named after the Russian poet) to tour Catherine's Palace, which was a summer residence of the Russian tsars. Built in 1717 for Catherine I of Russia, it was expanded in 1733 by Empress Anna. However, in 1752 Empress Elizabeth found the residence outdated and asked for it to be demolished and a much grander and flamboyant residence built. Four years later, the 325-meter-long palace was presented to the Empress.
Over 100 kilograms of gold were used to gild the stucco facade and numerous statues erected on the roof. Over the years, the palace has been destroyed several times, including as the Germans pulled out of the area towards the end of World War II. Most of the palace has been reconstructed, but much work is still required to restore the palace to its former glory.
As we went into the palace, we had to put on disposable booties so we did not damage the floor. Stylish aren't they?
As we began touring just a few of the 400 rooms, it was amazing that the elite lived like this while the peons were starving. Words can not do justice to these pictures.
One of the most amazing rooms was the Amber room. Everything in this room was built out of Amber. While this room was destroyed earlier, enough pictures existed to recreate it. I should mention that we were told we could not take pictures in this room. Of course, that had been almost an hour before we got to the room. I didn't realize that the old woman attendant could move so fast as she made a beeline to me shouting "no pictures" over and over. I though for sure I was going to see the inside of a Russian prison in those few minutes. I quickly stopped filming and breathed a sigh of relieve as the attendant turned around and went back to the door, probably muttering to herself "dumb Americans", in Russian of course.
As we exited the palace, we went around the back and found the garden. The "backyard" was just as impressive.
We had a nice lunch inside what was the former quarters for all the servants that worked in the palace.
Again, since vodka was served with every meal in Russia, my granddaughter just had to drink hers. When in Russia, do as the Russians do? :-)
After lunch, we head back to St. Petersburg. Here is a three car tram turning a corner. While the trams ere plentiful, we found that the use of bikes was not nearly as prevalent as in other European cities.
As we stopped at a stop light, we saw these police officers randomly pulling over cars and requesting their papers.
It seemed very innocent until we realized that across the street sat a prisoner truck. Hmmmm..... They say the KGB is no longer, but it seems like you still don't want to be stopped by the cops in Russia.
We saw this wedding party taking pictures near the river. This seems to be a big deal as we saw two more limos pull up and two more wedding parties exited to have their picture taken here.
Next, we went to St. Isaac's Cathedral, which is the largest Russian Orthodox cathedral in the city. During the Soviet times, the building was stripped of all the religious trappings and was turned into the Anti-religious Museum in 1931. In 1937, the museum was transformed into the museum of the Cathedral. With the fall of communism, regular worship activity has resumed in the cathedral.
Our last stop of the day is the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. This church was built on the site where Tsar Alexandria II was assassinated and was dedicated in his memory.
The Soviet government closed the church in the 1930s and it was used as a warehouse to store potatoes for years. In 1970 the church was turned into a museum, but has not be reconsecrated and thus no services are held on the grounds.
Our day is over and Rexie has been a real trouper. However the walking (there was quite a bit of it) has been entirely too much for her ankle. She decides to stay on-board ship the second day as it is rumored to be full of even more walking.
I must state that I have not put any pictures of Alexandria the Great on this blog. By the end of the day, I was tired of hearing about him and tired of taking pictures of his monuments, etc. I did say that out loud and several of the other passengers agreed.
Once again, we walked through customs and had our passports stamped. Rexie reminded me not to joke around. She didn't care if I went to prison, she just didn't want to go with me. :-)
I must be off!
