The Baltics-Part 4, St Petersburg, Russia

This port was really the whole reason we went on this cruise.  I knew we would never have this opportunity again.  Russia is a very long, long way from Idaho.  We may make it back to Europe someday, in fact we plan on it.  But would we ever have the chance to see Russia again...I don't think so!

You have to have permission and a temporary visa to disembark in St. Petersburg.  Our ever trusty friend Rob, who had booked our tours in Israel, booked us a whole day tour here and the tour company took care of getting us our one day visas.  We got off the ship and met our guide.  She was about fifty and a professor of linguistic studies of some type.  She talked a lot and knew a lot but it was so interesting as the day went on to realize how slanted and narrow her knowledge was.  More on that later...

 As we boarded our tour bus, it was grey and rainy. We drove about twenty minutes into the city of St. Petersburg.  Our first stop was along the Neva River to take some photos of the big green palace known as the Winter Palace.  Since its creation, the Winter Palace has served as the official royal residence of Russian monarchs. Following the 1917 Revolution, the Provisional Government of Kerensky was seated there. Nowadays, the Winter Palace is a part of the Hermitage Museum.  We stopped back later in the day and saw it from the side of the famous Palace Square, site of the famous Bolshevik Revolution.

Travis and Derrek in front of the Winter Palace

Our next stop on the bus tour was at St. Isaac's Square, named after this very beautiful church.  The monument is a monument to Nicholas I.

We continued our tour by bus though the streets of St. Petersburg.  It was so interesting!  Our guide explained that although the building facades seemed big and impressive, the buildings behind them were very run down and unkept.  I looked through some of the archways to see what was beyond and sure enough, she was right!

We got off our bus and walked through a few streets to the river and had a real treat waiting...a forty minute hydrofoil boat ride over to the Peterhoff, or Peter the Great's Summer Palace.

This is like our Hydrofoil

Looking across the river

This old ship has been converted to a Fitness Center

Whaaaat?

Arriving at the Peterhof dock.

The Peterhof Palace is a series of palaces and gardens located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, laid out on the orders of Peter the Great. These Palaces and gardens are sometimes referred as the "Russian Versailles".

Looking back towards the sea.

Walking along the back side of Peterhof

A secret garden?

 As we left Palace, we were told by our guide to walk quickly through this market..we did NOT have time to stop or we would miss meeting up with our tour bus.  She assured us we would have time to go to a market later in the day.  Well long story short..we never made it to a market..we were taken to a shop that had ridiculous prices that was in cahoots with the tour company.  We were also really late to get back to the ship by then.  Basically shopping was a nightmare..so disappointing.  Anyway..on with our amazing day!

 We traveled back to the downtown area of St Petersburg through the countryside.  It was about an hour and half drive.  We passed some pretty old, run down buildings including the massive apartment complexes that were built during the cold war.

 Our friend, Rob asked if we could possibly take the subway system for a few stops just to experience it.  Some of the subway stations are known for their beautiful artwork and architecture.  It was just a little scary to me for some reason!?

Entering the Subway

Waiting for tickets

Boarding our train

Some of the artwork

 From the subway we took our bus to a cute little restaurant.  The five course luncheon was part of our tour.

Outside the restaurant

Inside the restaurant

Borscht-cabbage soup

 We had a nice lunch if you didn't mind looking at all the stuffed trophies everywhere.  The food was okay.  They got a little upset when we opted out of the 5th course.  Tea.  We tried to explain that our group didn't drink tea for religious reasons but I don't think we got the point across very well.  They seemed so confused that not one person would want some Russian tea.

Harrison and McKay

Hailey and Allison

Derrik, Travis, Yvette, Dale and me!

After our very late lunch, next on the agenda was to tour the inside of the two most famous churches in St. Petersburg.  St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Church of the Spilled Blood.

First up...St. Isaac's which is the largest Russian Orthodox Church in the city. It was built from 1818 to 1858.  During Soviet rule it was stripped of it's religious things and eventually turned into a museum.  After the fall of communism, religious services resumed but only in half of the church and only on Feast Days.

While we were in the church, we asked our guide what other churches held services in St. Petersburg and she said there were many but that two churches were not allowed to be in Russia.  We asked which ones and she said "well one of them is the Mormons because they have multiple wives".   Rob explained that we were LDS and that the Mormon religion hasn't practiced plural marriage for many, many years.  She said "Oh, that's not what I've been taught"  He also explained that the LDS church is and has been in Russia for over 10 years now...she had no idea!  It was interesting to me that such an experienced, knowledgeable Russian didn't know more about that. 

Next we headed over to the Church of the Spilled Blood.  It's probably the iconic image of St. Petersburg Russia with it's multi-colored onion domes. This Church was built on the site where Tsar Alexander ll was assassinated and was dedicated in his memory.

 There is over 7500 square meters of colorful mosaics inside the church.

In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, the church was ransacked and looted, badly damaging its interior. The Soviet government closed the church in the early 1930s. During the Second World War when many people were starving due to the Siege of Leningrad by Nazi German military forces, the church was used as a temporary morgue for those who died in combat and from starvation and illness. The church suffered significant damage. After the war, it was used as a warehouse for vegetables, leading to the sardonic name of Saviour on Potatoes. (Wikipedia)

The Shrine over the spot of Alexander's assassination

We saw this little Russian wedding party near the church.

Our guide was SO long winded and rambling on and on while we visited the two churches and we ran out of time to go to the market and we were getting really pressed for time to get back to the ship.  How "convenient" that we found out we needed to go the tour guide office to pay in person and that it was located right next to their very own little trinket shop.  I had to quickly grab a couple of nesting dolls and run.  

The rain and the bad shopping experience really couldn't dampen this amazing experience one bit.  It was a dream come true!!  

We stopped in Berlin on the way home and I'll fill you in on that adventure in the next blog entry.

-corri