I was most excited about
visiting Russia on our vacation. My Dad traveled to Russia in 1992 just
after the Soviet Union fell and he fell in love with the Russian people and
history. Because of strict visa and travel requirements we had to book a
tour to be allowed on shore in St. Petersburg. I wanted to see it ALL so
after some research we booked a full day tour and it was amazing!
I took over 600 pictures in
Russia alone so you can perhaps understand why it’s taken me so long to
document this vacation. One
amazing place after another!
We were up early this
morning. Drew woke up with a fever
and was pretty out of it. Poor kid
hates taking medicine so getting that down wasn’t fun. Not much else we could do for him – we
had a big day ahead of us.
Getting through Russian
security wasn’t nearly as crazy or difficult as I’d expected and once we were
given clearance we quickly met up with our tour guide and were in our tour van
by 8:45am.
Drew slept when he could and
was AMAZING when we needed to be on the go. He’s such a trooper!
Our first stop was at the subway where our guide proudly showed us how beautiful
the Russian subway is. Without
question it was much cleaner then the subways in the other countries we’ve
visited and I was impressed with the beautiful mosaics on the walls and arches.
There were an alarming number
of security cameras (can you spot a few in the ship mosaic above?). I kid you not; there is not a corner of
the underground that is not being watched. Instead of making me feel more secure and safe I felt very uncomfortable with all the “eyes” on us.
We also rode the one of the longest escalators in the world as we made
our way out of the depths of the underground.
Next stop was the Hermitage
Museum. We were able to skip most
of the long admission lines since we were being admitted as a group. Our guide was pretty put off how long
the group line was and tried to sneak us by, but she was severely put into her
place by some of the other tour guides.
We were a bit disappointed that we didn’t have any time to take pictures
outside of the museum. That’s one
of the drawbacks of guided tours is that you are on their timetable.
We quickly learned that the subways aren’t the only place in St. Petersburg that has taken embellishment to a much higher level. We’ve seen a lot of palaces and
castles, but as we learned today Russia takes their décor to a level I’ve never
seen before. The Russian leaders
saw what the rest of Europe had to offer in places like the Palace of Versailles,
etc… and trumped them all. Gold
everywhere, expensive, unique materials and rare stones were used
unsparingly. Fancy, shmancy to the
extreme.
It was interesting that in most
of the places we visited today our guide said something to the effect of it
having been destroyed during some war or conflict and then being restored (or
that there are plans to restore it to it’s original brilliance). I suppose it’s not surprising. I don’t know much about Russian history,
but I do know that they don’t have the friendliest reputation with the rest of
the world.
This was a view of the
“non-group” line from inside. Glad
we didn’t have to wait out in the rain for hours.
We only got a small glimpse of
some of the gardens – they were meticulously maintained.
Hermitage has lot of art and
jewels on display. This one is a
Michelangelo.
Our next stop on the tour was
Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. The architecture
of Church on the Blood is just as I picture when I think of Russia. So colorful and ornate and I love the
domes on the top of the pillars!
The inside was truly
spectacular! The walls and ceiling
are entirely covered in mosaic artwork.
Next up was visiting the Peterhof
fountains and gardens. It rained
off and on throughout the day. Our
guide had some bright pink ponchos for us to use while walking around Peterhof.
The Great Palace
There’s some fun history
regarding the fountains. According
to our guide, Peter the Great was quite the jokester and created the fountains
as a bit of a prank to his guests.
The fountains weren’t constantly running as they are now. His idea of fun was for the fountains
to spray water on guests when they weren’t expecting it. Some of the fountains you wouldn’t even
guess were fountains at all.
Our final stop of the day was Catherine’s
Palace including the Amber Room (where you are strictly prohibited from even
touching your phone or camera so no pictures of this amazing room covered in
rich amber panels, gold leaf, gemstones, etc...) The Amber Room is sometimes dubbed the “Eighth Wonder of the
World” and is valued at over $500 million – just for one room. Again, another room that was destroyed
and since reconstructed.
I think everyone (except me, of
course) fell asleep on the way back to the ship. It was a long day but full of amazing sights. I’m so glad we decided to book a full
day tour.
We ate dinner in Cabanas – the buffet
dining area. Drew didn’t even make
it through dinner before he was out cold… again.
Our ship was actually in port
until nearly midnight. I went to
the gym after dinner and worked out and then sat our on the deck until the ship
pulled away. A day to remember for
sure! Russia!
