We made it through immigration/customs with a stamp in our passport to prove it, and met Tatiana, our SPB tour guide. Throughout the tours we would learn that we is a St Petersburg native, hater of Moscow (there is a rivalry between the two cities), and works as a tour-guide full time. She was wonderful - highly recommended!
Across from the port were blocks of very attractive apartments buildings - grey, tall, and Soviet-like architecture - what a happy place to live! Next to them, they are building modern, red apartment buildings - almost trying to cover up the Soviet Bloc architecture ones.
Our tour group was 14 people - and amazingly we were not the youngest ones of the group. There was one mother/daughter duo and a father/daughter duo with the daughters college age. It really was a great group, except when people were late! Oh well :)
We finally got off an hour later because of the crazy lines to clear Russian immigration. St Petersburg is known as the "Venice of the North" and you can clearly see the European influences throughout the city. It was founded in the early 18th century by Peter the great who named the city after his patron saint St. Peter, not actually himself because monarchs are narcissistic, right? It is also a city of multiple personality disorder. It has been known as St Petersburg, Petrograd, Leningrad, and back to St. Petersburg over its 300 year history.
We first stopped beside the River Neva (the main river in the city) to take a picture of the beautiful landscape. At our stop, there were real Egyptian sphinxes. These are the furthest north sphinxes in the world and the only ones that get covered in snow. Bet they never thought they would be in this cold climate from Egypt 2000 years ago!
There are many old looking boats on the river, but most of them are reconstructions. One is even a gym with a restaurant in it -seems counterproductive to me!
First stop of the day was at the Peter and Paul fortress. It also has had many identities through its history - as a fortress, prison for government enemies, and now has a church on site. The Church of St Peter and Paul is a Russian Orthodox Church but does not have the appearance of the church. It contains all of the graves of the Romanov family, including the recently buried Anastasia and her family in 1998. Interesting note - there are no pews in Russian Orthodox churches as they believe by standing for the service, you are suffering just as Christ suffered.
We next got on a hydrofoil to head about 20km outside of St Petersburg to visit the Peterhof palace built by .. take a guess.. Peter the Great! Supposedly Peter the Great was very tall, but had agoraphobia (fear of open spaces) so all of the original palaces he built were very small. He built the larger palace in the style of Versailles for his vision of St. Petersburg to be like the rest of Europe. The palace was beautiful and had gorgeous fountains and gardens. Unfortunately on our whistle stop tour, we didn't have time to go inside as our lunch was awaiting us.
Lunch was in a Russian cafe, we had borjst (not sure on spelling) which Margo liked and Fiona was not too fond of, pork and potatoes, and fruit/yogurt for dessert. Next on the list was souvenir shopping - you cannot leave Russia without one of the wooden dolls that gets smaller as you open them or a Fabrege egg. Margo and I bought a combination of both in the shop - we are supporting the Russian economy.
That afternoon, we headed to Catherine the Great's Summer Palace - because one palace is just not enough! During WWII and the seige of Leningrad, it was very badly damaged. Over 1 million inhabitants of the city died, and many buildings were bombed. The restoration work on the palace is still continuing today. We went inside here and were amazed by room after room of golden guilding with white plaster - perhaps a interior decoration idea for my new house! We also saw the Amber Room.
Because we decided one tour wasn't enough for one day - we had booked a night tour. The choices were Russian ballet or vodka tasting. The second choice was far superior. We got back from our first tour and had an hour to dash back to the boat, change, eat dinner, and be back on the bus - not an easy feat given the Russian immigration line, but we did it!
As soon as everyone was ready to go, we began the vodka tasting - with the regular "Russian Tradition" vodka. In Russian tradition, you have to have a toast before every drink, so Alex our tour guide started the night off with a toast, and we drank our first sip of vodka. We tasted cranberry, blackberry and cayenne vodka throughout the night. We next had a walking tour of the Nevsky Prospekt which is one of the main shopping streets of the city. We stopped by what is known as the "Harrods of St Petersburg" and I got some Russian vodka that you cannot buy in the states. After enjoying some more vodka and a nice sweet desert, we headed to our boat ride down the River Neva and had some traditional Russian music as we sailed along. And more vodka!
A great way to spend the evening. We will be up in six hours ready for St Petersburg round 2!
Pics:
1. Russian rubles
2. Peter and Paul Fortress/Cathedral
3. Inside St Peter & Paul Cathedral
4. Hydrofoil ride to Peterhof Palace
5. Peterhof Palace
6. Gilded fountains at Peterhof
7. Catherine's Summer Palace
8. Gates at Summer Palace
9. Interior of Summer Palace - stoves to keep it warm (the irony!)
10. Nevsky Prospekt - Main Street of St. Petersburg
11. Old Soviet era car
12. Vodka tour boat ride
13. Russian sunset at 10:40pm on the Neva Rive
14. Going under one of the many bridges on the Neva River
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