June 23 – St. Petersburg, Russia

What a city!!!  After two very full days with a tour group (our 12 plus 2 more) and our excellent guide, Oxana, we know so much about St. Petersburg and its history. Oxana’s English was very good which really made the tour!  Where Tallinn dates from medieval days, St. Petersburg was founded around 1700 at the mouth of the Neva River by Csar Peter the Great, who hated the city of Moscow, so created a new capital.  At the time, Russia was at war with Sweden, a very powerful nation in those days.  The new city began as a fortress and Peter learned how to build ships from the Dutch, using them to defeat the Swedish navy.  He then set about designing many grand buildings to celebrate the victory.  Subsequent csars added more grandiose palaces and public parks.  We all feel we can understand why the citizens of Russia chose to overthrow the Romanovs (Peter’s family name) in 1917 – so much decadence by the elite must have been hard to stomach by regular folk.  What surprised me was how much money the Communists have spent over the years restoring the grand buildings to their original glory – for example, during WWII, the Nazis lived in Catherine’s Palace, the most spectacular of the buildings we saw.  It is outside of the city so was occupied by the Germans who used the gold gilded moldings and decorations as firewood then set the whole place ablaze when the Russian army closed in on them.  One room alone has cost over $20 million US to restore!!!!  And there are many, many rooms in the palace.  Many of the churches were used by the Communists for storage or offices, etc but all the finery was preserved and /or restored when they were opened as museums over the years.  Now, St. Petersburg, a city of 5 million people, is known for shipbuilding, car assembly plants, and many, many tourists from cruise ships!!!  Still, it was a wonderful two days as we rode on a hydrofoil, and another boat, ate Russian food for lunches (stroganoff, borscht), toured the Hermitage (largest art collection in the world with over 3 million items, 7% of which is on display!), toured ornate Russian Orthodox churches, walked Peterhof (Peter’s estate outside of the city),  saw a bit of the countryside and suburbs.  Many, many ugly apartment buildings, some with crumbling concrete, dot the city – such a contrast with the gold-covered palaces, fountains, etc.  Truly a place that has to be seen to be believed!!  Our photos will not do it justice but…

Our group in St. Petersburg - Wilf and Aileen, Joann and Wayne, Shon and Les, Dave and Linda, Ted and Marilyn, Wayne and Nancy plus a couple from Chile who were on our tour in Russia

Palace for receptions in Peterhof

Landscaping at the palace; all that glitters is gold

Main ballroom at Catherine Palace, outside the city and occupied by the Nazis in WWII

a group learning to rollerblade outside of the Hermitage art museum.  This building was Peter, the Great's, Winter Palace, in the city

Oxana, our guide, in St. Isaac's cathedral, filled with mosaics