St. Petersburg, Russia Day Two May 28, 2012

   


   After our long day in St. Petersburg the day before all four of us were not sure how long we would last today! A bus ride through the city sounded just fine to us and seeing Catherine's Palace and Pavlovsk (Paul's) Palace would prove to be full of beauty and riches. 
   We were able to drive by the Mariinsky Theatre (below) which allowed me to get a picture. I wasn't allowed to take pictures at the ballet so didn't bother bringing my camera. On this day I grabbed a tiny picture but feel free to look it up and enjoy the rich centuries of history and Prima Ballerinas.

Mariinsky Theatre

Act II, Rubies stole the show!

The Mariinsky Theatre can trace its history as far back as 1783, when a Decree on the establishment of a theatre committee “for performances and music” was published on 12 July and the Bolshoi Stone Theatre was opened on Carousel Square amid great pomp on 5 October. The theatre gave the square its new name – even today it is known as Theatre Square.

I loved the tulips everywhere!

Beautiful gate! I loved the buildings and everything!

We are rested and ready to walk through the palaces today with beautiful blue skies.

A band greeted us and if we wanted pictures we could always drop a few Rubles in the hat. 

First thing we did was put on shoe booties to protect the wood floors. 

So much gold! 

Elizabeth I emblem. She loved the flowers and had beautiful gardens. I kept seeing a backwards B for Brady Bunch. :)

You could see where the candles stood inside the glass.

Porcelain heaters to warm the large rooms were works of art themselves.

This little guy is positioned in the window to wake up. He is stretching and opening his eyes. 

Beautiful cut crystal.

Not sure I could get to sleep in here.

That gold is stunning in the blue sky. I was lucky to have only one person walking around.

I wonder if the sign says no dogs. We didn't see any dogs anywhere so make me thing the sign said No Picking.

I couldn't take my eyes off the blue sky and the gold domes and light blue trim! I think I have to incorporate some of this at our new house. Ha! 

We stopped here for lunch before heading to Paul's Palace.

   Terry and Kathie catching a breath of fresh air. It got pretty warm inside.

We moved on to Paul's Palace after lunch.

Again, so much gold! Everywhere!

This fascinated me! I would never have been able to remember the sequence of the wands or whatever they are called. The end product is lace trim on top of the picture. Just amazing piece of work. Most of the sticks had jewels. 

Amazing floors. Look at the work! Reminded me of the mosaic tile work in Portugal and Spain. 

The earlier picture had the cherub waking up. This little guy is saying Shhh...

I fell in love with the ceilings! The flowers up close are wonderful! The porcelain on the chandelier is so pretty. Such details on the moldings. Really enjoyed this room. 

Don't forget about the marble. Maybe this isn't the real stuff. In Russia there is a lot of faux stuff in the buildings that seriously look real until you are close up.

I think these were original candle chandeliers. Best picture yet showing the finer details.

This would have been my choice of souvenir! Which one you ask? Why all of it, of course.

Throughout the palace there are pictures showing the destruction from WWII to compare to the room restorations. Simply amazing how they did so much work to restore it the way it was.

I would love a few of these to put somewhere in our house...not sure where!

Jesus surrounded by gold...

Missed this shot the first time the bus went by so I was happy to catch it the next time. Have to admit I didn't really enjoy trying to get pictures when the bus was turning and stopping at lights or moving up with traffic. Sometimes they were worth it, though, like this one.

This one not as good and it was a traffic circle so the bus kept twisting. I really missed Shantel and was in sore need of a massage at this point in the trip.

On our way back to the ship we stopped at a souvenir shop inside this building along the canals. I spent most of the time taking pictures since Amber isn't my jewel of choice.

Back at the ship the guys enjoy a beer and wait for the cruise director's comments as we sail out of St. Petersburg. Turned out they couldn't hear the comments on this level. Kathie and I are up one deck but it's really cold and the comments weren't that good. ha!

It was interesting to see the passengers get excited when another sub came into view.

                             Hard to believe we are going to sail through that narrow opening! The "swing arms" to close the harbor are amazing! Protection from Tsunami among other things. I though of my Dad a lot and suggest anyone interested in engineering to look this up. Try St. Petersburg Harbor.

Last glimpse of the stunning gold and colorful domes. Now we head to our next destination, Helsinki, Finland and the Ice Bar.

St. Petersburg, Russia Day One May 27, 2012

So the very first outing in St. Petersburg was to the Church of the Spilled Blood. So beautiful and amazing to see in person. I was convinced it was St. Basil's but of course, we were not in Red Square. I guess I will have to go back some day. Still made me cry with the beauty and actually being in Russia. Then I felt like crying when I realized I had no more camera battery and neither did Kathie. Her pictures didn't get transferred to our computer either. I'm still going to try and find her pictures and if I do I will upload them to the blog.

I think the picture of all four of us is on Kathie's camera.

Called Church of the Spilled Blood because it is the place Alexander II was assassinated in 1881. It's official name is Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ.

We couldn't believe all the vendors setting up right in front of the view of the church! The tiles on this church are so intricate! I could have stayed and studied them for hours. 

      So our first day in St. Petersburg began by meeting at 7:15AM and returning back to the ship at 5:30PM. We had a long day and would leave the ship again at 6:15PM to head to the Russian ballet. We enjoyed all of our visits throughout the city.
     As well as seeing this beautiful church we drove by the fortress of Peter and Paul built in 1703. Then we went to The Hermitage Museum along with thousands of Russians and other tourists. The day we visited just happened to be St. Petersburg's birthday and first night of White Nights Celebrations. There were tons of Russians out enjoying the sunshine and celebrating the holiday.
       We had tickets for the Hermitage the wait wasn't long but we had two hours in a museum that is filled with amazing treasures! We were rushed but I was thrilled to have been in the Hermitage. We did have one problem at the Hermitage with our fellow excursion passengers. Several were not in the best of shape and this particular excursion was listed as strenuous.  It stated clearly that the museum was not air conditioned and it would be very crowded with lots of walking and stairs. Many of them could not keep up with the group and the guide was particularly concerned since it is a BIG problem if anyone gets separated from the group. Visitors to Russia must have a Visa unless you are with a tour guide from the ship. Poor guide. She decided that maybe we didn't have to go upstairs to see the impressionists and took a poll. This did not fly well with me at all! I went up to her and told her that the excursion papers made it very clear it would be a hot, strenuous visit and those who wanted to skip the full museum tour clearly ignored those facts. I for one did not intend to cater to rude Americans who didn't care about anyone else's visit to the museum. One person actually said they saw all they wanted to see! The guide decided to let the others rest downstairs while the rest of us virtually ran through the upstairs section. Rushed because of her concern letting them remain on their own as well as the crowd factor. Three cheers to her for not letting them bully her and three cheers for me not letting them get away with messing with my tour!