St Petersburg, Russia
White Nights
Saint Petersburg is Russia's second-largest city after Moscow. Situated on the Neva River, at the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 27, 1703. In 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad, and in 1991 back to Saint Petersburg. For hundreds of years Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia.
6/3
After our long bus ride from the Volga Dream we arrived in a huge mall parking lot with an IKEA, for some reason that struck me as odd, including the sign of an IKEA breakfast that included an egg yolk in a bowl of flour. All the buses met in one spot so we could split up into our groups and head into the city, this is also where we were joined by our St Petersburg guide Ludmila Yablonskaya.
As we drove from the suburban shopping area into the heart of the city we noticed a lot of differences between Moscow and St. Petersburg, the traffic wasn't as bad, and there was a lot more very unique buildings.
Our first stop was the stunning blue and white Smolny Convent of the Resurrection. This Russian Orthodox convent was built to house Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great. After she was disallowed succession to the throne, she opted to become a nun. However her Imperial predecessor, Ivan VI was overthrown during a coup d'état (carried out by the royal guards in 1741). Elizabeth then decided being on the throne was better than being a nun.
The convent's main church, built by Rastrelli between 1748 and 1764, is considered to be one of the architectural masterpieces of the Italian architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, who also redesigned the Winter Palace, and created the Grand Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin), the Grand Palace in Peterhof and many other major St. Petersburg landmarks.
From the Smolny Convent, we headed to the main harbour area of St Petersburg. We passed many unique buildings including the Orthodox Church of St. Alexander Nevsky. It's actually part of the Kresty prison and consists of two cross-shaped buildings (hence the name).
The harbour was a real %&$# mix of culture and sights, from historic buildings to souvenir stands, modern ships to old ships, it was a little hard to take it all in at once, I mean, where do you look?.
The Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange and Rostral Columns, were inspired by the Greek Temple of Hera at Paestum, the stock exchange was constructed between 1805 and 1810.
The rostral columns erected on either side of the Stock Exchange were completed in 1811. Seated marble figures decorate the base of each column each representing the major rivers of Russia - the Volga and Dnieper at the northern Rostral Column, Neva and Volkhov at the southern one. The Rostral Columns were intended to serve as beacons and originally were topped by a light in the form of a Greek brazier and lit by oil. The braziers have been removed and the tops of the columns refitted with gas torches that continue to be lit on ceremonial occasions. A dark and dreary day with the Imperial group wasn't one of those occasions.
From the harbour we headed over to the Island location of the Peter and Paul Fortress. The Peter and Paul Cathedral is a Russian Orthodox cathedral located inside the Fortress. It is the first and oldest landmark in St. Petersburg, built between 1712 and 1733. Both the cathedral and the fortress were originally built under Peter the Great and the cathedral's tower is the world's tallest Orthodox bell tower. The cloudy skies started breaking up for us here, that was a good sign.
The cathedral is dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, the patron saints of the fortress (Saint Peter being the patron saint of the city). The cathedral houses the remains of almost all the Russian emperors and empresses from Peter the Great to Nicholas II and his family. Among the emperors and empresses buried here was Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia for 34 years.
After viewing the Cathedral inside, we were invited into a secret small chapel in the back, and 4 Monks sang to our group. Before they started we were told not to clap when they were done, and please no pictures, halfway through one of their song chants they had to hold up a no picture sign, and a few tourists got the stink eye when they started clapping at the end. Damn tourists!
Apparently Peter the Great was an imposing figure, standing 6' 8" tall, but he had small hands, small feet, and a wee little head.
Don't ask me about these rabbits, I have no idea, but they were cute.
From Peter and Paul Fortress we loaded up the bus again, and headed past the Mint and the Armoury museum on our way to lunch. Yes, it wasn't even lunch time yet, and we had already seen so much.
As we were passing by, the driver made a stop at the Church of the Savior on Blood. This church was built on the site where Emperor Alexander II was fatally wounded in March 1881.The church was built between 1883 and 1907.
Candace in our group convinced our guide Ludmilla that we should go inside. It was a small fee that we each had to pay to get in, but boy was it worth it! A very different style church from what we had just seen, we all ensured we had no chewing-gum or ice-cream, and went in.
In order to build a permanent shrine on the spot where the assassination took place, it was decided to narrow the canal so that the section of road on which the tsar had been driving could be included within the walls of the church. At the end of the church, an elaborate shrine was constructed around the actual cobblestones on the exact place of Alexander's assassination.
Even the scale model of the church was impressive.
We had enough time for one more circle around the building before heading off to our previously scheduled lunch. I think we are all very grateful that Candace asked if we could go inside.
Those 2 pics above may look like a mirror, but they are opposite sides of the back of the church.
We weren't sure what this building was below, but it sure was cool looking. Turns out it's St. Isaac's Cathedral, now a Stone museum.
Back on the bus to head for lunch and see more of the city sights. It seems like every block in St Petersburg there is another amazing structure to see.
The imposing Hotel Astoria on this square was famous for all the wrong reasons, Adolf Hitler reportedly planned to hold a victory banquet in the hotel's Winter Garden. He was so convinced Leningrad (St Petersburg) would fall quickly that invitations to the event were printed in advance. That didn't happen, and some would say the Russian winter stopped the Germans in their tracks. Whatever you do, do not bring that up with a Russian tour guide... one of our group learned that the hard way.
Astoria Hotel 
Not a Lada
Today we had lunch at the Chekhov restaurant. Decorated as an aristocratic country-house of the late 19th century, it served traditional Russian meals like red beet borscht, and other Russian things we never heard of.
After another delicious Russian meal we loaded up for the drive out to Tsarskoye Selo (Catherine the Greats Palace & Park). Once again the drive provided a great insight into the architecture of the city, from renovations to Nuclear power plants.
Tsarskoye Selo translates as Tsar's village, located in the town of Pushkin. The estate was given to Catherine as a gift by Peter the Great in 1708, and her descendants developed it into what you see today. Currently, there are two imperial palaces: the baroque Catherine Palace with the adjacent Catherine Park, and the neoclassical Alexander Palace with the adjacent Alexander Park.
A short walk through the gardens brings you to Catherine Palace, remember what I said earlier about standing there with your mouth open?
Being members of the Imperial Group we were kind of sheltered from the massive tour groups, getting early access, and special entries that allowed us to avoid the regular hordes... that was not the case here. After turning our coats over to the authorities, we had to line up in the largest lines we have seen. As you can see, some of our group took that better than others.
Once we were inside, it was worth it... oh the grandeur! and we haven't even entered any of the Palace rooms yet.
As we worked room to room, our guide Ludmilla quietly snuck us past each of the groups ahead of us while they discussed in detail the meaning of every painting, gold plate and ceramic heater. The further we went, the less people there was, but there was still a lot.
Each of the rooms had a theme, either based on colour or purpose, the Hall of Light, the green room, the amber room, the portrait room. All of the rooms connected in a long row with a series of elaborately gilded doorways.
The most protected of the rooms was the Amber room which was completed in 1770. Due to the fragility of the materials used, a caretaker was employed constantly to maintain and repair the decorations, and major restoration was undertaken three times in the 19th century. In 1941, when German troops took Tsarskoe Selo, the Amber Room was dismantled in 36 hours, and shipped to Konigsberg in a tawdry pretense at historical fidelity. As the Nazi war machine crumbled, the panels were crated up and moved out of danger, but their eventual fate is unknown. In 1982, the order was given to begin the recreation of the Amber Room, a process that took over 20 years and cost more than $12 million. They won't let you take pictures, but here's a picture I "found", it was very, ummm, amber.
From the confined spaces with a few hundred of our closest friends, we retrieved our coats and headed outside to the gardens where we had a little more space and privacy to wander.
The small Hermitage pavilion is done in the same style as Catherine's palace, blue and white with gold trimmings. Even their ditches are a work of art. From here we walked to the far side of the park gardens where our bus was waiting for us.
If you looked closely in the wooded area, you could see old bells and statues that had been overtaken by the trees.
After an incredibly long day we were taken to our hotel, the Grand Hotel Europe, for check-in and a chance to put our feet up.
To say that it was maybe the nicest hotel we had ever stayed in, might be an understatement.
Some of our group just wanted to crash and order room service, but a group of us decided to venture back outside and look for the Kutysha Restaurant off Main Street that had been recommended by the hotel staff. It was just a short walk down the main street Nevsky Ave.
It was a cute little place, in a decorated greenhouse. Initially we were told we would have to pay a special fee because it was a show, and we should go inside their main restaurant. But after the main restaurant said they didn't have room for our group, we went back and they let us in without the fee.
We were treated to a singing and dancing group with elaborate costume changes while we ate, Andy got dragged up to dance to the traditional 'Hava Nagila' song, and we all laughed and sang along when they broke into our favourite Russian song 'Kalinka'... we were experts at that song now. While a few of us focused on colouring our place mats with the free crayons to stay awake, we all ordered a traditional Russian dish, mine was Elk... although a little strong for some, I found it quite tasty.
Every time we walked past this building near our hotel, I tried to take a picture of it, and that's when we all first really noticed... It isn't getting dark. It's 10:00 at night and it could be 5 or 6. We truly had arrived into the land of White Nights.
6/4
Luckily our hotel room had nice thick drapes to block out the light while we slept. When we woke up and headed downstairs for our complimentary breakfast, we were stunned to see the biggest craziest buffet breakfast we have ever experienced. Spread throughout this giant room was an assortment of breakfast bars, omelette bar, pancake bar, regular buffet, chinese buffet, juice bar, bread bar, fresh fruit bar... oh and a lady playing a grand piano just to round out the experience.
Today's adventures took us to the Hermitage museum. One of the largest and oldest museums in the world, it was founded in 1754 by Catherine the Great and has been open to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise over three million items, including the largest collection of paintings in the world. The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors.
Once we were inside and officially turned over our jackets, we proceeded room to room through this massive complex of the Winter Palace. Not just paintings and statues, but walls, doors and floors, and ceilings... oh my. The best part was that it wasn't near as busy as Catherine's palace, so you could take your time to enjoy it, and not be trying to look over a mob of angry tourists.
There was too much to even begin to describe the assortment of things, so I'll just let the photos flow. But this golden peacock clock can't be summarized in a photo, it's just amazing the intricate mechanics and delicate design. (skip to 1:00 mark of video to see what happens). It is so delicate, that they only let it run through it's elaborate chime once per year.
Even the views out the windows were spectacular. I apologize for so many pictures in this section, it was so hard to filter.
Just when you think you are going down the stairs to the exit, there is more.
And then it was over, we could get our coats and head back outside into the sunshine. We exited the Winter Palace into the enormous Palace Square. We didn't have long to enjoy it, as we were on our way to the Hermitage Art Gallery on the other side of the square.
Wait a second, we're going into the Hermitage Art Gallery? Weren't we just in the Hermitage Art Gallery?
We were allowed to wander on our own, so Norine and I just kept walking to absorb the more modern art aspects of this museum.
Is it bad that I enjoyed the staircases more than some of the paintings?
It's not that there wasn't a lot of art to see here, too much to spend any time with specific pieces and still see it all, but once we saw this painting, we knew we had truly seen it all. We were able to cover most of the rooms while walking at a leisurely pace.
Back outside into the sunshine, and it was short walk to lunch. You just never know what you will see in the streets of St Petersburg, a horse drawn carriage, Bugs Bunny, a golden spire, a Burger King...
Our lunch today was on the 6th floor of the Taleon Imperial Hotel, the Victoria Restaurant is known for its superb Russian and European foods, and outdoor terrace offering a panoramic view of the city center
To say the hotel was a little over the top in it's decor was an understatement, but the food was excellent and the views spectacular.
With our stomachs full, we loaded onto a Hydrofoil for a high speed 45 minute trip to Peterhof.
The Peterhof Palace is a series of palaces and gardens laid out on the orders of Peter the Great. These palaces and gardens are sometimes referred to as the "Russian Versailles". The palace and gardens are recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
From the docks it's a short walk from the shoreline into the lower gardens, but ahead you can see the Sea channel which leads to the Grand Palace, or better described, leads from the Grand Cascade and fountains of the Grand Palace to the Sea.
Hidden amongst the gardens is a collection of smaller cottages and bath houses. Instead of taking our coats this time, they give us little booties to wear over our shoes, I would find out why later.
It looks like a chandelier, but it's actually a shower head for the step down bath below it.
A couple fine examples of bathroom selfies.
Inside the Bath Cottage was a historic sauna with heated cannonballs, and a cute little shower room. We are directed into the corners of the room, and me being mister smart guy, stands beside a door for a better picture. At first it's a nice little shower from above and below the bath area, and then the floors all around us are spraying little fountains, and I literally wet my pants.
It was nice to get back outside to dry off, opposite of what our rainy days have been like. Turns out trick fountains were a little game of Peter the great, look a nice comfortable bench to sit on... SPRAY!!!
The next trick fountain was a huge hit with the kids, what looks like a cute spraying tree in the middle draws you in to the forest area, and as you step on the path, trees all around you start spraying water.
The signs for parents distracted by their kids getting wet
From the gardens you walk through another trick fountain and to the base of the interesting dragon or checkerboard cascade before walking across to the Samson fountain and the Grand Cascade..
In the 1730s, the large Samson Fountain was placed in this pool. It depicts the moment when Samson tears open the jaws of a lion, representing Russia's victory over Sweden in the Great Northern War. This masterpiece was looted by the invading Germans during the Second World War and a replica of the statue was installed in 1947.
Perhaps the greatest technological achievement of Peterhof is that all of the fountains operate without the use of pumps. Water is supplied from natural springs and collects in reservoirs in the Upper Gardens. The elevation difference creates the pressure that drives most of the fountains of the Lower Gardens, including the Grand Cascade.
We didn't take the Hydrofoil back to our hotel, instead we had our good ole bus, and a chance to see more odd sights like this submarine and mine statue in front of what appears to be an apartment building.
You know you must be staying at a nice hotel when you see these two cars parked in front. Apparently a rich Russian businessman was getting married today, and the reception was at our hotel. The movie Wedding Crashers did cross my mind, but I didn't want to risk it..
Tonight was our truly Russian Culture night, while others from our group were enjoying a folklore shore or just relaxing with free time, Norine and I got tickets to see the famous Swan Lake ballet at the Hermitage Theater.
No photos or video were allowed during the performance, and it was announced several times, but there is always those that feel the rules don't apply to them. Part of the entertainment before each act started, was watching a rather mean looking woman, that worked for the theatre, walk the room and point at their phones or cameras and shake her head with extreme disapproval. The same people would pull their phones out again later, at one point the lady rather loudly pulled a chair out into a prominent area so everyone knew she was watching them.
It's not a large Theatre, but it is beautiful, and the orchestra was excellent. Luckily Frances let us know to buy a program so we knew what the heck was going on during the different acts of the play. Our first experience at the ballet was not only very entertaining, but it made sense once you realized it wasn't just a bunch of people jumping around in tights. I did have to ask Norine if she thought the male lead would be wearing pants during the third act.
Apparently the skies do get darker during the period of White Nights, as this 'before and after' the ballet pictures show.
That was as dark as it got for our entire time in St Petersburg.
6/5
After another fabulous buffet breakfast at the hotel, our group split up for this mornings adventures. A few of them were going to the Russian Museum to look at more arts and crafts, and the rest of us were going to the Imperial Porcelain Factory which was established in 1744.
As part of the tour we had to turn over our coats, and were under strict instructions to not take any photos. Not only did we get a tour of the facility, where we could see how the porcelain was made, and painted, we also got a "Master Class" in painting porcelain. Or, as I like to call it, "here's some lousy water colour paint, wet your brush, have at it" class.
Some of us were much more skilled with lousy water colour paints than others. mine started as a scripted W, then became the Wonder Woman logo, and finally a very ugly butterfly. Norine painted pretty flowers. I ran out of time and just painted CCCP 2017 on the back of my mug to try and salvage something out of my "master class". Later that day we received our baked works of art as a gift.
We loaded up our bus to do a little more city driving and pick up our museum members of the Imperial group before heading for lunch.
One of the most beautiful buildings on Nevsky Avenue is Kupetz Eliseevs Food Hall, the statues and historical building always caught my eye as we drove past, and their window display with puppets was adorable, one regret is that we never had time to go explore inside.
Our lunch today was at Gogol restaurant, styled after Russian writer Nikolai Gogol's apartment, today's Russian dish was Beef Stroganoff. Even the menu looks like a Gogol novel.
Our stomachs full of Stroganoff, we headed to the world famous Fabergé Museum. We had already seen some of the eggs from the collection at the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow, but here we got to see some of the more famous eggs up close.
The Fabergé Museum is a privately-owned museum which was established by Viktor Vekselberg in order to repatriate lost cultural valuables to Russia. The museum's collection contains more than 4,000 works of decorative applied and fine arts, including gold and silver items, paintings, porcelain and bronze. The building looks a little grey and plain from the outside, inside it is anything but.
The highlight of the museum's collection is the nine Imperial Easter eggs created by Fabergé that Vekselberg purchased from Malcolm Forbes. The magic of these eggs was not only the intricate porcelain and priceless jewels used to make them, but the surprises inside. The very first being the First Hen egg, a simple design with a hen inside, that became the first in a series of more than 50 such jeweled eggs made under the supervision of Peter Carl Fabergé for the Russian Imperial family. It was delivered to Tsar Alexander III and given to his wife Maria Feodorovna in 1885. The tsarina enjoyed the egg so much that Alexander III quickly placed a standing order with Fabergé to create a new egg for his wife every Easter thereafter, requiring only that each egg be unique and that it contain some kind of "surprise" within it.
First Hen egg, 1885 Renaissance Egg, 1894 (Resurrection Egg beside it)
Rosebud egg, 1895Coronation Egg, 1897
Lilies of the Valley Egg, 1898Cockerel Egg, 1900Kelch Chanticleer egg, 1904
Duchess of Marlborough egg, 1902 Bay-Tree Egg, 1911
Fifteenth Anniversary egg, 1911 Order of St. George egg, 1916
The Order of St. George egg was the last egg given to the Royal Family. The 9 imperial eggs that are here, were purchased for 100 Million dollars. If you would like to know more about the Imperial Eggs you can click HERE. There was more than just eggs here, an assortment of decorative items created by Fabergé as well as other artifacts of the Russian dynasty.
Of course no visit to a museum in Russia would be complete if we didn't see some more religious Icons.
A short distance from the Fabergé museum was our final part of the tour, a boat cruise through the connected canals and rivers of St. Petersburg. We couldn't leave until everyone had checked out this cat based beauty salon though.
Hopefully this map helps you understand where we would be going as much as it helped us. We had already covered so much territory in St Petersburg, either on foot or by bus, it would be nice to finish our trip in Russia by seeing it from a different perspective on a nice leisurely boat ride. Of course as soon as we go to get on the boat it starts raining, most of our group heads inside the boat where it is dry and comfortable with large windows to look out of. But there was us brave few that stayed outside for unfiltered views.
Crazy Canadians Dave & NorineCrazy Americans Dave & Candace
Excuse me if you have seen some of these buildings before.
As we wound our way through the canals of the Fontanka and Moyka river, some beautiful sights appeared, and some not so beautiful, but it was all so interesting to see how modern culture mixed with such a varied history here. From the water, we really saw how this city was actually a bunch of islands connected by a wide variety of bridges.
From the narrow canals we entered the wide Neva river harbour.
Yes, that's a sand castle competition on the shores of the river.
It was a little sad as we left the boat and headed back to the bus, our last official tour of Russia was over. When we get back to the hotel I was checking out an amazing Rolls Royce in front and get told off by some dark sunglass wearing-oversize suit-thug looking-driver guy with a heavy Russian accent, for getting too close to the car. Finally, we end the trip on a true Russian moment as portrayed by Hollywood.
Our last order of business in St Petersburg was to get dressed up for a farewell dinner. We thought it might be for all of the Volga Dream passengers, but it was a special dinner just for us members of the Imperial Group. Such a great group of people to have travelled with.
The Imperial Group!
Back: Dave, Karl, Andy, Dave (me), Don
Front: Candace, Frances, Orlyn, Norine, Karen, Barb
Our final Russian dinner was at the elegant Dostoyevsky restaurant, and was kicked off with a final vodka shot... this one was a horseradish based vodka. Bozhe Moi! As we are recovering from our vodka shot, the doors of the restaurant burst open and the Russian Military charge into the room. Then an accordion player enters, and they all burst into song. It's the Russian Military Choir, it was truly a special experience.
They sang five or six songs to us, including one last chance to hear our new favourite song 'Kalinka', don't ask me what we ate for dinner, don't ask me if we even had dessert, all I can truly remember was this group of soldiers singing to our group, and I can't think of a better way to end our experience in Russia.
6/6
Most of our group had to leave at 3am, so we said our goodbye's to our new found friends. We didn't have to leave until noon, so we enjoyed another buffet breakfast. It was off to the airport for a connecting flight to Moscow, then on to Oslo, Norway.
One last sight in the Russian airport that truly made me laugh was these souvenir T-shirts, unfortunately they didn't have it in my size, and they were completely sold out of the Putin riding a grizzly shirtless T-Shirts.
As much as we always felt completely safe in our time in Russia, leaving Russian air space allowed us both to breathe a sigh of relief.