Another early morning kick off, through Immigration in a flash and heading for our canal tour of St Petersburg. The canals form a significant piece in the City's public transport system as well as being a mecca for tourists. We had slight drizzle, so were pretty restricted to the lower undercover deck. St Petersburg has had a number of floods in its history - the biggest rising to about 1M above the canal walls.
With the drizzle gone, on to Yusupov Palace, the former private residence of one of the richest families in Russia. It was the site of the 1916 murder of Gregory Rasputin (depicted in an on-site wax exhibition), has beautiful artistic interiors including a palatial 160 seat theatre.
Then to St Isaac's Cathedral, built between 1818 and 1858. It is particularly notable for its mosaics and lavish columns and decorations. St Petersburg has a lot of internal mosaic art works, as it was quickly discovered that, having been built largely on reclaimed swamp land, paintings deteriorated quickly due to humidity. St Isaac's was at one time the largest cathedral in Russia. Interestingly, the Cathedral's do not have pews - the congregation stands, around 2 hours for a "standard" service, and extending to around 4 hours for an Easter service!!!
Basket lunch today as we headed 25km out of town to the Tsarz's Village (the basket fell a long way short of yesterday's restaurant) to the royal summer estate of Catherine Palace. If we thought we had seen gold leaf, we were mistaken, because the Palace drips in it. It is literally impossible to describe in size, grandeur and extravagence. The Palace was originally presented by Peter the Great to his second wife, Catherine I in the early 18th century. A few decades later it was rebuilt to its present appearance on the orders of the royal daughter, Elizabeth I. It is home to some of Europe's most extravagant interiors, including the world famous Amber Room. About 30% of the works were removed before the Nazi occupation, but there was major damage and looting, including of the Amber Room, since re-established in its original form.
Back to the city to St Peter and Paul's Fortress, the birthplace of St. Petersburg. Originally constructed in timber over 3 months during the Great Northern War with the Swedish Empire in the early 1700's, the fortress was rebuilt in stone after 1730 to act as a military fortification. We drove over the original wooden bridge - over 300 years old. The Cathedral of St Peter and Paul is on the grounds of the fortress and is the burial place of many Russian emperors, starting with Peter the Great (1689-1725), and ending with Nicholas II (1894-1917). The remains of Nicholas II, the last Russian Tsarz and his family (dad, mum and five children) were buried beneath the Cathedral on 17 July 1998 - their 17 July 1918 assasinated (and hidden) bodies having finally been discovered.
Finished off in the biggest Souvenir Shop ever seen - but they had free vodka!
Really glad we chose to do St Petersburg with Alla Tours - very professional and with a small group of just 16 we got real value for money and had a very well versed guide who was happy to talk about Russia and the difficulties its people face today.
Good dinner again but our table numbers are down - one of the downsides of cruising is catching a cold. We have both been inflicted to a degree, but fortunately, only mildly. One of us missed the Show last night - the other had no partner to dance with to the sounds of the Beatle Maniacs!!
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