Great show last night, the Beatle Maniacs, apparently Princess' most popular show and it was easy to see why. Theatre was full and they had the audience in the palm of their hands with a show full of the Beatles greatest hits.
Early morning arrival into St Petersburg and the much feared very early enxounter with Russian Immigration. It was really quite a breeze and we were on the road with day 1 before 8am (fair to say that Russian Immigration officials are stony faced and, despite my best efforts in four encounters over 2 days, I could not get anything like a smile cracked). Our time in St Petersberg is with a Russian tour company, Alla Tours. Our guide has been excellent, getting us through queues and extremely informative - in her other life she is a University language lecturer. Our driver is also very efficient, but could have had a career in Immigration. There are at least 4 other cruise ships in town, so things are busy.
Started our day with a couple of photo stops then took a short subway ride. St Petersburg has a comprensive subway system and while we travelled on its newest section (about 6 years old), it was stunning, beautiful stations decorated in huge mosaic murals. The platform at which we alighted was 120M below ground - and it took around 6 minutes to come up via two extremely long escalators.
Off then to the Hermitage Museum, one of the five largest art museums in the world - more than 3 million exhibits of the finest collections of all main European artists and art schools. The collections had originally been started by Catherine the Great. If you spent 1 minute looking at each exhibit, it would take 6 years to see the lot.
Next, to The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, built on the site of the 1881 murder of Emperor Alexander II (and with some of the cobble stones on which he was murdered highlighted inside). This is one of St Petersburg's most stunning and iconic buildings. It has already been obvious that St Petersburg is the world capital of gold leaf.
Lunch then at a local restaurant in a beatifully preserved old building - soup, chicken kiev and apple pie, with some enjoyable Russian beer, before catching a hydrofoil for a 30 minute ride to Peterhof Palace where we toured the Lower Fountain Park and Upper Gardens. Peterhof is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was built by Peter the Great in the 18th century (rebuilt after the ravages of WWII) it is a huge complex of palaces, gardens and waterfalls and one of Russia's most famous tourist attractions. An absolutely stunning site, and one we were so lucky to see in beautiful sunshine. It is simply impossible to describe, but once again,gold leaf everywhere, including the multitude of waterfalls, many of them grandiose.
St Petersburg is a city of contradictions, built on the Neve River and with a labyrinthe of canals like Venice, it has many wide boulevards and many very big parks, a lot of vehicle traffic (very cheap petrol), quite clean and very little graffiti. On the one hand, full of very grand old palaces, castles and buildings that would challenge Paris if restored, and on the other, huge numbers of soviet style 50's and 60's apartment complexes that are bleak and evidence much concrete cancer.
Back on board for dinner and a Russian Folk Show - another sell out night in the theatre.
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