Saint Petersburg, Russia

The main reason I wanted to take this cruise was to visit Russia.  I had always wanted to go and I had heard that it's pretty hard to get a personal Visa to travel to Russia so I was excited the cruise ship handled all the red tape for me.  On the down side, since I didn't have my own Visa I had to stay with the organized cruise excursion group the whole time...I hated that.  I just wanted to wander around the city and explore on my own but I wasn't allowed to.  So, if you go, make sure you organize your own Visa, even if it's a hassle.  I was very surprised by how Westernized this city was.  Most of the buildings reminded me of Venice or Salzburg or Rome or Berlin.  It turns out that Tsar Peter the Great (who founded St. Petersburg) intended it to be modeled after all the architecture he had seen while visiting Europe.  So it wasn't as "Russian" as I thought it would be.  Another interesting thing I found out is that St. Petersburg is actually a city of islands, all connected together by bridges.  It was a fascinating city and I loved every minute we were there, I just wish I could have explored on my own.

We were docked in St. Petersburg for two days.  The first day we visited the Hermitage Art Museum and the Cathedral of the Spilled Blood and in the evening we went to a Russian Folk Dance Show.  It was a long but fabulous day.

The Hermitage museum is actually housed in the Winter Palace of the Tzars.

Inside the Hermitage.  Each room was beautiful because of the room itself, you almost forgot to look at the paintings.  These were some of my favorites:

"La Danse" by Matisse

"The Prodigal Son" by Rembrandt

My favorite painting was "Madonna Litta" by Leonardo Da Vinci.  I loved how the little baby was looking around while he was nursing, just like my little Julian used to do.

Very accurate picture of how we all felt after touring this museum.  It's a fabulous museum but it's very crowded and there's a lot to see, it sort of makes you tired in your mind and your body.

I love this picture with Jenn wearing her Russian hat!

After we had a bite to eat for lunch we were ready for more sites.  This is the Cathedral of the Spilled Blood and was probably my favorite site in St. Petersburg.

Do you see that artwork?  Floor to ceiling MOSAICS!  Tiny little pieces of stone put together to make these wonderful scenes...simply amazing!

The canal behind the church.  It was on this spot, in 1881, that Tzar Alexander was assassinated.  This church was built by his son to honor his father.

I loved this beautiful iron fence surrounding the church

That evening we went to a wonderful Russian Folk Dance performance.  The cruise was offering two excursions for the evening, a ballet or the folk dance.  I'm so glad we saw the folk dance.  It was so energetic and entertaining...I think I would have fallen asleep at the ballet.

My friend, Paula, wanted to sit in the very front row so she could get good pictures.  It kind of backfired on her because at one point in the show the dances came down into the audience to find someone to come on stage with them.  Paula was the first one they saw so they picked her.  She was a good sport but she was pretty mortified to be up on stage with a bunch of people watching her:)

Day two we went to the Peterhof Palace and Peter and Paul Fortress.

Peterhof Palace was Tzar Peters attempt to replicate Versailles.  It was a beautiful palace but I have seen so many palaces in Europe, I think I'm getting a bit jaded.

This is the back of Peterhof.  The fountains turned on at 11:00, just as we were exiting our tour.  It was pretty spectacular.  No pictures were allowed inside the palace, so you will just have to visit and see what you think.

One of my favorite pictures of the four of us.  Jenn, Paula, me and Jody, we had such a blast together!

We had a bit of time before our hydrofoil boat ride back into the city so we wandered around the Palace gardens.  It was still a little too early in the season for the flowers but it was relaxing to be out in the open, away from the crowds for a few minutes.

There were fountains all around the gardens.  I wish we could have wandered around for a bit longer but we had to make it to the boat on time.

I had never ridden in a hydrofoil boat before.

This is a pretty bad picture of Paula but the seats on this boat were so cool.  You sat down and you could lean back about 45 degrees.  All four of us slept on the ride back to the city.

The Peter and Paul Cathedral inside the Peter and Paul fortress.  This fortress was built as a protection against the Swedish who kept attacking St. Petersburg to claim it for their own.

All the Tzars, from Peter I to Alexander III are buried in this Cathedral.

After touring around the fortress we were taken to an area of town with lots of shops so we could get some souvenirs.  I found a Russian Nativity and I was pretty happy, it was really the only thing I wanted from Russia.

St. Petersburg was wonderful.  I really want to go back on my own (or better yet, with Hyrum) and explore all the things I didn't get a chance to see.