We were up early for our tour. One of the first off the ship, but we got in the slow line and
the lady at immigration was only taking one person at time and taking 3-5
minutes per person to clear. This caused
us to get a late start. The guide is
very good and the day went pretty well except for the traffic we got caught
in. The driver tried everything he knew,
including U-turns to get us from place to place.
We started off with a ride on the St. Petersburg subway. The subways are located very deep in the
ground, around 300 ft. They go under
rivers and of course buildings. The
interior of the stations are beautiful, with pictures, statue, marble and
mosaics. The stations are very clean and
it gets you in a good mood for the ride.
The escalators up and down move very fast and yet you had to stand to
the right side of them as some, as our guide called them “crazies”, ran down
them.
From the subway we headed out to Peterhof’s Palace. The ride took awhile and it started raining
just as we got there. The inside of the
Palace is almost beyond description. The
rooms are breath taking in their beauty.
The gold and crystal in the rooms are amazing. The Czars knew how to live. After touring the Palace we went down into
the gardens. There are a lot of
fountains and beautiful flowers, trees and statues. The fountains are fed by a unique
system. There are no pumps
involved. Springs above the Palace feed
lakes in the area and from them the water flows though ever decreasing sized
pipes until it reaches the fountains.
Slews gates control the flow, but it is all done naturally.
After leaving Peterhof’s we went to a very nice
restaurant. Here we had a salad of
tomatoes and cucumbers, borsch (Beet soup), stroganoff and a light flan type
desert. To start the meal we had
Champaign. The restaurant was very fancy
and we felt we were living “high on the hog.”
Leaving the restaurant we had a long ride back into the
city to visit the Cathedral; the Church on the Spilled Blood, true name The
Church of the Resurrection. This Russian
Orthodox Church was built on the site of where Alexander ll was murdered. The site of the murder is marked by a special
chapel. The blood stain is still visible in the chapel. A note about Russian Orthodox services; they
can be up to two hours long and there are no pews, except along some walls,
which are reserved for the old and invalid.
No more complaining about long services at home.
From the Church we were stuck in traffic for long periods
of time. We finally arrived at The
Yusupov Family Palace. This was the home
of a very rich family who were close to the Czars. It was in this house that Rasputin was
murdered. He was poisoned, shot five
times and thrown in the river. It was
later discovered that he had drowned. A
hard man to kill.
We departed Ysupov’s Palace and again fought the traffic
to St. Isaacs’ Cathedral. This is a
massive Cathedral, it covers 13,000 square feet. It has a golden dome and when you look up at
the dome, from inside, you can see a dove which is lit by small windows in the
cupola that you cannot see.
Leaving here we again fought the traffic and returned to
the ship. Tired, but happy with a very
enjoyable day. The Russians make you
stand in line to get into the country and get out. Very cumbersome procedure. They checked out van to make sure we were not
smuggling someone onto the ship.
The first day in St. Petersburg was awesome. We are back in our cabin tired, but anxious
to see what is in store for us tomorrow.
Tomorrow we start a little later and have a shorter day
as we leave for Finland around 5:00 PM.
HISTORY LESSON:
PETER THE GREAT
The history of St. Petersburg is also the history of
Peter II, or Peter the Great an Emperor of the Romanov dynasty. The Russians call their Emperors, Czars and the
ladies are called Czarinas. He became the Czar, sole ruler of Russia, in 1694. After his reign Russia was never the same
country.
Peter traveled around Europe visiting, Austria, German,
Holland and England. The trip took two
years and had a dual purpose: to find allies for a war against the Ottoman
Empire, as well as to see and learn about Western tendencies and
inventions. He studied shipbuilding in
Holland and worked four months as a carpenter in order to learn each step of
planning and construction.
In those days Russia was a very closed, backward and
isolated country. The Russian capital was
in Moscow, a long distance from the sea.
Russia needed a good port.
Peter found a location along the shores of the Gulf of
Finland, and on the 27th of May, 1703, he laid the foundation stone
for the Peter and Paul Fortress. The
town was dedicated and named after Saint Peter, the Savior Saint of the city.
After this, things developed fast. To get a good start on the city the best
European architects were invited to move to Russia and challenged to design
unique public and governmental building, residential palaces, churches and
cathedrals, university, museums, wide streets and boulevards, city squares and
parks, canals and bridges, a new naval base, Kronstadt, located on an island
outside the city was also started.
Naturally Peter constructed a seaport.
This all took place in the 1700’s.
In 1712 the capital was moved from Moscow to St.
Petersburg. The Czar and the entire
Russian nobility moved with it.
It is correct to say that Peter the Great modernized
Russia. He introduced the 1700 fashion
from Europe, he introduced a law requiring men and clergy to cut their long
flowing beards, he stopped arranged marriages, and introduced a Julian
calendar. He started many new
industries, renewed education, and since he now had a port, he also established
a Russian military navy.
In his personal life he married twice, divorcing his
first wife Eudoxia on false adultery charges and forced her to become a
nun. Then he married Martha
Skavronskaya, not a Russian but a Lithuanian woman with a questionable
background. This women he truly loved. Martha later converted to Russian Orthodoxy
and changed her name to Catherine. She
inherited the Russian throne after Peter’s death, and became the Czarina. She built Catherine’s Palace as her summer
residence.
Peter was a brilliant man and had interests in many
different disciplines. He was a thinker
and planner, and hired men to carry out these ideas if he did not have the
skills.
Pictures of the First Day
