Today we started an hour later, and found out we were
still ½ hour early. There was no line to
get through immigration and the officers were much quicker. The day is sunny and nice temperatures. This is what we wanted for the whole trip.
Leaving the ship we headed down town to a souvenir
shop. Judi and I picked up some
trinkets, but some of the group spent some good money here. They offered samples of Vodka and Cranberry
Vodka. Cranberries are good for you so I
had two.
From the souvenir shop we headed to Catherine the Great’s
Palace. This was the summer residence of
Catherine and her daughter Elizabeth, who reigned as Empress of Russia after
Catherine. Catherine started the palace,
but Elizabeth is the one that created the grandeur that we see today. It was under her guidance that it could
rightfully be called Tarskoye Selo “the Czar’s Village. The rooms are magnificent and decorated with
silk wall coverings, crystal chandeliers and the woodwork covered in gold
leaf. We moved from room to room with
only the color or pattern of the silk wall coverings changing. The most magnificent room was the amber
room. The walls of this room were covered
with amber. Not a few pieces, but the
whole walls, plus the woodwork was again covered with gold leaf. Very nice.
From the Palace we moved to the gardens, which were nice,
but not anything close to what we saw at Perterhof’s palace. We continued from the gardens into the
Carriage Museum. Here we saw Royal
Carriages from different periods. Each
Czar had their own idea of the coach they wanted. On long trips, like going from St. Petersburg
to Moscow, which could take two week or more, they had a potty coach. When traveling long distances, the caravan
could be quite large, as they would bring their ladies in waiting, man
servants, cooks, maids, other officials.
Leaving the Royal Carriage Museum we headed back to the
city. Another fine restaurant and meal
awaited us. Instead of Champagne we had
a glass of wine. Red or white, our
choice. The meal was quite good and the
atmosphere in the restaurant was very nice.
We left the restaurant and headed to the Hermitage
Museum. We spent two hours there and saw
lots of famous paintings, (Da Vinci, Rembrandt, and Raphael) and many others. It is a wonderful art museum, but very large
includes five buildings. Returning to
the ship we headed for our cabin. Once there
we picked up some cheese, crackers and a drink and headed for the deck. We sat out there for quite awhile in the deck
chairs with a blanket over our legs.
We were delayed leaving the dock, as we had to wait on
some late buses. They kept calling for
two ladies, but I do not know if they got on board or if we left them. Sailing out of the harbor we passed an abandoned
Secret Russian Submarine Base, named Kronstadt. We heard in the earlier days, the crew would
distract the Harbor Pilot and a crew member would take pictures. They said that MI5, the British Secret
Service, enjoyed receiving them.
Tonight should be a good night as we turn our clocks back
and hour.
SOME FINAL THOUGHTS ON St. PETERSBURG
This was the best port that we visited. The sights we saw were breath taking, the
people we met were very friendly and the guide and tour that we took were one
of the very best we have had. Our guide
was not a big lady, but she was a strong Russian no nonsense woman. Her knowledge of both history and art were incredible.
The palaces and churches were very beautiful. However as much as we enjoyed them, after
seeing pictures of what they looked like after the Germans left, we wonder how
much this cost the nation of Russia. St.
Petersburg was under siege, from the German Army during WWII, for about 900
days. Around 650,000 people in the city
died, many from starvation. Peterhof’s
Palace, Catherine’s Palace, the Hermitage and many churches were severely damaged
during the fighting. They are both now
showcases and very beautiful, but the cost must be staggering. Just redoing the Amber room at Catherine’s
Palace would bankrupt some small nations.
These remarkable people have survived, despite unimaginable
suffering. There is no better testimony
to the resilience of the human spirit.
Of all the ports we visited on this cruise, this is the
one, if given the chance, we would visit again.
Pictures
Pictures
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