St. Petersburg July 10

One of the reasons we scheduled this Celebrity Constellation cruise was because there were two full days in St. Petersburg. On our second day we took about an hour's drive out to a summer palace, Peterhof.
This was another UNESCO World Heritage site (Cahokia Mounds near St. Louis is also one; here's a complete list of World Heritage sites for those who are curious)We didn't really tour the palace or any of the upper buildings, but walked around the gardens---the photo above shows the Bay of Finland through the trees.
The hundreds of fountains and waterfalls here are all from gravity---no pumps.
Obviously, we took a ramp down the hill---thanks to Jim and Debbie, Dave made it down safely.
We did tour Monplaisir seen in the background, but no photography was allowed---it was a like a Czarist-style "beach house" overlooking (and benefiting from the cool breezes from) the Gulf of Finland. This was near Lomonosov which is where our grandson's orphanage was.
We went back to St. Petersburg for lunch at Pon Eiffel Restaurant. Although the food was good. .
Jim and Dave weren't too happy with the napkins.
The afternoon was spent at the Church of the Spilled Blood.
At last there was a handicapped entrance. . . .sort of. . .
OK for someone in a wheel chair, not so good for someone with ambulatory problems---still no handrails. And, what about the person pushing the wheelchair? My brother is demonstrating how he would go up. . .
This was never a real church---it was built to memorialize Alexander II who was assassinated on this spot.
I was surprised to read on Wikipedia: "The Church contains over 7500 square metres of mosaics—according to its restorers, more than any other church in the world. This record may be surpassed by the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, which houses 7700 square meters of mosaics."



When we returned to the ship, we found a German ship next to ours. . .
For some reason, we were amused by one of the phrases painted on it.

Peter, Paul and "Ferry"

Around the corner from the Hermitage is this building. . .for some reason I was attracted to it.
Apparently rubbing the feet increases your fertility and insures a healthy baby. . . not THAT attracted to it.

After visiting Hermitage, we went to the island where the Peter and Paul Fortress is where we had lunch at Austeria.
We (Jim and Deb are pictured above) had salad with smoked salmon, soup and beef stroganoff with mashed potatoes.
There are other places to eat there---not sure what the name of this is ("Botardo") but I liked the mix of English and Russian in addition to the map of the fortress. I did read a review that said the Anarchist restaurant was terrible---what did they expect from a restaurant where Anarchy reigns?


Here we are heading for the Fortress---the first settlement of St. Petersburg which was established in the early 1700's.
Within the Fortress is the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

This was another beautiful cathedral which is primarily the final resting place of the czars.

Here is a room dedicated to the remains of Nicholas II, Alexandria and their children---the last reigning Romanovs. Although DNA testing has been done on remains that were recently found, one of the children has no death date because they haven't yet found her remains.


We had a practically private "performance" by monks---their chanting was very moving. (Yes, another of my famous under 30 second videos)
We headed back near the Hermitage, where we boarded a sight-seeing boat.
Could her skirt be any shorter? This does, however, show how warm it was---in the 80's.


We went by the Eiffel Bridge. . .

Many beautiful buildings . . .
And a few ugly, Soviet-era buildings.
So, are English-speaking people the only ones who stand when passing . . .
Under a bridge?

I'm pretty good at understanding international signs, but does this one mean there's a zone for older children to push younger ones?
While we are on the subject of signs, do you know what the sign beginning CT. . says? My sister-in-law said it was easy when I read it. . .OK, so you knew that sign spelled "Stop"---what about this. . . .

English translation: "St. Petersburg Telephone"---see that two week class I took in Russian 20 years ago is paying off. . .

Hermitage and St. Isaac's

St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia is on a huge square with. . .
a statue of Czar Nicholas I with his wife and three daughters seated around the base.

Nearby is also the Astoria Hotel.


But the real jewel is St. Isaac's Cathedral. The dome is covered with pure gold and was applied with mercury which resulted in the deaths of some of the workmen. The columns are made of jasper marble.

The dome on the inside has a white dove in the very top which was removed during the Soviet era and replaced with a Foucault's pendulum. During that period, the entire cathedral was made into a museum of atheism. . . .
These green columns are also precious stones like the exterior ones are. This is the only stained glass window in a Russian Orthodox church.
In addition to the beautiful window, columns and dome, there were beautiful paintings and mosaics.
One painting is also a mosaic.

The Hermitage and the Winter Palace was our next visit (there may be other great videos on YouTube, but here's one of my famous "under 30 second" clips:



The Hermitage, like the Louvre, is double pleasure: art museum and palace.
This hall has portraits of 332 generals who fought in the War of 1812. Occasionally there is just a blank canvas of a general who was killed in the war. Here's a virtual tour.
Again, we saw magnificent mosaics---this one was quite small.
As well as famous artists like Leonard da Vinci. . . .
and Rubens---who knew he painted Rubenesque male figures, too!
But, I am more of a student of archetecture than art---just the space was magnificent!

The interiors. . .
The views. . .

And the exteriors.