Wed. Aug. 21, e

We had a little adventure going back to the ship. We were supposed to be back at 5:30. Our guide thought it was 5:45. Not too serious, but traffic was heavy and we had a ways to go. We came roaring up to the gate of the port and the gate didn't open. Igor backed up and went to gate 2. That didn't open either. It was now 5:25 and we were supposed to go through Russian customs! The driver and the guide just sat there and waited. No little toot of the horn, no getting out and tapping on the window, no nothing. Finally, Igor gave a tiny little apologetic beep and the gate finally opened. Only one customs window was still open. We all made it through and onto the boat. I think that they closed the doors behind us.

Ana and I were too tired to go to dinner, so we ordered room service and sat with our feet up. Sebastian, our cabin steward came in and we asked him to just make the animal while we watched. He said that he knows about 50 animals. Each day all the stewards are told that day's fold and that at the beginning of our cruise they were the easy ones. He likes it better now because they are more complicated. He was very cute showing us the elephant.


We watched the pilot leaving the ship.


And then we went to bed.

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Wed. Aug 21, d

These are small (and sometimes mansions) country houses called dachas.


Our lunch was at a restaurant named "The Summer Palace.


The menu and pictures of the food











After our tasty lunch we went to Peterhof to see the fountains. They are modeled after Versailles.


The fountains are gravity fed.





A problem the world over!


This was Peter's idea of a joke. When you ran across, you triggered sprays of water. If you know which stones to step on, you stay dry. The boys got wet.


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Wed. Aug, 21 c

It was still raining when we arrived at Catherine the Great's Summer Palace.

We were all issued yellow ponchos. That way we wouldn't have to waste time checking our coats. Elena had some big bags that she collected umbrellas in and did a mass check. We looked silly, but it worked pretty well.


We first visited the gardens. They used rocks instead of flowers. I don't know if this is a modern cost cutting thing or was done in Catherine the Great's time because flowers didn't grow well enough. I didn't want to ask, because sometimes Elena felt it was criticism.


The gardens were lovely.


The outside of the building is just painted - not gilded. This is a modern money saving thing.


We had to wear brown booties for the tour.


I like the pale blue which supposedly was done to match Catherine's eyes.


Stairs coming from two directions.


I really liked the homey touch.


The 4 princesses who were killed in 1917.


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Wed. Aug 21 b

St. Petersburg has had many names. During WW II it was Leningrad and suffered a siege of 900 days. The only food that came into the city was in winter when the Gulf of Finland froze and truck caravans crossed it. The people ate rats and wallpaper. Thousands and thousands of people starved to death. Their sacrifice helped win the war. We visited the memorial.



Notice in the last picture that it is a rainy day. We were scheduled to go to the gardens at Catherine's palace next. I mentioned to Elena that we like to see supermarkets. She looked at me like I was crazy, but the next thing was we pulled up to one nearby. We all felt that this was probably a very high end one. As one of the women commented "Whole Foods".

Nice looking meat


Tastes from home.


Lovely cakes.


I was snapping pictures all over the place. This was one of the only supermarkets world wide that didn't stop me.

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Wednesday Aug. 21 a

This is our second day in St. Petersburg. We had to be off the ship at 7am again. Our tour group is very good! No one is late. We drove around seeing new sights for awhile and then hit the metro. Because STP is built on a marsh, the stations are really far underground. We went down a very long one and then got on another. Luckily the up escalators were all working. At the bottom of each flight is a booth with a person in it making sure that all goes well. (One of the knitters had a terrible experience. A man fell on another person in her group. His arm was cut to the bone. The woman's shoulder was dislocated. She said the tour company was wonderful. The guide called the office and one person came to take the man to the hospital, another to take the woman back to the ship for an x-ray. My friend then discovered that a pickpocket had stolen her wallet with her passport, credit cards and money. She decided to go back to the boat also. Later, her passport turned up. I think the credit cards also, but she had already canceled them. The tour company gave everyone a bottle of vodka.)

Our visit was uneventful. We got on, rode two stops and got off. No one got lost.



The decorations in the metros are very elaborate. Mosaics and statues everywhere. One thing that was very noticeable was that no one smiles.


They are everywhere.


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Tues. Aug. 20, f

Dinner: apple and pear salad


Flank steak on polenta


Cake


Our dog towel


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Tues. Aug. 20, e

Our final stop for the day was at the Peter and Paul fortress. Here is Elena with her DenRus sign waiting for the 16 of us to gather. We were going in the yellow building which was a church. The smaller building was built to house Peter the Great's boat. (He liked to have buildings protecting his rather mundane things. He lived in a log house while St. Petersburg was being constructed. There is now a brick building surrounding it.)


The Royal family is buried here.


This room is for the last tsar and his family. They are under the white marble tomb.


And of course there is gold.


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Tues. Aug. 20, d

The Church of the Spilled Blood was the first stop in the afternoon. It was built on the site of an assassination of a tsar. (They all run together after awhile, because they only seem to use 3 names and most of them die badly. This one had his legs blown off.)


In the style of orthodox churches there are icons everywhere. Everything else is crusted in gold. There are no seats and the services last up to 4 hours.


Outside, there was a bridal car AND


The bride. I know she wasn't in the church - I don't know if she was just wandering around for photo ops.


At every place we visited there were people in costume willing to pose with you for a tip.


Across the street from all of this action was a bazaar. My friend who booked the tour had told me that I could bargain here and pay in dollars. It worked. The vendors asked, "How you want pay? Rubles? Dollars? Euros?" Then they would name a price. I offered lower and we dickered. I probably could have done better, but the tour was going to leave.

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Tues. Aug. 20, c

Lunch was a three course affair with wine at a nice restaurant named Le Gran



We started with a green salad. Then had chicken on rice.


And finished with cake. We could choose white or red wine or beer.


I have been noticing that portapotties look exactly the same the world over.


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Tues. Aug 20, b

St. Petersburg is a planned city built on a delta, so there are rivers and canals all through it. Peter The Great originally did not want any bridges. He wanted everyone to use boats to get around. He gave boats to the nobility! The middle class had to buy theirs and the poor people had to build their own. Now they have bridges, but many of them are draw bridges that open during the night, so if you stay out too late, you can't get home.

This is the Winter Palace.


Lots of gold again. Somehow, it looks much gaudier that Versailles.


These are plates that were created with pictures of brides. Had to get my bride fix in.


Palace Square had pretty blonde girls driving the carriages.


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