St. Petersburg-Day 2

August 5

We started out early again, but didn't need to get a ticket to get off the second day.  We could just go whenever we were ready. We allowed some time for shopping at the souvenir shops in the cruise terminal. They had a big selection of Russian matryoshka dolls and other things. We found many gifts to bring back home. Also found a smaller Beatles doll set that Bob wanted to get. We passed on the big SpongeBob set because it cost too much, but we did take a picture of it!

Where's SpongeBob?

Anna & Igor picked us up on time.  Today we did a lot of driving around the actual city of St. Petersburg in the morning. We drove by many sites that she told us about with her wealth of historical knowledge.  Some we stopped at briefly for pictures. I had to start writing them all down in my notebook or I would have forgotten what we saw. The first place we stopped was St. Nicholas's Cathedral.  It was a beautiful light blue color (my favorite) and had lots of gold on it.  Those of us who didn't have shorts on could go inside (I wore capris this day, yeah!).  Lots more gold inside and fancy carvings.

St. Nicholas Cathedral

Back in our microvan and we went next to St. Isaac's Cathedral.  It has the world's heaviest gold cupola. We took a group shot in front of this cathedral but didn't go in.  Across from it was a statue of Nicholas I on his horse. Behind that statue was a palace built for some duchess.  However, the statue was facing away from the palace towards the cathedral.  She didn't like looking at the back end of the horse from her windows so she chose not to live there. It now holds their legislative assembly.

Our group by St. Isaac's Cathedral

Statue of Nicholas I with palace behind it.

Our next stop was a pretty little park across from the Stock Exchange building.  There were two lighthouses, red flowers and a good view of the Peter and Paul Fort (almost our next stop).  We needed a potty break, so Igor took us to a small souvenir shop where we could use the bathroom.  I bought some Russian chocolates there and Bob found more magnets for his co-workers.

Stock Exchange building and pretty red flowers.

Interesting light house.

Then we got to the Peter and Paul Fortress.  This was the first structure built in St. Petersburg to protect it from Sweden.  Sweden was defeated before it was finished, though.  So it became a garrison and a high security prison.  We first went on a tour of the prison.  Prisoners held here were either executed or sent on to Siberia.  It was just sort of a "holding" cell.  The prison walls were very thick with lots of sound proofing because they didn't want prisoners communicating with each other. However, the prisoners came up with an elaborate tapping alphabet which they used to "talk" to each other. They also got only 1/2  hour of exercise in the yard a week and it was all by themselves, again so they couldn't communicate.

Peter and Paul Fortress.

Bob in a Russian prison cell.  I think it was the shirt that got him arrested!

Then we stood in a long line to get into the cathedral where some of the czars were entombed.  Again very fancy, lots of gold and intricate carvings.  I took a pictures of Maria's tomb because she was Danish and went back to Denmark after ruling, but then asked to be entombed in St. Petersburg.  I also took a picture of Elizabeth I's tomb, but mostly the name so Lizzy could see her name in Russian. We then had to make a trip back to the ship for one of our group members which put us a little behind schedule.

Elizabeth I's tomb.

Peter the Great and Catherine's tombs

The afternoon was spent on a visit to Catherine's Palace - again quite a drive out into the countryside.  Igor took the short, fast route instead of the scenic route, so we made up our lost time. Catherine's Palace was another huge place.  It started out small as just a two story palace but over the years was built on to many times.  Again we had to put the cute little booties on to protect the floors.  Lots of fancy stuff, gold, and paintings again.  The most famous thing there is the "Amber Room".  Amber is a famous Baltic gem made from fossilized resin and worth more than gold. The whole room is covered in amber floor to ceiling. I'm not a real fan of amber so it didn't impress me that much.  Now if it had all been covered in aquamarine gem stones, I would have really liked it. We weren't allowed to take pictures in that room.  We had to rush through the palace gardens and be on our way, so we didn't get to enjoy those.

Catherine's Summer Palace

I know those feet! (an inside joke in our group)

A ladies waiting room outside the grand hall (below). 

Three painted murals made up the ceiling of the "Grand Hall" to give it the illusion of being domed.

We had to be back on the ship by 5:00 at the latest.  When we left Catherine's palace it was almost 4:00 and I knew we had a long drive back to St. Petersburg.  We hadn't yet seen what most of us wanted to see - the typical Russian styled Church on Spilled Blood. It is the only building in St. Petersburg with the onion domes that are so sterotypically Russian architecture. It was built honoring the spot where Alexander II was killed. I thought we weren't going to see it, but on our way back Igor got us to within 2 blocks of it (it was now 4:30).  We took some quick photos and a quick potty break for one of us. I wish we had had more time to get closer and enjoy this church more because it really was spectacular. We left there at 4:45 and I was getting extremely nervous that we weren't going to make it back to the ship on time. I did NOT want to get left behind in Russia, of all places. We drove up to the cruise terminal at exactly 5:00.  A quick good-bye to Anna & Igor, a rush through the immigration gates (glad we did our souvenir shopping in the morning because we wouldn't have had any time at all for that), and we were walking on the ship at 5:05.  Whew!

Us in front of Church on Spilled Blood

We made it to supper at 5:30 although we all wished we had time for a shower.  At least it hadn't been quite as much walking as yesterday.  More drive, get out and look, drive some more, get out and look again.  All with Anna's almost constant commentary.  We got better at understanding her accent by the end of today. After a dinner of chicken for me and orange ruffy for Bob (with chocolate lover's dream for dessert), I went to the ship's photography shop and ordered our group photo.  I also bought a ship-shaped flash drive with a free digital download of the photo so we could share it with our group.  Played a game of knock rummy with the girls (and Bob G.). Bob was in the casino when I passed through on my way to bed.  I don't think the casino was good to him the whole trip.  And it wasn't even an Indian tribe that he was making a donation to, just the Princess Cruise Line.