SAINT PETERSBURG

This place is AWESOME. It oozes Russian and Soviet history on every street. Our first stop was the Fortress of Saint Peter and Paul – dark in the late afternoon rain but strategically placed on the dark and brooding Neva River.

Inside the Fortress of Saints Peter and Paul

The Tomb of Alexander the Great

And here are housed the tombs of the Czars –  Nicholas, Peter the Great, Catherine and their children amongst others. The Venice of the North, the Window to the West, Saint Petersburg to Leningrad and more recently back to St Petersburg:- this has been known by a number of names from its early history to the history under Stalin to a more liberal western connection. But it remains the same: stoic and resilient.

Palace Square and Alexander's
Column

Monument to Nicholas I

The Museum of the Seige on Leningrad of 900 days during 1941 – 1943 is a salient reminder of the harshness and the resilience that the people here have had to endure. The canal trip was interesting: open deck boat but raining and driving rain at that – so difficult to get outside. Open windows  - good for some camera shots – until the boat turned and the rain drove in that way. But all was relieved by samples of champagne and vodka, to help wash down Finnish chocolate provided by the tour director. This was a prelude to the Stolle pies we were given to taste a couple of days later: salmon, berry and cabbage – interesting array but the berry pies were delicious.

There are palaces everywhere - one of which we went to last night to see a Russian folklore dance/music show. Mixed up with all that secular history is the history of Christianity - Russian orthodox version. And its not just religion thats in your face but the art and gilt - and loads of it. The Orthodox Church of the Resurrection of Christ – the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood with its ornate finery attracting attention from all around. And the inside of the church was no exception.  The Church of St Isaac – another Russian Orthodox Church and again the artistry of the interior was a mass of colour.

Managed to get to a Mass in English this morning before setting off to do our own exploring. The rest of the group went elsewhere. We have had two gloriously fine days here although there was a chilly wind today but they say there are only 60 fine days a year and we've been lucky enough to have had two of them.

St Basil's Cathedral
The Saviour on the Spilt Blood

The day we arrived it rained - grey and cold but perfect since then. We have been able to find our way around trying to read Russian syrillic script and have learned enough (good morning and thank you are enough to bring smiles to faces especially young people who have more English than the older people) to know where we are going. However most of our travel has been with a guide. If you are prepared to make a very basic effort to recognise the Russian alphabet you can see a number of similarities with English. Coming into Russia via the Finnish border was slow - but according to our tour director. Jenn, it was much faster than normal. No-one seemed to want to get things going at customs. We waited in a concrete grey hall with 4 customs entry points. Eventually a woman came out and opened one gate and about 20 mins later another arrived to set up a second entry point. Guess there were about 80 of us just waiting.

The Venice of the North

St Isaac's Cathedral

                      

Anyway we got through and tomorrow we're heading to a place called Novrogod - didnt mean much but apparently it was the first capital of Russia. So quite important historically. Really enjoying our Russian experience. Would love to bring a field trip here but.....don't think too many of our kids would be into the history component. Managed to sneak in a bit of relaxation today so hopefully will feel a bit less tired when we head towards Moscow in a couple of days time.

Memorial to the Living and the Dead from the Siege of Leningrad