Trip 2, Day 15: Pushkin, Catherine Palace and a Naval Tour

When last we visited the story, Alan drank 3 glasses of soda at the local fast food restaurant. By the time we made it back to our apartment, he was regretting the decision. He realized that although he had built up a tolerance to Moscow tap water and ice cubes, St. Petersburg water had a bit funkier smell (most likely coming from the many canals and rivers running through the city). Soda fountains typically use tap water that is run through a carbonation machine, then mixed with the syrup. UH OH.

It was a long night, and Alan was extremely worried he wouldn't be able to venture out to Catherine Palace the next day. After a visit to the Apteka (drug store), he decided to risk it.

Once we arrived in Pushkin, we walked about 1/2 mile to reach the gates of the palace. We could see the iconic Blue and Gold building ahead of us, but it seemed like we were going around it, rather than directly to it. Our assumptions were correct. The palace is not laid out like the rest of the city, running at an angle to everything else.


Apparently, to allow everyone equal time to visit, they separate local and international groups entrances and times


We were happy to hear that we would be allowed to take pictures inside the palace. The first room we entered was the ballroom. Seeing the decorations, patterned wooden floors, and paintings in the room were very interesting, as were the stories. Apparently, wealthy Russians like to rent out the room for wedding receptions; Elton John has played private shows there many times over the years.

About 2/3rds of the way through the tour, we saw the room Alan had been waiting for. The Amber Room. After watching 2 hour long HD specials on the room, seeing it in person wasn't as impressive. However, it's hard to have a chance to be impressed when you are confined to a 4ft wide by 15 ft long section with 40-50 other people, and are given 30 seconds to view the room before being herded on to the next area.

With walls covered in pieces in decorative patterns, the Amber Room is one of the ongoing mysteries of World War II. The Russians were unable to evacuate the walls of the room before the Germans invaded. Yet somehow during the occupation, the Germans tore down the walls and transported them out of Russia. Somehow, the knowledge of where these gigantic sections of Amber were located was lost. Through large donations from the German and Russian governments, the walls have been recreated.

Another room we visited was more disturbing than impressive. One of the dining rooms was labeled the Hunting Room. A long dining table was laid out, but on all of the walls of the room, large paintings gave an eerie feel. They were scenes of deer, rabbits, and birds laid out on tables, dead but not yet field dressed. Very odd.

The final stop on our tour of Catherine Palace was a museum dedicated to documenting the restoration process. There were many photographs and paintings of the destruction left after World War II, along with the reconstruction process. It was a stark contrast between the burned out shell found by the Russians 65 years ago, and the beautiful restoration that exists today.

Outside the palace, we wandered through the many gardens and buildings on the palace property. There were many places to visit, but between the heat, the dehydration, and the pace we had set for the previous 3 days, we decided not to explore too much.

On our way back to the city, we passed many monuments and statues commemorating battles during the siege of World War II. I believe we may have passed the only remaining statue of Lenin in the city. It seems many residents are eager to forget the days of Stalin and Lenin. Today, very few monuments remain.

Once we returned to our apartment, we rested for a few hours. The weather was starting to change, and we wondered if our final plans would be canceled. We ate another fabulous dinner at our favorite restaurant, and then made our way to one of the canals.

Our final tour of St. Petersburg was by boat. Since so much of the city is made of canals, boat tours are able to show nearly every landmark of the city. We found a tour for English speakers, and off we went. The first thing that we noticed was how gritty the tour was. Since the streets were at a higher level than the water in the canal, all of the sand was blown into our faces. Most places were fine, but there was one area where the wind was very strong.

When our boat reached the Neva River, we suddenly felt very SMALL. The river is close to 1 mile wide at that point, so many large boats travel freely back and forth. Our 40 seat tour boat was tossed around a bit, luckily neither of us get seasick. Despite this, we had a great time on the boat, and would gladly take the tour again. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, and had a very good sense of humor.

By the time we had returned to our dock, the weather was clearing up some. Since we still had a few hours of sunlight left(gotta love being within a few hundred miles of the Arctic Circle) we decided to walk to the Church on Spilled Blood.

Along with St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, this is one of the most easily recognizable "Russian" style churches. Built on the site of the assassination of Czar Alexander II, this site was more of a monument than functioning house of worship. As we toured the outside of the building, we noticed a mural that looked like Jesus flipping the double bird. Alan was more amused than Kathy was.

Our final stop before heading back to the apartment was Kazan Cathedral. We were both completely exhausted by this point, so we satisfied ourselves with taking pictures, and agreed that we'd check it out on our next trip back. Neither of us have any doubt that we will return, as visiting St. Petersburg has become a highlight of both our lives.

Since we were still about a 30 minute walk, we decided to venture into the subway system for the first time. Although not as extensive as the Moscow subway, St. Petersburg has a system that runs 6 or 7 lines. Unfortunately for us, these lines mostly avoid the historical areas. So in all of our walking around the city, this was the first time that riding the subway would be quicker than just walking there.

As we entered the subway station, we purchased our transit coins. I believe the trip cost a little over $1 US for the two of us. We dropped our coins into the slot, and made our way to the escalator. As residents of a city without subways, we weren't quite sure what to expect.

Impression #1 - This escalator was MUCH steeper than we expected. #2 - It took longer than we expected. Some of the stations are 325 feet deep!

Once we were underground, a train quickly arrived to take us to our apartment. We made our way back above ground (sighing in relief that the power didn't go out as it had a few days before), and walked the short distance to the apartment. We were a bit sad, as we would be leaving St. Petersburg the next day. However, we were also happy: We would be heading back to Kirov, to get our little guy!

Trip 2, Day 14: Peterhof, St. Isaac's, Hermitage, and Disaster at Carls Jr.

Tuesday morning, we departed on our 2nd tour in St. Petersburg, Peterhof. Built as a vacation palace for Peter the Great, Peterhof was located about 40 minutes outside of the city, on the Baltic Sea.

We met our tour guide for the day, Ivyetta. She was much older than our guide from the previous day, and had a very different outlook on Russia, and the former Soviet Union. Ivyetta was in her mid-60s, and it was fairly evident that she had been a member of the Communist Party back in the day. As we drove through the city, she pointed out many monuments, praising "the spirit of the working people", and speaking of the great architectural marvels built during Stalin's reign. We just listened and nodded.

On our way to Peterhof, we passed a palace that (former President and current Prime Minister) Putin had rebuilt in the early 2000s. It was intended as the Russian Presidential Palace, so it was currently in use by Medvedev. However, we got the impression from Ivyetta that Putin really wants his palace back.

Our first view of the palace was the cathedral (the first picture). Words and pictures cannot come close to describing how vibrant these buildings are in real life. In the bright morning sunshine, the gilded spires seemed to reach out to the sky. The day was starting to heat up, but we were very excited to see the inside of the building.

Waiting outside, Ivyetta navigated her way through large tourist groups, taking us to the front of the line. Alan's Minnesota blood was cringing at cutting in line, but as a small group, we got priority. Unfortunately, there was a "no pictures" policy inside the palace. So while we went through one amazing room after another, we were unable to take pictures of them. However, if you Google "Peterhof Palace Interior", you can see what we saw.

After our tour inside, we were led through a number of small gift shops. We stopped to buy a DVD and some books, and were amused when our tour guide received a receipt also. Soon after, she showed us where the restrooms were, and told us we would meet up again in 5 minutes. With that, she took off like a streak, back to the gift shop (to get her commission, I'm sure).



Once we were done with our palace tour, we were given a few hours to walk the upper and lower gardens. This was where Peterhof became very impressive. Hundreds of fountains and ponds are laid out in geometric patterns behind the palace. The 2nd picture shows the grand staircase, descending to an extremely symbolic fountain of Sampson (aka Peter the Great) prying open the jaws of a lion (the King of Sweden, whom Peter defeated in battle when St. Petersburg was founded).

As impressive as Peterhof was, it suffered greatly during the 20th century. During the Siege of Leningrad, both Peterhof and Catherine Palace (tomorrow's trip) were captured by the Germans. Most of the artwork and furniture inside were evacuated, but the statues and the building were not. The Germans destroyed much in the 3 years they occupied the area, smashing statues, cutting down trees, even gutting and burning down part of the palace. The cathedral that is so beautiful from the outside, is still being renovated on the inside. The German soldiers used it as stables for horses.

Eventually, it was time to leave. On our way out of the city of Peterhof, we stopped at a small orthodox church to take a picture. Churches of this style are found ALL OVER Russia, but we felt compelled to stop at every one we could. The stylish exteriors just called to us.

Once we returned to the city, we asked our tour guide to drop us off at St. Isaac's Cathedral. This worked well for everyone, as our apartment was much deeper into the city than they needed to go. Although we had already been sightseeing for 6 hours, we were very excited to see St. Isaac's up close.

There are two different areas you can tour at St. Isaac's. The one most people choose is the interior, where you walk through the church's interior. We also chose to climb the 300+ steps up to the dome exterior. This climb provided us an impressive 360 degree view of the city.


Although Alan has an intense fear of heights, most of the 300 steps are in an enclosed circular stairwell. There wasn't anything to compare to, so the only worry was keeping up with the crowds in front of and behind us. The last 30 steps were a different matter. They were in a metal cage, rising at a very steep angle above the building. The stairs were metal grates with nothing below, so we could see the building drop with each step we took. Not surprisingly, the trip back down was worse.

Inside the cathedral, we marveled at the Stone Columns, the painted frescoes, and the gilded statues that filled the building. We didn't think that church services would have been good there; with such a large open space, and so many columns, most of the building would be considered "Obstructed View".

After getting our fill of St. Isaac's, we decided that we had time to visit one more historic location. The Hermitage is one of the largest art museums in the world, housing MILLIONS of items. Knowing that we had less than an hour before the museum closed, we decided instead to enjoy the immense plaza, and admire the exterior of the building.

Finally, it was time to head back to our apartment. We hadn't planned well for food that day; Kathy had skipped breakfast, we did not have a chance to eat lunch, and snacking had been sporadic and spread out. On our walk back, we decided to stop someplace that we don't have an opportunity to visit in Minnesota: Carl's Jr.

No, it wasn't authentic Russian. We really didn't care. As we walked in and saw the signs advertising Bacon Cheeseburgers, Fries, etc., our mouths were watering. Kathy was very excited to find that fast food restaurants in Russia serve beer. So while she was happily sipping away at her beer, Alan filled his soda cup.

Ah, the taste. So sweet, so cold. Soft drinks in Russia are usually served warm, still in the bottle. Ice is provided only by request, and some servers give you "the look" if you do. Filling one of those cheap paper cups with ice, and letting the soda spray into it made Alan very happy. So happy that he drank 3 full glasses of soda while they were in the restaurant.

BAD IDEA. (To be continued)

Trip 2, Day 13: Our St. Petersburg City Tour

August 2nd:


Monday morning, we started our day with (what we thought would be) a quick hike to the apartment rental agency. The primary reason we were visiting the agency was so we could register our visas. In Russia, you are required to register each place you visit. Since we were there for such a long time, and stayed in so many places, this meant that we registered 4 times. Unfortunately, registration is not a cheap process.

On our way there, we stopped and took pictures in front of a very large monument to Catherine the Great. This picture gives a pretty good perspective, even though I was still standing about 20 feet in front of the statue.

On our way we walked through Gostiny Dvor, which is a gigantic open air mall, built in the 1750s. Kathy was tempted to stop, but we were on a timeline. At 1pm, we would embark on our city tour!

After returning to the apartment to freshen up, we made our way to a nearby "hotel" to be picked up for our tour. When we got there, we realized that the Russian interpretation of hotel is much different. We went into one of the courtyards (described in the last blog entry), and saw a sign on a door, tucked back into a corner of the building. This seemed odd to us, as there were many entrances that looked like they would have been better suited to hotel lobbies.

As we got to the door, all we saw were stairs, leading upwards. Interesting. So, we began to climb. The hotel was a locked, secured door, branching off of the stairway on the 4th floor. We rang the bell, were let in, and entered a hotel lobby about the size of an average living room. There was a smoking lounge, and then stairs leading up to the rooms.

Eventually, our tour guide for the day met us. Olga was a petite woman in her 30s with lots of energy and (we would find out later) very talented walking in high heels. She led us downstairs to the vehicle, and off we went.

Our first stop of the day was the plaza in front of St. Isaac's Cathedral. While the plaza was interesting, our focus was solely on the cathedral. Even with all of the large buildings and statues we had already seen, the size of this place was overpowering. We had a few minutes to walk around, so we took many photos, and made the commitment that we would come back before we left the city.

Next up was the cathedral of St. Nicholas. Luckily I had decided to wear jeans on our tour; the cathedral was an operating orthodox church, so guests wearing shorts were turned away. Inside, pictures were forbidden, and tourists were confined to a fairly small section of the cathedral. We spent only a short time inside, instead focusing our attention on the details outside.

As the day progressed, we visited a number of other landmarks in the city. The sphinx Olga and I are standing in front of is on a walkway bordering the Neva River. This sphinx (and it's identical twin) were imported from Egypt by Peter the Great. We also stopped at the Rostral Columns (lighthouse shaped monuments), Peter the Great's summer cabin, and a canal bridge designed by the company that made the Eiffel Tower.

Our next stop was the focus of our city tour, the Peter and Paul Fortress. Built on a small island in the river, this fortress was the first permanent structure built in what would become St. Petersburg. Olga gave us a wonderful tour through the fortress, navigating the entire time on rough cobblestone streets. Our feet were extremely sore by the end of the day, how she managed on 2" heels, we weren't sure.

The inside of the Fortress Cathedral was very impressive. It contains the tombs of most of the last line of Russian Czars, the Romanovs. Peter, Catherine, Paul, Alexander and their families each had tombs encased in marble. Kathy was a bit unnerved by the thought of it, but Alan enjoyed the visit.

We also got to see the prison cells, which housed political prisoners until the Bolshevik revolution. The cells did not have any heating or air conditioning, so summers and (especially) winters were extremely difficult for the prisoners.

The final stop on our tour of the city was the Church on Spilled Blood. This cathedral was built on the exact spot where Czar Alexander I was assassinated. We did not spend long here, as there were thousands of tourists swarming the church. Again, Kathy and I agreed that we would come back later in the week, to see the church on our own schedule.

That evening, we ventured out to find a Georgian restaurant that Kathy had read about in one of our travel guides. The Cat Cafe was very small. Situated in the basement of an apartment building, it looked like they had knocked the walls out of two apartments, squeezed in a kitchen, bar, and 8 tables, and decided that was good enough. The food was good, and there was lots of it. Kathy's order of Pelmini consisted of 6 egg-size dumplings, along with sides. We were sad we did not get a picture, as the size and decorative style of this restaurant was quite unique.

With full bellies and spinning minds, we retired to our room, ready for another long day of sightseeing.