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!