the starrs: July 2012

St Petersburg was the port on our cruise that we were most looking forward to when we booked our trip. Although it was an intriguing and very pretty city, we thought it was a little bit of a let down. I'm not sure exactly what we were expecting, or what didn't meet our expectations - we are definitely glad we went there, but we don't have much desire to go back. This is the only port where we did an organized excursion, only because in Russia you either have to have a tourist visa to get into the country, or you have to be a part of a tour group. We were on a big bus with about 40 people total, and had local tour guides. We usually prefer to explore cities on our own, and be free to stop and see what we want, so maybe the organized tour group played a part in our St Petersburg letdown.

On our first day in St Petersburg we first went through Russia's strict border control and met with our tour group to begin the drive to Peter the Great's Palace, Peterhof. The interior of this palace wasn't overly impressive, but the gardens out back were spectacular. They call it the "Versailles of St Petersburg" and I can see why! The grounds were sprawling and the fountains and all of the little buildings were beautiful. After leaving this palace we went and had a three-course lunch at a Russian restaurant - it was my first time having authentic beef stroganoff! Next we went to three cathedrals including St Isaac's Cathedral, Peter and Paul Cathedral, and The Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood. We really enjoyed The Church of Our Savior since the outside was so "Russian" in appearance - that was exactly what I pictured when I thought of St Petersburg, the colorful and vivid domes and the ever-present gold. Inside this cathedral was interesting as well since it was built on the site where Alexander II was mortally wounded in 1881. Peter and Paul Cathedral was also interesting, as that is where most of the Russian rulers are buried, including Peter the Great. The last Russian Emperor, Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, three of their five children, and four of their servants are also entombed here. Growing up I loved and was intrigued by the animated movie Anastasia, and since she was one of the children of Nicholas II I really enjoyed this site. By the end of our first day in St Petersburg we were exhausted! We were so glad we hadn't booked an evening excursion, I think I would've fallen asleep!

Our second day in St Petersburg we drove about 1.5 hours out of the city to Catherine Palace in Pushkin. It was commissioned by Peter the Great for his wife Catherine (the Great), and it was spectacular both inside and out. The building is almost 1km in circumference, and 100kg of gold was used to decorate just the exterior of the palace! There was plenty more gold inside the palace, especially in the Great Hall. The Amber Room is also in Catherine Palace, and it was an impressive site as well (sorry, no pictures were allowed in there). The panels in the room are made entirely of amber, although the existing room is actually a replica created in 2003. The original panels from the room were looted by Nazi Germany during World War II, and apparently their whereabouts are still unknown. After another delicious three-course lunch we headed to the Hermitage Museum and spent the rest of the day there. The museum consists of five different buildings, which contain over 3 million pieces of art and culture. We got to see pieces of art from many well-known painters, including DaVinci, Michelangelo, and Matisse. Although we're not always huge fans of spending half a day inside an art museum, this one was extremely interesting, especially since many of the art pieces were so well knows, and our tour guide was so informative and knowledgeable about so many aspects of the museum.

These two days were so packed full on information, but since we didn't know too much about Russian history it was all new to us, and very fascinating to see and be a part of a culture that is so different than what we are used to!