Friday and Saturday, September 5 & 6
We are in Russia for two days
The pictures are:
The back of the Peterof Palace
The Church of Resurrection of the Spilled Blood
The front entrance of the Palace of Catherine
Inside the Hermitage
Friday
It’s St. Petersburg, Russia and would you have every thought that
you would get to Russia – we didn’t, but we are here.
The day started out a little cold and cloudy but improved as the day went on. We booked a two-day tour lasting all day, each day, because you could not get off the ship unless you were on a Carnival tour or had a visa. We did not have a visa.
Getting off took a little time, but no problems. The entire two days we have felt like everyone is watching us. This has been a very strange city to visit, unlike any that we had been to in the past. No matter what, this is still a communist country. They only moved to a free market society less than 15 years ago. The first thing that everyone wants is a car and traffic is terrible. This is the first country that we have visited in Europe in the last three years that really wants dollars for payment, or Euros. Even for the price of a magnet, $2.00, they will convert the price to dollars.
Anyway, after we got to on tour bus, we went one hour to Peterof, the most brilliant to all the former summer residences of the Russian Tzars. The gardens, the fountains and then inside was breathtaking.
Then we went to the Yuspov Palace, where the assassination of the monk Rasputin took place. Following that palace, we went to a restaurant which was very quaint with an all brick interior ad lots of arches. Ed ate his first caviar and really liked. Later he found out that he only liked it when it was cold, not hot.
Then we went to the Church of Resurrection of the Spilled Blood, again another beautiful church
Then we had our worst experience on the cruise. We signed up to take a 1 hour bus ride in the evening to see the Palace of Catherine; however, because of traffic, the one hour bus ri
de there took three hours!!
Built in 1710 on 1400 acres it was beautiful. During the tour of the palace, we drank campaign while we listened to music and watched dancing from the period and then dinner. The ride back was only 45 minutes. It had been a long day, so we went to bed.
Saturday
Saturday was a continuation of the tour from Friday. We started out with a canal boat ride down the canals and river of St. Petersburg. It was a little cool, but fun. After that we went to the museums of the Hermitage. These museums, which some were palaces are bigger than the Louve. We were told that if you stopped at each exhibit for only 1 minute, it would take you 9 years to visit everything in the museum. We were only there for a couple of hours, but our guide gave us the highlight tour and it was fun.
Then we went to the Peter and Paul Fortress and a guided tour inside the main cathedral which served as a burial place for the Tzars.
Back on board at 4:00pm, to get ready for the evening.
Tonight the show was at 7:30pm rather than 10:45pm.
As usual, the show was good, a singer as was the food.
We then went to the casino where Ed did well and Barb didn’t but we had a lot of fun.
We set the clocks back tonight for the first time so maybe we can get some good sleep before we get off on our own in Helsinki, Finland.
We are in Russia for two days
The pictures are:
The back of the Peterof Palace
The Church of Resurrection of the Spilled Blood
The front entrance of the Palace of Catherine
Inside the Hermitage
Friday
It’s St. Petersburg, Russia and would you have every thought that
you would get to Russia – we didn’t, but we are here.The day started out a little cold and cloudy but improved as the day went on. We booked a two-day tour lasting all day, each day, because you could not get off the ship unless you were on a Carnival tour or had a visa. We did not have a visa.
Getting off took a little time, but no problems. The entire two days we have felt like everyone is watching us. This has been a very strange city to visit, unlike any that we had been to in the past. No matter what, this is still a communist country. They only moved to a free market society less than 15 years ago. The first thing that everyone wants is a car and traffic is terrible. This is the first country that we have visited in Europe in the last three years that really wants dollars for payment, or Euros. Even for the price of a magnet, $2.00, they will convert the price to dollars.
Anyway, after we got to on tour bus, we went one hour to Peterof, the most brilliant to all the former summer residences of the Russian Tzars. The gardens, the fountains and then inside was breathtaking.
Then we went to the Yuspov Palace, where the assassination of the monk Rasputin took place. Following that palace, we went to a restaurant which was very quaint with an all brick interior ad lots of arches. Ed ate his first caviar and really liked. Later he found out that he only liked it when it was cold, not hot.
Then we went to the Church of Resurrection of the Spilled Blood, again another beautiful church
Then we had our worst experience on the cruise. We signed up to take a 1 hour bus ride in the evening to see the Palace of Catherine; however, because of traffic, the one hour bus ri
de there took three hours!!Built in 1710 on 1400 acres it was beautiful. During the tour of the palace, we drank campaign while we listened to music and watched dancing from the period and then dinner. The ride back was only 45 minutes. It had been a long day, so we went to bed.
Saturday
Saturday was a continuation of the tour from Friday. We started out with a canal boat ride down the canals and river of St. Petersburg. It was a little cool, but fun. After that we went to the museums of the Hermitage. These museums, which some were palaces are bigger than the Louve. We were told that if you stopped at each exhibit for only 1 minute, it would take you 9 years to visit everything in the museum. We were only there for a couple of hours, but our guide gave us the highlight tour and it was fun.
Then we went to the Peter and Paul Fortress and a guided tour inside the main cathedral which served as a burial place for the Tzars.
Back on board at 4:00pm, to get ready for the evening.
Tonight the show was at 7:30pm rather than 10:45pm.
As usual, the show was good, a singer as was the food.
We then went to the casino where Ed did well and Barb didn’t but we had a lot of fun.
We set the clocks back tonight for the first time so maybe we can get some good sleep before we get off on our own in Helsinki, Finland.
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