St. Petersburg, Part 1

We woke up Monday morning, looked out our window, and saw a beautiful expansion bridge that will soon become my signal that we are minutes away from our ship. Most of the time that bridge will be packed with cars and trucks and the traffic will move slowly. For now, though, we are anticipating our departure for the City Tour and the visit to Peterhof. Oh yes, it is cold and rainy today. Urg.

Our first stop on the city tour was at the Smolny Cathedral and convent. The buildings are no longer utilized as a school and nunnery; now there is a museum and an actively used concert hall.

Our next stop is at the magnificent Church of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, also known as Savior on the Spilled Blood. It is just gorgeous and we were so disappointed that we did not get to go inside. The story behind the common name is that a chapel was built on the spot where Emperor Alexander II was assassinated in 1881 and the church was later built around the chapel.

After we got back on our bus and started away from the church, we saw the cutest little Westie dog walking in the adjacent park, wearing a nice, warm jacket. Barring yelling "fire on the bus!" I was unable to get a picture, for which I was grieved the rest of the day.

Our final stop of the morning was for an extensive visit inside St. Isaac's Cathedral.

"The cathedral's facades are decorated with sculptures and massive granite columns (made of single pieces of red granite), while the interior is adorned with incredibly detailed mosaic icons, paintings and columns made of malachite and lapis lazuli. A large, brightly colored stained glass window of the "Resurrected Christ" takes pride of place inside the main altar. The church, designed to accommodate 14,000 standing worshipers, was closed in the early 1930s and reopened as a museum. Today, church services are held here only on major ecclesiastical occasions."

This gives you an idea of how massive the interior of the church is.

A view up into the top of the dome reveals the white dove, a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

After lunch in a restaurant downtown we took a short drive out to Peterhof, Peter the Great's vision for a palace in the suburbs. His desire was to emulate Versailles in its grandeur and his granddaughter, Empress Elizabeth, ordered the construction of the massive array of fountains.

An extension of the Grand Palace.

Popular fountains in the middle of a lake.

The Grand Cascade fronts the Grand Palace. There are forty-one steps on either side of the fountains.

Here is the statue of Samson wrestling the jaws of a lion.

These innocent looking fountains lure the unsuspecting guest into a sudden spray of water from the side benches. At this point in our tour we were all soaked to the bone and feeling the cold.

Back on the ship, for dinner we had the most delicious cabbage rolls called Golubci and a delightful Lemon Tart for dessert.

Early Tuesday morning we left the ship for a tour through Peter and Paul's fortress and an afternoon in the Hermitage.

Inside the Fortress stands the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul.

The art inside the cathedral is undergoing meticulous restoration.

"One major attraction is the graves of most of the Romanov rulers of Russia from Peter the Great onward. Peter's grave is at the front right, and people still leave fresh flowers on it. Also here are both Catherines, Elizabeth, all three Alexanders, Paul, Peter III, Anne - and now both Nicholases as well, as the remains of Nicholas II and his family were re-interred in the small Chapel of St. Catherine on July 17, 1998."

A word we became familiar with as we toured St. Petersburg's beautiful churches is "iconostasis."  The Orthodox church is dominantly decorated with icons, most of which were handcrafted and very beautiful. Usually the worship areas were crowded with icons - think massive in size.

After a light lunch in a restaurant downtown it was finally time to enter the Hermitage.

The Hermitage consists of five buildings. This yellow one is where we will enter for our tour. Please wait for the next post to continue on this tour!