Christine In St. Petersburg, Russia

My first night train experience ended well.  In that I fell asleep immediately and awoke in St. Petersburg.  Yes, I can sleep anywhere.  This skill is extremely useful.

On my first day, after grabbing a bite to eat, I toured the city a bit, with the tour group.  We stopped to take pictures and see the Winter Palace.  I also visited the Peter and Paul Fortress.  There, I visited the church and listened to a choir sing.

But this is not the reason to visit St. Petersburg.  Visit for the amazing history.  Peter the Great built Peterhof, the Summer Palace.  Some call it the Versailles of Russia.  It may be more impressive.  The German Army destroyed the palace, leaving only the walls up after World War II.  So the rooms were re-created/decorated.  The Russians managed to move 7,000 pieces from the palace, but lost 35,000.  The Russians buried the statues on the grounds and the Germans never found them.  The floors are wood mosaics.  The chandeliers are beautiful.

Peter the Great was truly a renaissance man.  He started the Russian Navy, was a sculptor, with his work on the grounds, a surgeon, and many other accomplishments.  He also had a sense of humor.  I believe the dogs will catch the ducks one day.  The Russian tour guide just looked at me when I said this.  Russians may not get my sense of humor.

The only bear I saw in Russia:

The other reason to visit-The Hermitage Museum.  It will probably be the best museum I ever visit.  And I have visited many a museums.  The collection is extensive.  But then, the communists took the artwork from private collectors once they took over the country.  So if you did this, then you too, would have an amazing collection.  The Hermitage has everyone-Di Vinci, Van Gogh, Picasso, Rembrant.  All great painters.  I could have spent days there.  Sadly, we spent 3 hours.  The Hermitage is located in the Winter Palace, another beautiful building.

The October (Bolshevik) Revolution occurred in St. Petersburg, in 1917.  Under the western calender, it occurred in November.  I visited the ship where they shot from.  Then I saw the room where the government was captured in the Winter Palace.  They stopped the clock at the time it occurred.

The Di Vinci collection is one of the largest in the world.  The museum has 2 paintings.  He is by far, the best painter I have ever saw.  It is said he painted the skeleton, then muscles, then skin, then clothes.   In my defense, it is really hard to take pictures when everyone is looking at these paintings.  And they are not huge paintings.  The glass does not help.

In March, while in DC for work, I visited the National Art Gallery to see an exhibit on Picasso drawings.  The exhibit included a sketch of Picasso's Violin and Guitar.  I looked up the location of the original and saw it was at the Hermitage, in St. Petersburg, Russia.  When would I ever visit there?  I said this is as close as I will ever get to the painting.  Well, as it turns out, I visited there.

The Hermitage also has a throne.

And a picture of the wood mosaic floors.  It is pure evil the Russian women walking in heels on the floor.

The Church of the Saviour on the Blood:

I decided to see whether my trip on the rope course cured me of my fear of heights.  I climbed the 43 meters (141 feet) to the top of St. Isaac's Cathedral.  If you look closely, you can see the steps near the column on the right side.  That's what we climbed to get to the top doom, which you can walk around.  Those steps were not cool at all.  But I survived.  Barely.

View of the Winter Palace from the top of St. Isaac's Cathedral

I visited St. Petersburg during the white nights.  Even at night, it seemed like it was the middle of the day.

Christine

Me being brave: