July 14 – St. Petersburg, Russia
Today was a busy day. We started off early with a tour of St. Peter & Paul Cathedral. The Cathedral is on an island (Basil Island) with only 3 streets (Large Prospect, Small Prospect and Little Prospect). The Cathedral is the oldest church in St. Petersburg and the bell tower is the tallest structure in St. Petersburg (310 meters). It contains the tombs of many of the rulers from the Romanov Dynasty. The Cathedral is surrounded by the Peter and Paul Fortress. In this Russian church there are no seats, so during mass the Russians would either stand or knee. The altar area was under renovation so we really couldn’t see too much of the altar.
We next went on a canal boat tour, where we learned more about St. Petersburg while sipping a glass or two of champagne (at 9:00 am). We saw a ship called “Aurora” that is over 100 years old. It saw service in three wars and is now a museum and cadet training facility. The rooms inside are kept as they once were.
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| Aurora |
After the boat tour, we went to The Hermitage Museum. It is huge. It would take you over eight years to see everything in the museum and that is if you only looked at each exhibit for one minute. We spent about 2 hours in this museum and it was really crowded. We were only able to see a couple of the highlights of the museum, such as,” Madonna and Child” by Leonardo da Vinci and Rembrandt’s “Return of the Prodigal Son”.
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| "Madonna and Child” by Leonardo da Vinci |
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| Rembrandt’s “Return of the Prodigal Son” |
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| Throne Room |
Lunch today was at the “Eiffel Bridge Restaurant” where we had champagne, vodka, caviar, salad, soup, fish (my favorite, not really), potatoes and ice cream. No Russian dancers today. The restaurant is located across from a bridge designed by Gustave Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame. After lunch we drove past the Palace Square, which has the Winter Palace.
Our next stop was to the Church of the Spilled Blood or Church of the Resurrection of Christ. The church is built on the site where the Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881. The church has five cupolas topped with the onion-shaped domes. The church is redbrick with many colorful ceramics inserts and mosaics. It was absolutely breathtaking as you walked into the church. The walls and ceiling are covered in over 300 amazing mosaics. This was the most amazing church we have seen so far. Our pictures do not do justice to the inside of the church. This is a must see if you go to St. Petersburg.
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| Canopy over the spot where Alexander II was killed |
We then stopped at St. Isaac Cathedral. The central dome is one of the largest in the world and covered with 220 pounds of gold. It took 35 years to build the church and it has taken them 37 years to restore it after the war. Under the Soviet government, the building was stripped of religious trappings, then turned into the Museum of Scientific Atheism. Looking up at the cupola, there is a white dove sculpture suspended at the center. There are huge granite pillars on the exterior of the church. Two of the pillars were not restored after WWII and they show the bullet damage to them.
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| St. Isaac Cathedral |
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| Dome with Dove at the center |
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| Bronze doors |
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| Bullet damage to column |
Our final stop was to an outside market for any last minute shopping before heading back to the ship. The nesting Russian dolls were being sold everywhere. We had a beautiful sunset that evening as we sailed out of St. Petersburg. A great way to end the day.
Tonight was Country Western Dance Night. Not too many people in the bar, but the ones that were there were doing line dancing instead of the two-step. Evidently there were not many two-stepping Texans on the ship, but we managed to dance the two-step.
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