St. Petersburg, Russia - August 13, 2018

Did I ever in my wildest imagination think I would ever step foot on the land called Russia??? To me that experience was about as far fetched as seeing myself walking on the moon or bungee jumping. No, never! It simply would not happen and further, why???

Still, here we are, Stan Weeks and Janie Latting. Wow! The first thing that captured my attention as we walked across the deck of our ship was the beautiful sky - do see the photos. It was a mixture of sun and haze, silver and blue with big fluffy, low, low clouds. Then we began to see some of the famous onion top spires. A modern white suspension bridge was to our right and a tall, very tall glass tower of a building that might resemble a gigantic crystal Emmy statue shimmered to our left. Soooo, this is Russia??

Our tour met at 7:30 am. We wondered why but soon learned that all passengers, probably 4,000 going ashore today, must go through Passport Control. While people are parceled through this process in a fairly organized fashion, it does take time. We probably started the tour around 9 am.

A little history on the city's name . . . The beautiful city was founded on the sea and planned by Peter the Great in 1703. The new and modern city was named St. Petersburg and it was to be the new capital of Russia. In 1914 during World War I, the Russians thought the city's name sounded too German so they changed the name to Petrograd. Then, in 1924 after the Russian Revolution and 5 days after Lenin's death, the city's name was changed to Leningrad. Finally in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed, the people chose to change the city's name was back to St. Petersburg. The city was the capitol of imperial Russia for 200 years until 1918 when during the Russian Revolution the capital was strategically moved to Moscow once again. Today, however, St. Petersburg remains undoubtedly the country's modern capital of beauty, culture and sophistication.

Actually I never expected any city in Russia to be modern and up to date but St. Petersburg certainly is. The streets are wide, except between some of the older buildings whose designers and city planners never foresaw the need for wide streets with multiple lanes. Still even today, the city has a firm policy to retain its historical and cultural heritage; therefore there are no skyscrapers in the old part of the city. Some of the fantastically designed and decorated buildings that once might have been homes or palaces for aristocratic families are now warehouses, and offices. Many cathedrals as they endured Bolshevik and Soviet paradigms were changed into vegetable markets, skating rinks and warehouses. Many of these historically important buildings today are museums. St. Petersburg has over 500 museums showcasing a variety of cultural interests such as writers' works, art, history, music, military and even Russian vodka.

Peter the Great, founder of the city, was a sailor and shipbuilder. He was a Romanoff. When he came upon the area in 1703 it was a swamp on the coast. Its weather was and for the most part still is miserable. Most years enjoy about 58 days of sunshine (today was one of them) and it rains, blows and snows on all other days. When Peter the Great saw the swampy land with the deep and navigable Neva River situated on the Gulf of Finland, he envisioned a new Venice or Amsterdam. He proceeded to build a grand city; building up land mases and digging out canals. The city today stands on 42 islands connected by the river and the still vibrant, useful canals. And of course, there are many bridges which create attractive views in every direction.

The old buildings of St. Petersburg are of two primary designs, baroque or Russian Orthodox, particularly those grand buildings built by noble families. However, along the river and canals we saw some buildings that appeared to have a Spanish and Dutch influence. Because St. Petersburg was first a trading port, merchants from countries all over the world built the first grand buildings there, one design next to another, all in architecture as they brought from their home.

One of the first sights we visited was St. Isaac's Cathedral, the largest Orthodox Church and the 4th largest cathedral in the world. It was built between 1818 and 1858 is of traditional Russian Design, complete with spires and onion globes. Its dome is decorated with 100 kilos of gold and has never had to be amended. Peter the Great had this cathedral built to commemorate his own patron Saint, St. Isaac said to watch over those at sea. It was built to serve 14,000 worshipers and sadly closed in 1930 and later reopened as the Museum of History of Religion and Atheism.

We passed a very large and ornate building built by Nicholas I, for his daughter, Mariska, who never lived there at all. As we travel, it is proving true to us all that over the world rulers used the resources and the manpower of their serfs and slaves to construct great monuments to themselves, their families and their Gods. I have also come to believe the grand display of opulence and wealth was a form of defense as well. When a leader of country built grand palaces and castles, the power and strength shown through the wealth was a form of intimidation to other country's leaders who might be considering a challenge. They puffed themselves like a peacocks and virtually said, look at me! Stan and I have seen the same repeated over and over again all over the world whether in small countries, in poor countries and in the largest and most rich areas. Mankind is puzzling.

As our tour bus made a turn, passengers suddenly let out one big, Ahhhhh! Outside was the breath-taking Church of Spilled Blood which was built by Alexander III in the 19th century to commemorate the place where his father, Alexander II who abolished serfdom in 1861 was killed. While currently under renovation with scaffolding around its top spire, it was grand and is traditional onion bulb spires were fantastic. This is another of the cathedrals that was made no longer a church by the Communists. It was used for a variety of purposes including a medical center during the time the City was under siege by Germany. Today the cathedral is part of the Hermitage Museum collection of important museums citywide.

The highlight of the day was the Peter and Paul Fortress. This amazing compound built on the Neva River was the first of those built by peter the Great. The fortress was intended to protect the settlement from invading Swedes. The Swedes were defeated before the fortress was even completed. Ultimately it became a garrison. It became a prison which housed many notorious political prisoners. Within the grounds are a Russian mint, the City Museum and the incredibly beautiful Peter and Paul Cathedral - the burial place for Russian Royalty. Standing over 400 feet tall, the cathedrals' gilded spire can be seen from almost any point in the City. On top of the spire is a golden angel. I found it quite a moving sight in this city whose religion throughout modern history was so severely challenged.

Without a valid Russian VISA, visitors are not allowed to walk, visit, or shop independently. All visitors must be chaperoned by a local authorized tour guide. They like their tourist revenues though. Our tour provided a stop at a very nice but huge souvenir store selling virtually anything any tourist might want, including furs and Fabergé Egg replicas. While their cost was not like the real thing, the eggs were artful, well done and still quite expensive! They were enameled in rich red, green or blue colors and gilded in gold. Each one was hinged and held a unique surprise - some hold another smaller decorated egg, some hold a flower and some hold a pendant on a chain. And talk about nesting dolls, there were literally thousands and thousands of them. We sampled Russian vodka and sweet liquor but bought only our usual - a magnet and a print of the Church of Spilled Blood watercolor. The big attraction at the shop however was the free restrooms. Lots of people were buying things so I guess the store could offer to this supreme luxury. No, you cannot pee for free in Europe! Most public restrooms cost .5 Euro but the cost can be as high as 2 Euro. They are clean, yes, but if you don't have change, you are out of luck. This is no honor system. The door will not open without the correct coin.

Throughout the city, we noticed and remarked over and over again how very clean we found it. The streets were clean; there were no miscellaneous wrappers or bottles lying about. The gutters held no cigarette butts and the buildings and houses were neat and litter/junk free. Cheers for the citizens of St. Petersburg!

We returned to the ship at about 1 pm for lunch and a little R&R. That evening we traveled back into the city - it was lovely at night - and attended a presentation of what I'm going to call a Russian Folkloric opera. The performance was in a vintage, but very pretty gilded theatre with green walls with ornate decorative white carved molding. We walked up forty steps on a wide staircase to reach the performance hall.

Sung strictly in the Russian language to music provided by a live band playing traditional instruments on stage, the singers and dancers told a story about two young women. One was a girl from the country; the other was a sophisticated woman. Both loved the same man. The singing and dancing was good, very good! But the costumes were fantastic!!! Oh yes, the dancing included acrobatics and a circle of men doing that Russian Cossack Dance in black boots and blousy pants … you know the one in which they do squat kicks with their arms folded across their chests. Wow! I've never seen anything like it except on TV or in movies. It was totally vibrant, captivating, exhilarating! The story ended with both women getting their man, not the one they both originally yearned for but one just right for true love. What an amazing spectacle!