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MeznG. In the air, on the road, river or sea again
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Location Date North America 1462662000 South America 1462575600 Asia 1441580400 Europe 
1410562800 Oceania 1377817200 -
Location Date Russia
1410562800 Ireland 1375138800 UK 1374966000 Norway 1374706800 Denmark 1374274800 Germany 1374188400 Sweden 1373929200 Finland 1373842800 Estonia 1373583600 Turkey 1348959600 Czech Republic 1316041200 Hungary 1315782000 Slovakia 1315695600 Austria 1315609200 Netherlands 1314745200 -
Location Date Korsakov 1410562800 Saint Petersburg
1373756400 Peterhof 1373670000
Not such an early start today but still we were up at 6.
Another full day of touring and thankfully another beautiful day.
We start by doing a bit of a drive through the city looking left looking right another palace or church or monument. Peter the Great in his wisdom decided he wanted to move the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg and in doing so a lot of the canals were filled in to make the streets.
We take a subway ride from one side of the city under the river to the other side. The station is 120m underground and they are ornately decorated with mosaics depicting various scenes depending on the location of the station.
Back at street level it's back on the bus to St Nicholas Cathedral, it's Sunday so we are mindful of people going about their normal worship. The Russian Orthodox churches have no seats. During mass that can sometimes go for 4 hours, the people stand or kneel, they must not sit.
We have early admission to the Hermitage Museum, part of which is the former winter palace. It is a place that you could spend days going from room to room looking at the collections of artifacts and paintings and tapestries and listening to the stories that go with them but thankfully we only have 2 hours!
Today we have Russian Pie at Stolle's for lunch. They are quite tasty but the 'pastry' is like a bread and has a sort of sweetness to it. The afternoon is a visit to the Church of our Saviour of the Spilt Blood, built as a memorial on the spot where Emperor Alexander II was assassinated on March 1, 1881, Yusupov's Palace and the place where Rasputin was murdered and our last visit was to St Isaacs Cathedral.
The buildings are magnificent, the strength and determination if the people is amazing, but they don't smile much . Our guide Irena is very very knowledgeable and approachable and has a wicked sense of humour. She had shared many stories with us over the past couple of days.
We return to the ship very weary but satisfied that we have had a good look at St Petersburg and certainly have had a lesson in Russian history.
It's 11.30pm as I write this sitting on our deck , still in a sleeveless top and still with plenty of natural light!
Tomorrow we will wake up in Finland.
Another full day of touring and thankfully another beautiful day.
We start by doing a bit of a drive through the city looking left looking right another palace or church or monument. Peter the Great in his wisdom decided he wanted to move the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg and in doing so a lot of the canals were filled in to make the streets.
We take a subway ride from one side of the city under the river to the other side. The station is 120m underground and they are ornately decorated with mosaics depicting various scenes depending on the location of the station.
Back at street level it's back on the bus to St Nicholas Cathedral, it's Sunday so we are mindful of people going about their normal worship. The Russian Orthodox churches have no seats. During mass that can sometimes go for 4 hours, the people stand or kneel, they must not sit.
We have early admission to the Hermitage Museum, part of which is the former winter palace. It is a place that you could spend days going from room to room looking at the collections of artifacts and paintings and tapestries and listening to the stories that go with them but thankfully we only have 2 hours!
Today we have Russian Pie at Stolle's for lunch. They are quite tasty but the 'pastry' is like a bread and has a sort of sweetness to it. The afternoon is a visit to the Church of our Saviour of the Spilt Blood, built as a memorial on the spot where Emperor Alexander II was assassinated on March 1, 1881, Yusupov's Palace and the place where Rasputin was murdered and our last visit was to St Isaacs Cathedral.
The buildings are magnificent, the strength and determination if the people is amazing, but they don't smile much . Our guide Irena is very very knowledgeable and approachable and has a wicked sense of humour. She had shared many stories with us over the past couple of days.
We return to the ship very weary but satisfied that we have had a good look at St Petersburg and certainly have had a lesson in Russian history.
It's 11.30pm as I write this sitting on our deck , still in a sleeveless top and still with plenty of natural light!
Tomorrow we will wake up in Finland.
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