St. Petersburg has been described as a city built for giants and this is very true. Everything is big - the palaces, the churches, the memorials, the parks.
This was Vanessa's second trip to St. Petersburg. She did a short visit in 1995 while she was studying at Uppsala University in Sweden. In 1995, you didn't see anything from the West - no McDonalds, no jeans, no advertising, etc. It's very different now with plenty of the same stores, cars and fast food places you'd see in a North American or European city.
Our first stop was the Hermitage. It used to be a palace for Russia's czars (kings and queens) and is now a gigantic museum with three million exhibits. We spent the better part of a day there and only covered about a third of the museum. We spent more time looking at the building than the exhibits.
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| Entrance to the Hermitage |
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| Vanessa in one of the opulent rooms |
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| Blake beside statues outside the Hermitage |
After a day of touring the museum, we saw a performance of Swan Lake at the Hermitage Theatre.
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| Cast of Swan Lake |
We also visited a summer residence of the czars - Pushkin Palace. It's as big and grand as the Hermitage.
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| The ballroom - the carvings on the wall are covered in gold |
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| The dinner table - more gold |
Our next stop was Peterhof which is a palace built by Peter the Great. Peter was a key figure in Russia's history and was largely responsible for turning Russia into a major power in the late 17th century.
We couldn't take photos inside Peterhof but it's just as ornate as what you've seen above. The grounds around the palace are the real highlight and here are a few photos.
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| Gold statues outside of Peterhof (before the fountains turn on) |
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| Statues after the fountains turn on |
St. Petersburg doesn't just have big palaces - it also has big churches. The biggest is the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. The church got its name because it's built on the site where Czar Alexander II was assassinated and the church was dedicated to him. Here are a few photos.
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| Us outside the church |
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| The interior - floor to ceiling paintings and huge chandeliers |
St. Petersburg was a great way to start our trip to Russia. After St. Petersburg, we hit the water for a cruise from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Stay tuned.
Blake and Vanessa
