From Russia with Love - Day 3

May 28th, 2014 Day 3 of our trip into St. Petersburg....and it was raining again, but we had sights to see.  First stop was the Peterhof.

The Peterhof Palace is a series of palaces and gardens conceived by Peter the Great. These Palaces and gardens are sometimes referred as the "Russian Versailles". The palace is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Peterhof park has a unique fountain system that requires no pumps. Water for the fountains is supplied by a gravity-fed water system, 22 kilometers long, skillfully designed to exploit the natural slope of the terrain.

This system operates no pumps and supplies enough water to the fountains and cascades of Peterhof to keep them working for up to ten hours a day.

Here's Lynne and Louise posing in front of the fountains, waiting for the water show to begin, and yes, it was a little cold out there....

The Peterhof Palace was occupied by Nazi armies from September, 20 1941 till January 19, 1944. 

The art was plundered or destroyed; the trees in the parks were cut down; the Palace was blown up and burned down. 

The restoration took many years after the war to complete. 

Our Second stop was Catherine's Palace.

More than 220 pounds of gold were used to gild the sophisticated stucco façade and numerous statues erected on the roof. It was even rumored that the palace's roof was constructed entirely of gold. 

Although the palace is popularly associated with Catherine the Great, that's a different Catherine. The Catherine who built this palace was the wife of Peter the Great. In spite of the ornate design, Catherine the Great regarded this"whipped cream" architecture as old-fashioned. Do we have that straight now?

Here's Lynne and Louise looking for any loose gold while Olga explains the history of this elaborate palace.

When the Germans retreated after the siege of Leningrad (aka St. Petersburg), they intentionally destroyed the residence leaving only the hollow shell of the palace behind. Prior to World War II, Russian archivists had documented a fair amount of the interior. This proved to be of great importance in the reconstruction of the palace. 

Although the largest part of the reconstruction was completed in time for the Tercentenary of St. Petersburg in 2003, much work is still required to restore the palace to its former glory. 

In order to attract funds, the palace's administration has leased the Grand Hall for such high-profile events as Elton John's concert for an elite audience in 2001 and an exclusive party in 2005 featuring the likes of Bill Clinton, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Naomi Campbell, and Sting.

 Here we see Louise doing a sound check of the room, see the piano behind her?









The most popular stop on the palace tour is the Amber Room. Created in the 18th century, it disappeared during World War II, and was recreated in 2003. 

Before it was lost, the Amber Room was sometimes dubbed the "Eighth Wonder of the World" due to its singular beauty. Construction of the Amber Room took place from 1701 to 1711 in Prussia. The security guards will not let you take a picture in this room, but here's one for you anyhow.

Next stop : Helsinki, Finland.......

From Russia with love Day 2

May 27th, 2014 Day 2....The Hermitage. 

It was a gray, overcast day in St. Petersburg. Our tour guide Olga picked us up at the boat for this long-awaited visit to one of the world's best-known landmarks. 

The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture. It's one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, it was founded in 1764 by Peter the Great's daughter Elizabeth as a winter palace. Catherine the Great filled the palace with art and it became a museum in 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise over three million items, including the largest collection of paintings in the world.

The roadies were breaking down the stage and stands from a concert the night before. 

 
Here Lynne and Louise are trying to decide if this palace is big enough.

 Olga and Lynne check out the front door. 

The grands staircase is certainly grand. It took 4 camera angles to get it all in.

The galleries are endless and in most cases the rooms are more beautiful than the art. There is art everywhere you look. It is really overwhelming. The Western European Art collection includes European paintings, sculpture from the 13th to the 20th centuries. It is displayed, in about 120 rooms, on the first and second floor of the four main buildings.

They often have special exhibits. Here Lynne and Louise check out the hottest royalty fashions from the 1700's. Do you think that dress is a little long on the back-end?

In the Hermitage, Catherine accomplished a huge achievement within the art world. She collected thousands of impressive pieces of artwork that were numerous in size and value. Her collection of at least 4,000 paintings came to rival the older and more prestigious museums of Western Europe. Catherine took great pride in her collection, and actively participated in extensive competitive art gathering and collecting that was prevalent in European royal court culture. Here you can see Olga looking at the back of her hand while trying to explain it all.

 It was a special weekend in St Peteresburg. They celebrated the city's birthday (and our visit of course) by lighting these old lighthouses. I got this shot from an open window of the Hermitage.

Here's the Peacock Clock, a large automaton featuring three life-sized mechanical birds. It was manufactured by the entrepreneur James Cox in the 2nd half of the 18th century and through the influence of Grigory Potemkin it was acquired by Catherine the Great in 1781. Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI7IHGO-L8I to see it in action.

 Here's the Czar's throne. I wanted to try it out, but the security guards did not like that idea. 

Here's Lynne checking out the ornate ceiling while the statue picks his toes. This is actually a unfinished statue is by Michelangelo called Crouching Boy, and one of the many masterpieces represented in the museum.

Here's a view of the Hermitage from the river. This place is huge.

Next stop, the Faberge' Museum.

The Faberge' Museum is one of the newest museums in St. Petersburg. It holds a fabulous collection, including the largest collection of Faberge' eggs to be found anywhere in the world – even in Russia, only the Moscow Armory comes close to rivaling the St. Petersburg exhibition. The museum also holds a number of other items made by Faberge'.

  Of all Faberge's masterpieces, his Russian eggs are the most famous – and the Imperial Easter Eggs the best known and most fabulous of these. The Faberge' Museum in St. Petersburg houses nine of them, Lynne says she will be happy with any of them..... I'm feeling the pressure :)  BTW, the museum's Soviet-style "No Pictures Policy" was just the inspiration Bill needed to capture these images on his cell phone. Bad Boy !

The Imperial Easter Eggs, as their name suggests, were constructed on the personal orders of the last two Russian emperors - Alexander III and Nicholas II. They were created for significant historic and dynastic events within the Imperial family.

That evening, Lynne dropped into the Mariinski Theater, home of the famous Kirov Ballet. Oddly, Bill skipped the ballet and camped out at the Irish Pub across the street and worked on the blog. As you may know, a visa is required to move freely around Russia. Good thing we had one, I hate the tour bus.

Here's a look inside the Mariinsky.

For dinner, we checked out a local hot-spot across the street from the theater. And for all you foodies, here's a sampling of what we had for dinner. yum yum

 

From Russia with Love - Part 1

We pulled into St. Petersburg on May 26th. The weather was beautiful. Sunny and 75 degrees. Our tour guide Olga picked us up in a comfortable Mercedes Van with driver Vladimir.  Founded by Czar Peter the Great on 27 May 1703, St. Petersburg was capital of the Russian Empire for more than two hundred years (1712–1728, 1732–1918). St. Petersburg ceased being the capital in 1918 after the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Here's the view from our ship. we were moored on the Lt. Schmidt Embankment, right in the heart of St. Petersburg.

Here's Lynne and Louise checking out the sights along the river Neva.

Here's Olga and Louise discussing the benefits of brass polishing.

Lynne does her part too.  If you rub the lion's teeth your wish will come true.

Here are the girls posing in front of the church at Peter & Paul Fortress.

Bill and Lynne check out the graves for all the dead Czars and  family who happen to be buried here.

Olga goes over the Romanof org-chart for Lynne. 

We happened upon a big celebration in St. Petersburg. They trotted out a number of old generals and the army for a hoopla. Here are Comrade Bitchurkokoff and Comiczar Downhilski.

At lunch, we stopped into a typical working mans restaurant for a Pirogi and bowl of Borscht and a Brewski.

Back on the tour again. Here a view of Olga and Lynne at the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood.

There was so much to see in the churches. The mosaic artwork is amazing.

Here's Bill and Lynne posing on the sunny side of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. 

This Church was built on the site where Czar Alexander II was assassinated and was dedicated in his memory. 
Lynne and Louise really enjoyed visiting this church. It was probably their favorite.

We finished day-1 of 3 in St. Petersburg with a canal boat tour. This gives a unique view of the city. Here are a few of the post-Soviet generation cheering us on.

View of one of the many bridges in St Petersburg. 

All the bridges have different, beautiful iron work.  Behind this bridge is our favorite Spilled Blood Church.