Melsea's Adventures of 3 boats & a Baltic Heatwave Part 7

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melsea
Senior Second Officer
Senior Second Officer
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Joined: February 2013

Melsea's Adventures of 3 boats & a Baltic Heatwave Part 7

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Post by melsea »

St.Petersburg Day 2

Very Hot & Sunny

Going to bed early last night was definitely the best thing to have done. Had breakfast early like yesterday. I went through immigration very quickly. On the other side were those that were only doing two parts of the tour already waiting. Wasn't long for the others to turn up. At just before the agreed time our tour bus came. We left soon after.
Our first port of call today was a boat ride along the river which the 4 from yesterday wanted to do and this wasn't part of yesterday's itinerary but it was part of our tour today. It was a beautiful morning and trip on the river was brilliant, my second boat ride so far on the cruise!!
Seeing St.Petersburg from the river is definitely worth doing. When we got back to where we boarded the boat our next bit on today's tour was to visit the subway, this was one of two things we didn't get to do yesterday. We were taken down to Admiralty Station and like most stations this one was no exception in that it has very steep escalators. For me I am not unused to escalators going down deep as I grew up in London and I do believe there to be at least 2 if not 3 stations that are deep with steep escalators. But I have to say the one we were taken down beats them hand down. It took more than 2 minutes to go down the first escalator, the second one was not as long. There were locals running down these moving stairs while the rest of us were looking on in astonishment.
When we finished visiting the subway it was time for our group to split up. It was at this point 4 people were going to be leaving us to do their next bit which was visit the Church of Spilt blood. Whereas we were on our way to visit the Great Museum the Hermitage. I have got to say that although we only saw a snap shot of this vast museum it was impressive of what we saw and it's an impressive building as well let alone what is on display. Certainly a place I would recommend & would like to visit again. The day was getting hotter by the minute and I was grateful for the bottled water that the tour company had provided. Our next stop was for us to visit the Church of Spilt Blood which we did not get time to visit here yesterday. Since we were a group of 6 now we were now able to get into places so much quicker. Our guide would go ahead to collect the tickets that would allow us to gain entry effortlessly. Last year on a walking tour here we visited this church but our tour did not include entry. So I was looking forward to seeing the inside. I was not disappointed. Unlike other churches that have the walls adorned with paintings. The entire interior of the Church of Spilt Blood was made up of images made by Mosaic pieces, absolutely amazing. It was now nearly time for our lunch of which we were a little bit late for. We arrived at the small restaurant that was occupied by a number of locals. It was a nice looking place, clean & tidy and the decor very modern. The food like yesterday was exemplary and delicious. Starters was a Beetroot like salad dish, followed by a soup that had a bit of a kick to it but none the less delicious. Main meal was pork & mushroom in a white wine sauce served with mash potato, very nice also, closing with a dessert a flaky pastry cake. Tea & coffee to round it off. We actually ate all this fairly quickly as it was so easy to eat and we were feeling hungry anyway as we needed the energy to continue with our day. Onwards we went to our next instalment in what is turning into a very good tour. Arrived at a building that didn't look like a palace the Yusupov Palace. There was no grand driveway entrance or even an imposing doorway. This was the Tardis of all the palaces we would see today. It was quite simply amazing. The biggest surprise and undoubtedly for us in the tour a highlight was the most delightful theatre tucked away in this building. It was a scaled down version in proportion to any full size theatre. When you entered, it felt like you suddenly leaped into an Alice in Wonderland story as the theatre made you feel as if you were in a doll house but it was exquisite. The music pit was huge in height and a long way down but it was narrow. It even had a wrap around balcony. The rest of the house was also wonderful. As like all the tsars and those associated with them their history's are littered with dramatic & tragic events. This family was no exception. However the palace was made more famous by the infamous murder on the 16th December 1916 of Grigory Rasputin.
Our last place to visit was to the Peter & Paul Fortress where we visited The Sts Peter & Paul Cathedral. The Cathedral is the imperial burial vault. The tomb of Peter the Great is marked with the standards of the regiments. In a book that describes this place it says All the Emperors & Grand Dukes lie under identical white marble sarcophagi. In 1998 the remains of the last Russian Emperor, Nicholas II, and the various members of his family who were shot to dead in Ekaterinburg in June 1918, were buried in the cathedral. The family members were identified through DNA. The fortress was never used directly for military purpose as no enemy could penetrate the high walls but it was used later for political prisoners and had torture chambers.
While visiting here I noticed a bit of a hub happening to the right hand side of the cathedral by an entrance. I saw what looked like a secret service guy in his black suit and I could not believe my eyes when he did something that you always see secret service men do, hold their hand up and speak into their hand! I kid you not. There were at least two of them minding over what appeared to be delegations of whatever the conference was about in St.Petersburg, I think this lot was Chinese surrounded by 10 others. The Cathedral was pretty impressive too as was everything else we have seen over these past two days.
All too soon the day was coming to an end. Our final stop was to the shop where we were to pay for our 2 day tour and if there was time buy some gifts in the shop. As this was the second day for tours to end there was quite a long queue. What I had not mentioned before was that when we arrived yesterday there were two other ships at the terminal with us including a small ship in the centre of the city where smaller ships can sail to and dock. I paid for my tour which was in dollars and they gave back $5 dollars for not being able to travel back into town from Peterhof palace by Hydrofoil as they were being serviced and so no one travelled on them. $5 seemed a very small amount considering how much the rest of the tour cost. Although it was a little more expensive than P&O's own two day tour I was more than pleased in having a small number of us and not having to wait for a packed big coach to get on & off and waste so much time as well as trying to move a coach load through the various places we visited. It was so much better and they treated you very well and at no time did you feel rushed in fact the opposite.
Before leaving I bought a Russian egg pendant and two Russian doll sets, one for me as I have always wanted one and the other for my Great Niece who would be three years old in June.
We arrived back to the ship at the allotted time they said they would get us back and in fact we just got in before the hoards of coaches were coming back also.
This two day tour was brilliant but also quite knackering and tomorrow it's Tallinn Estonia...

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