Church of the Spilled Blood - My favorite
St. Isaacs - you can see the dome from all over the city.
Hermitage
Hermitage Etrance
VanGogh
Matisse
Judy & Mike at the ballet
Sybil at the ballet
meWe joined out local guide, Svetlana, for a driving tour of the City. It was a beautiful sunny day. Mina assisted her and we got not only a great tour of the city but also lots of information about its history.
St. Petersburg was founded by Czar Peter the Great 300 years ago so it is a relatively new city. He wanted Russia to become a real European city and so moved the country’s capitol there from Moscow. Its architects were European. The city is “larger than life” and apparently so was Peter. He was very tall, like 6’7” and quite a guy. He was “into” lots of things e.g., science, art, military science. He also completed medical school and liked to practice dentistry on his friends. (We saw a collection of his various dental tools.) At one point Svetlana was telling us how Peter once came across a group of soldiers who were doing something they shouldn’t and had a rabbit with them. Peter picked up the rabbit and kissed it Mina commented that “He was probably just trying to get a look at the rabbit’s teeth.” Mina is very funny.
The city was first named Petrograd, then it was changed to Leningrad, and then back to St. Petersburg. It has a population of 8 million, most of whom live outside of the old city in huge apartment buildings built in Soviet times.
Svetlana told us a lot about how things were during Soviet times, very unpleasant. She was very critical of their treatment of art, schools, etc. She was definitely not a fan of theirs. It was obvious how much she loves the City although life is still pretty hard for the average person. She also told us how excited everyone was when Gorbachav started the reforms but that they soon lost confidence in him. She seems to think Putin is doing a good job.
We visited the St. Isaacs Cathedral. Very beautiful. Then we went to the Church of the Spilled Blood (or something like that) which I liked even more since it was “more Russian”. It got its name because one of the Czars was assassinated there where his legs were shot off and he bled to death.
The finale of the day was the Hermitage which I must say is quite overdone. Those Czars sure were grandiose.
St. Petersburg was founded by Czar Peter the Great 300 years ago so it is a relatively new city. He wanted Russia to become a real European city and so moved the country’s capitol there from Moscow. Its architects were European. The city is “larger than life” and apparently so was Peter. He was very tall, like 6’7” and quite a guy. He was “into” lots of things e.g., science, art, military science. He also completed medical school and liked to practice dentistry on his friends. (We saw a collection of his various dental tools.) At one point Svetlana was telling us how Peter once came across a group of soldiers who were doing something they shouldn’t and had a rabbit with them. Peter picked up the rabbit and kissed it Mina commented that “He was probably just trying to get a look at the rabbit’s teeth.” Mina is very funny.
The city was first named Petrograd, then it was changed to Leningrad, and then back to St. Petersburg. It has a population of 8 million, most of whom live outside of the old city in huge apartment buildings built in Soviet times.
Svetlana told us a lot about how things were during Soviet times, very unpleasant. She was very critical of their treatment of art, schools, etc. She was definitely not a fan of theirs. It was obvious how much she loves the City although life is still pretty hard for the average person. She also told us how excited everyone was when Gorbachav started the reforms but that they soon lost confidence in him. She seems to think Putin is doing a good job.
We visited the St. Isaacs Cathedral. Very beautiful. Then we went to the Church of the Spilled Blood (or something like that) which I liked even more since it was “more Russian”. It got its name because one of the Czars was assassinated there where his legs were shot off and he bled to death.
The finale of the day was the Hermitage which I must say is quite overdone. Those Czars sure were grandiose.
In the evening we attended Swan Lake ballet in a beautiful theater. The prima ballernina was terrific. The rest not so much. But all in all definitely worth doing.
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