St. Petersburg

  St. Petersburg, Russia
Sunday, June 24, 2007

This morning we were all up early and headed down to breakfast to start our first full day in Russia! The breakfast at the hotel was decent, and I discovered that if you don't have milk, strawberry yoghurt is very tasty on cornflakes! Also, I learned that just because something looks like cheese, don't bite off a chunck, because it could be butter!! In the end the breakfasts were always decent in St. Petersburg, there was always cornflakes, yoghurt, orange juice and coffee, which is all I need to be happy! They'd also serve something hot each morning, which ranged from crepes, to an egg thing, although after the egg-thing I decided to steer clear of the hot foods!  

Our first stop this morning was the Peterhof gardens. The drive was almost an hour, and on the way Anna told us all sorts of things about the Russian tsars. It was really interesting, and I tried to listen, but about half way through the drive my eyes would not stay open! Although I think I was one of the very few that managed to stay awake that long! When we arrived at Peterhof, Anna brought us inside the gardens and told us a bit about the place.  Here we were just going to look at the gardens, as we'd see better palaces later on. Then we had free time to wander through the gardens and go to the markets. The Russians made Peterhof gardens after Versailles was completed. They wanted to outdo the French... and I think they did a fantastic job! The fountains and gardens were magnificent! In our free time we wandered around and made it to the edge of the gardens where we had a view of the Baltic Sea. Then we meandered back to the markets and made a couple purchases before time to get to the bus. We bussed to the front of the gardens and had a quick photo stop. Here we had to dash across the street (no pedestrian walkways) and then climb over a small rail.

Our next stop was a Cathedral near Peterhof. This was our first up close glimpse of a 'typical' Russian Cathedral. And when I say typical, I mean it had onion domes and was very colourful and was exactly what I thought of when I thought of a Russian cathedral! Stacey and I ran to the front to take some photos... although it was so tall we couldn't get the whole cathedral in and had to walk back to where everyone else was to get all of the church in the photo! On the bus to our next stop Anna talked a bit about Stalin and Lenin, but said that we would hear more about communism in Moscow. As we got off the bus on our next stop I was talking to Kristy, and was absolutely flabbergasted to find out that she had never heard of Stalin or Lenin! I couldn't believe it! Although later in the trip Jennifer V made a comment about how many of her friends would think that Lenin was in the Beatles. Sometimes it's a little sad when you realize how little most people know about the history around us. And I say that not to be cocky or sound arrogant, because I know that I could stand to learn a little more history... but sometimes it just shocks me!

The next stop was the Siege of Leningrad Memorial. Anna explained to us how St. Petersburg (know as Leningrad during the time of the World Wars) was under siege for 900 days during World War II and over a million people died. There was a video that depicted what life was like during the siege and Anna explained everything while we watched it. Prior to the trip I hadn't heard of any of this, and of all the war memorials on the trip this one was my favourite by far. I'm not sure why even now, but I just found everything here extremely poignant. After the video Anna showed us around and then we had some free time to look at everything before returning to the bus.

After the memorial we were dropped off at Decembrists Square for free time. A large group of us wandered off and headed towards the Church on the Spilled Blood. On the way a couple people were interested in different places for lunch (some wanted Subway, some wanted something more 'Russian'). Reky, Troy, Rhian and myself were in the mood for something more Russian, and something more immediate, so we stopped at a fast food place that looked somewhat Russian. Reky looked around and found some people eating Chicken with rice and wanted that, and we were also able to find an English menu so I chose Chicken and vegetables and we all sat and waited for our food. Mine came first and it was ... different... the chicken and vegetables were mushed together in a sort of burger shape. It was different, but quite tasty. Rhian's food came and the lady indicated to see if it was really what he ordered. He shrugged acceptance and took his Chicken and mushroom, which was served as a stew in a bowl! But he said it was tasty as well, so we both lucked out in the end. After lunch we looked for a washroom and then headed towards the Church on the Spilled Blood.

On the way to the church we ran into Chris and Adam and asked if it was worth it to go inside the Church. They said it was nice, but there all they had inside were a couple mosaics. After snapping some photos outside we paid and went inside. We stepped in and were dumbstruck by the 'couple mosaics'!! The entire inside was a giant mosaic! And it was stunning! We slowly walked through the cathedral and enjoyed the view. Then we made our way back down Nevsky Prospect and towards our meeting spot. As we were walking Reky and I stopped for some ice cream. I randomly pointed and got an amazing ice cream for about 20 rubbles. So Reky pointed at one that was about 5 rubbles more... and it wasn't half as decadent as mine! It cracked me up!

The next activity for the day was our canal cruise through St. Petersburg. We waited for a bit and then walked down the street to find our boat. We all piled on and grabbed seats on the top and had to wait for another group to join us the boat. We waited and an older tour group walked up, stood and stared, then walked away... I guessed we looked too rowdy for them! The cruise was good, although there was no commentary so we didn't always know what we were seeing, but the champansky and company was excellent. The cruise lasted about an hour and then we got back on the bus. 

On the drive we had a quick photo stop at the palace where Rasputin was killed. The last Tsar of Russia, Nicolas Romanov had a son, Alexei, who was afflicted with haemophilia.  The Tsaritsa was desperate to find something or someone to aid her son and asked Rasputin for help. Rasputin was said to posses the ability to heal through prayer, and he was actually able to help. Because of his ability to help Alexei, Rasputin became close to the Tsaritsa and several nobels wanted his influence to end. One night  he was invited to the Yusupovs' Moika Palace where he was posioned, shot four times, beaten, and finally thrown in the Neva River. Three days later when his body was recovered, it was found that his cause of death was drowing... despite everything else the nobels had done to him!



The next stop was a beautiful palace for our Folklore show. There were stalls outside, and several of us took the opportunity to shop, where I purchased 2 etchings of St. Petersburg and a Russian fairytale book. We took our seats and the show opened with two men comically playing the saw, accordions (varying sizes) and other instruments. Then there was traditional singing and dancing. At the intermission we had champansky along with a snack, which included caviar. When the show started again there were new dancers and singers, and they finally did the frog move!


After the show we headed to Mumus for some beef stroganoff. The story of Mumu is a famous Russian children's story, which ends in the dog being drowned.  Not exactly the happiest story, is it?!? Supper was good and the company fantastic, although the ending was interesting. It was Katya's free day (our bus driver), and I guess she had drank too much champansky at the folklore show, and also at supper, because she ended up vomiting and passing out in a booth at the restaurant! When we got back onto the bus Che showed some personality for the first time all trip (if you can't tell, I'm not a huge Che fan). He was completely pissed which made the ride amusing. Back at the hotel we hung out in Stacey and Jen's room until the Niet Niet lady shushed us and we moved the party downstairs to play pool.