St. Petersburg (Again!)

Today we once again set off to explore St. Petersburg, this time with our tour guide Victoria, and our bus driver Yuri (Victoria repeated both of their names ~9 times, so I’m solid on that one).  Russian customs and immigration were less intense today, as the visas we got yesterday covered the full two-day stay.  So no more new passport stamps :/

Our tour included the following stops (where the game was pretty much to get off the bus, snap a few pictures, and get back on the bus, with Victoria throwing in some facts here and there):

• o   The two Egyptian Sphinx on the Neva River (Alexsey pointed out yesterday that the Sphinx were actually kind of a big deal, as they had been purchased and not merely looted after WWII)
• o   A lighthouse on the Neva
• o   The Peter and Paul Fortress (Home of the Peter and Paul Cathedral (the final resting place for even modern-day Romanovs), several military office buildings and housing structures, the Russian Mint, and a Russian Prison (the last two share a wall… how convenient is that?)).  We didn’t actually go into the Cathedral (much to the chagrin of an older gentleman in our party who apparently didn’t read the “NO INSIDE VISITS” part of the tour description), but Victoria was able to tell me about the gold used in all of the fancy roofs and cupolas.  Apparently, most of them were done in the 1850s, and the gold sheets were made by heating a mixture of mercury and gold through a sheet of brass (the heat source is under the brass).  The mercury then burns off, leaving the brilliant gold leaf firmly attached.  Unsurprisingly, a lot of people died during this process, so I suppose that it’s good that it has stood the test of time.
• o   A souvenir shop.  Seriously.  During a four-hour tour, we stopped for 40 minutes at a souvenir shop.  Sheesh.  It was across the street from the log cabin that Peter built and lived in for a time, but that (like many other attractions) was closed on Monday.
• o   A decommissioned submarine.
• o   The Church of the Spilled Blood.  Very Seussical, but unfortunately we didn’t have time to go inside.  When we got back on the bus, Victoria pointed to a stop across a bridge and said “did you go take pictures from there? It’s the best spot.”  I found this a little off-putting, since my feeling is that a tour guide shouldn’t be aiming for “gotcha, stupid tourist” moments, but whatever.
• o   St. Isaac’s Square.  St. Isaac’s was beautiful.  I wish we had had more than 10 minutes, because people could clearly climb pretty darned close to the top, and I bet that the view is fantastic.

So, while we had a lot of different stops during this tour, I didn’t care for it as much as the one yesterday.  It seemed like a random collection of facts, and Victoria was somewhat flat.  I also didn’t really care for the format of “get on the bus, get off the bus, take pictures without really understanding what you’re taking pictures of, get on the bus.”  But oh well.  The weather was gorgeous both days (80-85 degrees and sunny), and I still feel like we were able to see a lot of the City.

When we got back to the ship, we ate, relaxed for a while, did dinner, and then went to Reflections for the Pub Quiz.  Despite the fact that there was a paper airplane distance challenge thrown in there, and our team was the only one to have the airplane go backwards, we won by just the tiniest bit.  We didn’t know the name of Elvis’ twin, or who was originally slated to play the lead in Dirty Harry.  After pub quiz, we sat and watched the ship sail away into the (11:15 pm) sunset.  It was very beautiful.

Looking forward to tomorrow in Helsinki!

Catherine