St. Petersburg

Today was our longest day so far, with an excursion that started at 7:15 and went straight through to around 5:00.  We also lost another hour, so waking up was a little more challenging than one might have liked.  After a quick breakfast in the room, we made our way to the meet-up point, so that we could all go through Russian customs together.  We stood in line for approximately 50 minutes, after which we were each (very slowly) granted a Russian Tourist Visa.  This is important, because unless you do it all from home several months in advance, the only way that you can get off the ship in St. Petersburg is with a Tourist Visa, which is arranged through an excursion.  So, no excursion, no Russia.  But, we had an excursion all planned, so everything worked (and we got more passport stamps!).

Our itinerary for the day included Peterhof and the Hermitage Museum.  Our guide, Aleksey was wonderful.  He had great depth of knowledge, and was happy to make a ton of little Russia jokes (Our president has a 110% approval rating, because when you come to our country, you approve of him too!  No, no, the official approval rating is 62% - Your president would kill for an approval rating of 62%).  Peterhof was the Baroque-style summer residence of Peter the Great and his wife Catherine, followed by Elizabeth (who liked gold), followed by Catherine the Great (who didn’t).  Aleksey guided us through the inside of Peterhof, which was great, because we were able to access the mansion before the general public, and then the outside and the cascading waterfalls and fountains afterwards.  He made a point of the fact that none of the fountains or water features at Peterhof are driven by pumps, but rather entirely via gravity.  Inside, the amount of gold leaf and gilding is overwhelming in its sheer decadence – you can’t believe that it’s not just gold paint (and even if it were, the carving is amazing).

After Peterhof, we had lunch at a “local Russian restaurant” (I put that in quotes because what local restaurant can handle several tour busses at the same time?)  But the food was very good, and came with champagne and vodka for everyone, so who could argue with that?  We had soup, salad, and what seemed very similar to a stroganoff.  After lunch, it was half an hour or so to get to the Hermitage Museum.

If I understand correctly, the Hermitage is the largest art museum in Russia, with branches all over the world.  A significant portion of the art was acquired by Peter the Great, Elizabeth, and Catherine the Great, though some of it has been acquired more recently.  All of the ceilings were carved in very ornate patterns, and in many rooms, the floors mirrored the ceiling patterns with colorful inlays (as many as 14 different inlay colors in some places).  We were able to see works by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Monet, and many more.  Aleksey was great about relaying the highlights, but also keeping things moving, since it was incredibly crowded.  We were thrilled to have him, since it’s not a super logical layout (several buildings are connected), and without a guide, we would have been lost in minutes (as it was, we were there for almost three hours, and we walked more than two and a half miles just within the museum).

When we got back to the ship, we didn’t have dinner reservations until late, so we had a snack and crashed for a while.  After dinner, we played a few rounds of iPad Trains, Trains, listened to Emily and the Nightcaps for a while, and went to bed.

Tomorrow is St. Petersburg, Day II, and we are slated to take a panoramic tour of the City.