St. Petersburg part 2

Ending the trip in St. Petersburg is a great idea.  There is so much to see and do in this city, and the weather has been fabulous.  One of he most beautiful cathedrals I've ever seen is here, St. Isaac's Cathedral.  It's the largest church in the city and its dome is gilded with more than 200 pounds of gold.  The interior is elaborately decorated with exquisite mosaics, icons, malachite and lapis lazuli.  It can seat 14,000 worshippers.

Mel looking for just the right shot of St. Isaac's

Wednesday afternoon was spent at the Hermitage, one of the most fabulous museums in the world. It was formerly the winter palace to the tsars.  Today it is one of the most splendid museums in the world.  The Museum originated in 1764 when Catherine the Great began her private art collection. Today, more than 1,000 rooms house nearly 3 million exhibits.

How well do you know your art masters?
                     

Rembrandt

da Vinci

Raphael

Then we attended a performance of Swan Lake at The  Hermitage. It was in Catherine the Great's private theatre.   

Yesterday we visited a music school for gifted children.   They performed for us and showed us around their school.  

Tomorrow we leave for home.  It has been an amazing trip.  I hope you enjoyed it via the blog

St. Petersburg. part 1

The other night one of our fellow travelers was grousing about all the emphasis the tour guides are putting on the importance of Peter the Great. I replied, "Well duh..where do you think you are?!" I would definitely prefer to visit St. Petersburg again over Moscow.

Known as the Venice of the north, it has 141 palaces, 40 islands, and 60 canals.

 The following photos are of St. Peter and Paul Cathedral. All of the Russian emperors and empresses are buried here, including the last Romanov family, Nicholas, Alexandra and their children.
                           

      Peterhof, the magnificent summer residence of Russian royalty was begun under Peter the Great's orders in 1714.  The grounds surrounding the grand palace are breathtaking and have waterworks that are operational after 250 years.  The G 20 will be meeting here in a few days.
                    

Stops along the way to St. Petersburg Part 2

Sunday we stopped at a small village named Svirstroy to shop from local artisans and to have tea in a home hosted by a local retired lady.  It was a really fun day. Snow begins in November

and ends in May. Here are some photos from our tea and the work of artisans.

             
     

Our hostess's stove

Our hostess greets us

Hostess's garden

Kizhi Island is one of the most ancient inhabited sites in Russia.  It was an early pagan center and now has more than 80 wooden structures and a museum representing ancient art and cultural items from the region's various ethnic cultures.  The Church of the Transfiguration has 22 timbered onion domes.

Distinctive stops along the Volga

We're having internet issues but just docked in St. Petersburg so that may improve. Here is a brief update.

Our walking tour of the ancient city of Uglich was lovely.  The Church of St. Dmitry on the Blood dates from around 1690.

                       

 The photos below are of the Goritsy/Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery.  Built in 1397 by St. Kirill who left a life of luxury to enter the religious life,  The monastery walls, seven meters thick, repelled Lithuanian invaders in the 17th century.  It has two priories and 11 churches within its walls.

                                               

Rollin', rollin' on the river

Our days since leaving Moscow have consisted of rolling on the Volga River and having many ship activities, getting at least one land excursion each day. Some of the on board activities have included: reviews of Russian history, vodka tasting, basic Russian phrases, info on Russian handicrafts,  Russian cuisine, etc. The weather has been foggy in the mornings and mostly clear and mild during the day.  Low to mid 70's during the day. We travel through several locks on this cruise.

Here are some photos from along the Volga River and its tributaries.

One of many locks our boat travels through

Food

Kiev, especially,  had wonderful fresh fruits and veggies.   It's known as the bread basket of the country. Tomatoes and cucumbers especially. There are lots of hearty vegetable soups.  The best mushroom soup I've ever eaten was at  Moscow's Hard Rock Cafe. Food prices in the towns are not expensive.  I have noticed that the quality of beef and pork is not as high as that at home.
Breakfast is always on board. There is a lovely buffet and nice daily specials.
Here are some photos of food served on board.

A  menu for a "Traditional Russian dinner"

Wrapping up Moscow

Asia, our guide, tells us that Russians believe that brakes and seatbelts are for cowards.That is abundantly obvious when you're watching traffic in downtown Moscow. Another bit of important trivia is that the average temperature in Moscow is below freezing.

For my friends of education, here are a few tidbits of information you might be interested in. When a baby is born , it is registered in a national registry .  Six years later,  when the child is expected to begin school, authorities  check to make sure it is attending school. Russians are very proud of the fact that every child goes to school from ages 6 to 17.  Public education is free. College must be paid for unless the student has been deemed gifted. At Moscow University 70 percent of the students pay their own tuition . 30 percent have seats that are given to them as gifted students.

Most schools have two sessions of classes. A morning session and an afternoon session. Grades one through four go to school four hours a day Monday through Saturday. Grades 5 through 12 go to school 5 hours a day Monday through Saturday. There are three months for summer break.

Here are some other highlights of the last couple of days.

Fast food restaurant

Moscow Circus

 This is the entrance to the Moscow Circus.  No photos are allowed  inside. The performance was wonderful.  All large cities in Russia have a special building for their circus.


 The following photos were  taken inside the Kremlin walls.  It was eerie being there. Kremlin in Russian means "fortress".  All old Russian towns had/have a Kremlin. 

Building on the left is where Putin's offices are.  He's helicoptered in to work to avoid even worse traffic in Moscow.

Armory inside the Kremlin

Khrushchev's grave: and interesting mix of  black and white

Moscow days 3-4

It's about midnight on day four of our stay in Moscow. The last 2 days we've packed in lots of different sites that Moscow has to offer tourists.

Some of you asked what the boat is like. This boat is owned by Grand Circle Tour Company.   It can accommodate up to 200 passengers. We have a hundred and eighty eight on this trip. The passengers are divided into different group of about 25 to 30 each. When we go out on excursions we have our own bus and tour guide.  We also have individual local guides for specific places each day.  The most important part of the team as far as I'm concerned is the bus driver.  You haven't seen traffic until you've seen Moscow traffic. There are seven lanes all going the same direction. But the lane markers seem to be only suggestions and people weave in and out of them at a moment's notice. He'll definitely deserve the tip we give him at the end of our stay in Moscow!

Tomorrow we begin the actual cruising part of the trip.  We'll see what kind of Internet connection I can get then.

Our room on board

The dining room

One of two bars

Our land transportation