2019 Healy World Cruise : Tuesday July 2

What an impressive place once you get through passport control!

We did not do a ship’s tour in St Petersburg but rather did a two day private tour with TJ travel. I cannot speak highly enough about them. First of all, instead of 40 odd people on a ship’s tour, we had only nine people in a Mercedes van for 16 people. Very comfortable. Also, we were able to see more as the car was easier to park than a bus and nine people were able to get in and out of the car very quickly. Our guide, Kate, was very Russian, about 30 years old and was most adept at manipulating queues.

St Petersburg was officially made a city by Peter the Great in 1703 and his grandson’s wife, Catherine the Great continued to build and beautify and obtain paintings from around the world, most of which she refused to pay for.

Today we began our tour in the Yusupov Palace, a magnificent residence of the wealthy Yusupov family. It even had its own private theatre so that the wealthy wife could play at being an actress. It was here that Felix Yusupov plotted to kill Rasputin in order to save the Royal family from scandal. The Tsarina had employed Rasputin who was an illiterate peasant to help her son who had haemophilia. Rasputin evidently had a calming affect on Alex. However, the family did not want anyone to know about their son’s illness, so the gossips started the rumour that Alexandra was having an affair with Rasputin. This, Felix and his friends planned to put an end to by killing Rasputin. They started by inviting Rasputin to their house and poisoning his wine. When this did not kill him Felix shot him. This still did not kill Rasputin, so they beat him and threw him in the Neva river. The ultimate cause of Rasputin’s death was given as hypothermia.

The Chinese and Iranians, according to our guide are now Russia’s best friends and they do not need a visa to enter Russia. She was quite scathing about the Chinese. Evidently, many rules have had to be changed because of the Chinese actions. The have scratched off gold leaf in the hermitage and the Russians have had to put Perspex over the columns to prevent this. In the Amber room, you were able to take photos without a flash, but the Chinese disregarded this, so now nobody is allowed to take any photos in this room. Evidently, the flash affects the amber. I have never seen so many Chinese tourists in my life. They were at every venue we went to in their thousands. When they take photos it is extremely time consuming. Each person must be photographed in front of each part of a building in several different poses facing north then south then east and finally west. They are extremely well versed in using their elbows to get where they want to go. There was only one person who was able to outsmart them and that was our guide.

She would just march up to the Russian officials, say something in Russian and then we would be ushered in past the larger groups. As you can see from our photos, there are not many people in most of our pictures. This is quite remarkable.

We visited the Peter and Paul Fortress, which was built to protect the city from Swedish attack. It was mostly used to imprison wealthy political prisoners. The ornate interior now boasts the tombs of many Tsars, including Peter the Great.

St Isaac’s Cathedral has a central dome that is one of the largest in the world and is covered with 220 pounds of gold. Inside there is a considerable amount of Russian malachite and Lapis Lazuli from Afghanistan. The walls are full of exquisite mosaics.

The Church of the Saviour of the Spilled Blood boasts a Russian style exterior with its five domes. It is built on the site where Tsar Alexander the Second was assassinated in 1881. It is decorated with colourful ceramic tiles. The main architect of this building died here from starvation during the one hundred day siege of the second World War.

We visited a metro station that is the deepest in St. Petersburg. Escalators took us 100 m down to this beautifully mosaic decorated underground station.

After lunch we travelled to the Peterhof Palace by hydrofoil. This was Catherine the Great’s summer palace. The grounds are unbelievable with one hundred and fifty fountains all flowing with the aid of gravity. It is known as the Russian Versailles. The Grand Cascade features Sampson prying open a lion’s jaws as water cascades down terraced steps. There are many playful aspects to this garden. People can walk on stones in front of one fountain only to find that it suddenly comes on more fully and you get wet. Another fountain allows you to sit in front of it but it gushes more fully when you are seated. It was all meant to be fun for the noble guests. I wonder in a cold climate like St. Petersburg? Even today, mid summer it was only 18⁰C

Tonight, a group of Russian entertainers including musicians, singers and dancers came on board and performed a folkloric show for us. It was wonderful. Very glad we didn’t do the onshore excursion with Princess. This was a show not to be missed.