Day 5 and 6 Wednesday and Thursday, 27-28 June 2012

We woke up in St. Petersburg. We drove around the city and saw all the important building, statues and churches.  This was like the old west, point and shoot.  We did not have time to go in very many buildings.  The main ones we did visit were the State Hermitage Museum founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great, the Peterhof Palace, a series of Palaces and Gardens laid out by Peter the Great; the Winter Palace, residence of Russian Monarchs; and Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, it was where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated. His blood was on the street and they built a church around it.  The entire inside is tile garnished with topaz, lazurite, and other semi precious stones from floor to ceiling including the floor and ceiling.

Hermitage Museum

hall between Hermitage and Catherine's Castle

Catherine's Castle, musician in forground

young artists come to Hermitage to study the masters

the Hermitage Museum houses 3 million items largest collection of paintings in the world,
 occupying six historic buildings including the Winter Palace

Peterhof Palace Gardens, with lots of fountains.  All the fountains work without pumps.

the Sun fountain

another fountain, proof we were here.

formal garden

parquet flooring, we had to wear covers over our shoes to go through here!



one of the palace rooms



The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood 

mosaic tile on every inch of the inside

Mosaic flooring

Close up of the tile

Mosaic showing angels with shepherds, the birth of Jesus
 and then the flight into Egypt

One of the Triumph Arches

One of the many statues throughout the city.

After a couple of big and busy days we were headed back to the ship when our bus died.  We sat in the bus in rush hour traffic for two hours waiting for another bus to come.  That was a concern because the ship was supposed to leave at 6 p.m. and we didn't get back until 8.  Since it was a tour sponsored by the ship they did wait for us.  Missed the big dinner but did the buffet and all was well.  When we went into our room, there was this beautiful swan welcoming us back.