During my last week in Belgium, my mom and I went on a
little 5-day vacation to St. Petersburg (ex-Leningrad). Claimed to be the most beautiful city
of Russia, if not the world, the expectations were high, but the travel
organization Davidsfonds and our local guide Ella delivered. Our program was
chock-full from 9am to late at night, every day. There was literally no time to
relax in our comfortable room or take a dip in the hotel’s swimming pool.
Dinners at our hotel Ambassador were fair, but all breakfasts and other meals
at the diverse restaurants were well-prepared, and tasty, predominantly Russian, cuisine.
In
a group of 27 people, we visited dark Orthodox churches
with shiny relics, colorful cathedrals, exquisite and exuberant palaces,
expansive museums, a moving ballet (Swan Lake with music from
Tchaikovsky), interesting
stores, the impressive Peter and Paul fortress, a cemetery of famous
Russians,
and massive gardens with funky fountains. We were lucky with the
weather: no
rain was felt and the last morning, a glorious sun accompanied us on the
boat
ride over the city’s network of rivers, showcasing St. Petersburg’s
historical buildings in their most favorable and favored way.
A
picture doesn’t necessarily say more than a thousand words
(as a writer, living a seemingly "picture perfect life" I don’t agree
with that expression), but it sure is easier to post a photo
than write a thousand words for each sight we saw and experienced!
:-) So, here are a whole bunch of photos of Russia’s prettiest city.
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| Entering St. Petersburg from the airport |
Peter and Paul Fortress:
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| Peter and Paul Cathedral |
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| Interior of the cathedral |
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| Tomb of Peter the Great (and burial site of many other members of the Romanov family) |
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| Top of the cathedral |
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| Part of the fortress, along the Neva river |
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| St. Petersburg skyline seen from the fortress |
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| View from our hotel Ambassador at dusk |
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| Trinity Cathedral, seen through the bus window - we saw many pretty sights this way |
Alexander Nevsky Monastery:
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| Tikhvin Cemetery |
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| Grave of the famous Russian composer Tchaikovsky |
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| Many famous Russian artists are buried at this cemetery |
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| The monastery's cathedral |
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| Reflection |
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| Impressive monastery building |
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| Taking care of the monastery gardens |
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| Detail of the gate to the monastery |
St. Isaac's Cathedral:
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| St. Petersburg's largest church took 40 years to build |
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| The lavish interior of the impressive church |
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| Art Deco building of a delicatessen store |
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| Buildings like these are part of the street scene |
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| Another Orthodox cathedral (of St. Andrew the First-Called), seen from our bus |
The Hermitage and Winter Palace:
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| The Hermitage - One of the biggest museums of the world with a very extensive and impressive collection of art. It would take days to explore the Hermitage and the adjacent Winter Palace of the Tzars |
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| Entrance way in the palace |
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| Rooms full of paintings |
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| One of the many exquisite galleries |
Mikhailovsky Theater:
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| Inside of the theater |
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| Ballet dancers - the Swan Lake |
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| End of the second act of "Swam Lake" |
Peterhof:
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| The grand palace of Peter the Great |
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| The gardens have many (gold plated) fountains |
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| Our tour group in front of Peter the Great, founder of St. Petersburg and Tsar and emperor of Russia, who ruled from 1682 - 1725 |
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| Another garden in front of another palace on the grounds |
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| Mom and me, and "our" summer palace |
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| Romanov palaces, art, gardens, water and gold - Russia's rich past |
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| Savior on the Blood Church (or Church of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ), my favorite Orthodox cathedral in St. Petersburg |
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| The Russian Museum, full of Russian fine art |
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| St. Petersburg by night |
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| St. Nicholas the Maritime Cathedral |
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| Statue of the famous Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin |
Catherine Palace:
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Catherine Palace,
one of the palaces in Tsarskoye Selo, Tsar Village, is an 18th-century
baroque palace, where the Russian royal family spent their summers.
|
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| It is massive with extensive grounds |
 |
| And very exquisite - watch the immense painting on the ceiling! Most rooms in the palace look like this. |
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| With lots of gold, special wooden floors and exactly as it looked like ages ago |
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| Evening out with dinner and Russian entertainment |
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| Savior on the Blood Church at night |
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| One of the pretty buildings during our one hour river cruise |
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| Bridges and historic buildings along the water ways of St. Petersburg |
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| It's a very charming city, especially seen this way |
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| Back on the main river the Neva, with the Peter and Paul Fortress and Cathedral |
Lady of Kazan Cathedral:
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| Another massive cathedral in the city center |
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| View from the cathedral with a fountain and Art Deco bookstore |
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| The cathedral was our last stop in St. Petersburg |
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| The front side of the Kazan Cathedral faces the main artery and famous shopping street Nevsky Prospekt |
During my last week in Belgium, my mom and I went on a
little 5-day vacation to St. Petersburg (ex-Leningrad). Claimed to be the most beautiful city
of Russia, if not the world, the expectations were high, but the travel
organization Davidsfonds and our local guide Ella delivered. Our program was
chock-full from 9am to late at night, every day. There was literally no time to
relax in our comfortable room or take a dip in the hotel’s swimming pool.
Dinners at our hotel Ambassador were fair, but all breakfasts and other meals
at the diverse restaurants were well-prepared, and tasty, predominantly Russian, cuisine.
In
a group of 27 people, we visited dark Orthodox churches
with shiny relics, colorful cathedrals, exquisite and exuberant palaces,
expansive museums, a moving ballet (Swan Lake with music from
Tchaikovsky), interesting
stores, the impressive Peter and Paul fortress, a cemetery of famous
Russians,
and massive gardens with funky fountains. We were lucky with the
weather: no
rain was felt and the last morning, a glorious sun accompanied us on the
boat
ride over the city’s network of rivers, showcasing St. Petersburg’s
historical buildings in their most favorable and favored way.
A
picture doesn’t necessarily say more than a thousand words
(as a writer, living a seemingly "picture perfect life" I don’t agree
with that expression), but it sure is easier to post a photo
than write a thousand words for each sight we saw and experienced! :-) So, here are a whole bunch of photos of Russia’s prettiest city.
