St. Petersburg - Did Someone Say Treasure? (June 19)

After today, Saint Petersburg joins the ranks of the world’s greatest cities in my estimation. Our tour was eight hours and quite informative. In the morning, from eight to twelve, we toured around the city and saw many incredible sites such as the bronze horseman (Peter the Great) and a statue of Alexander some of the greatest Russian rulers. In addition to this, we were incredibly privileged to see the Church of the Spilled Blood (picture), a beautiful church, dedicated by Alexander III to his father on the site of his assassination.



Immediately following these sites, we entered a Russian restaurant, where we had salad, chicken, potatoes, champagne, vodka and ice cream. With our hearts (and stomachs) happy, we then toured the Hermitage (the former Winter Palace for the Czars) for two hours. The Hermitage is one of the biggest museums in the world with over three million artifacts. It is said that if you spent three minutes in every room, it would take three and a half years to finish your visit! As a result, we saw only about two percent of the exhibits.

This incredible museum contained sculptures, paintings of modern, classical and baroque styles, gold and silver plates (I love the treasures) and even the royal throne of Catherine II. The Hermitage has now passed the Vatican Museum in my estimation as the greatest in the world. After this, our tour returned us to the ship where we saw Toy Story III! What a great day! (Jesse)

Today was another long day in a fascinating port of call. St. Petersburg is an amazing city, and it’s difficult to believe that I was just in Russia. Even though I haven’t lived long enough to experience it, it’s still difficult to overcome the stigma of communism that I know must still lurk in the minds of American visitors.

Even so, we saw some amazing sights. We passed by the great gold spike of the Peter and Paul Cathedral and made a stop at the Church of the Spilled Blood, a very intriguing, very “Russian” building. A large portion of our time was dedicated to visiting the Hermitage museum, which is now housed in the former royal palace. The museum holds an incredible amount of paintings, sculpture, and all other kinds of artwork. We spent two hours quickly perusing several of the galleries, but we actually saw only about two percent of the contents of the whole museum.

It’s been a great, surreal day, and I’m very glad that I had the opportunity to visit St. Petersburg and see some of its wonderful sights, and get a taste of the culture. It’s a fascinating place with an amazing history. (Jacob)

The visit to St. Petersburg was delightful. We saw the cruiser that was used as the signal for the commencement of the Bolshevik Revolution. We took a photo of the former KGB headquarters (most certainly while they were taking a picture of us) and learned a great deal about the changes that have and are continuing to take place. It was among the most beautiful days (along with Berlin) since entering the Baltic and we were privileged to visit. (By the way, the sunset is 11:20 PM and the sunrise is 3:50 AM although it is continually dusk like … this is the time of the “white nights”.)