So during the Baltic runs we would overnight in St. Petersburg every time. This means that I had been to St. Petersburg for 4 days without ever experiencing anything other than the ship! Luckily I've made a pair of determined friends - Christian & Iain - who absolutely forced me to get the hell of the ship and see St. Petersburg. I could not be more grateful.
Russia is a bit weird - you cannot get off the ship without paying $10 for a crew shuttle or being part of a shore excursion (planned ship-chaperoned outings) - where they have buffered all of the prices by $10. Before they let the ship leave the port they calculate how many guests/crew came off it and add a $10 fee per head to our bill. It's very very strange and so far this doesn't happen anywhere else. Also, they are the only place that really gives anyone a hastle trying to come into their country. Passing through immigration takes about 10 minutes per person, so on the first day in the morning you have HUNDREDS of passengers waiting in line to enter the country.
Luckily when we got there, there was no one in line ahead of us and we were happily on our far-too-small shuttle in less than 30 minutes. The shuttle ride was about 25 minutes from port to the main city square where we were dropped off.
This was the first thing I saw when I got off of the crew shuttle bus.
Cool statue and part of Christian's head. Christian is beginning to speak with me in Spanish - I hope to be up to snuff by the time I get home :-D
Iain knows a lot about everything, and was explaining to me how St. Petersburg was one of the world's first planned cities, and the layout is very unique, and blahblahblah. But you really can tell that it was carefully thought out. They have fit a huge amount of amazing things in a very small area, while still having it be a very functional urban location.
I was hoping the gold steeple at the end of the street would be easier to spot... oh well.
Another street shot.
This building was the original Faberge workshop. Very cool. We sell Faberge replicas onboard for tens of thousands of dollars. All of the shoppies are quick to share every time they sell one. Oh, probably forgot to mention that Iain and Christian work in the gift shops.
We passed a whole cluster of school girls who all had these white giant ribbon/flower/hair accessory things. I was kicking myself for not taking a picture of them as soon as I saw them becuase I thought it was so funny. Luckily Christian and Iain - for some reason I still cannot explain - were hungry within 10 minutes of getting off the ship, and low and behold there was one in MacDonalds. So I snuck this shot while acting minimally creepy and stalkerish.
It's hard to tell from this picture how large this archway is.
Little easier to tell the size in this one.
Much easier to tell in this one.
You can see through the archway here an incredible statue and the first glimpse of the Hermitage Palace.
...getting closer...
I could kick myself for how close I got to getting the whole palace in this shot but still missing the edge. It's just so stunning.
This was my attempt at taking to pictures that I could maybe splice together to make one full shot of the Hermitage. More along the lines of Brian's skill set than my own. Maybe he'll surprise me *nudge*
The other half of my faux panorama.
Closeup of some of the sculptural work at the base of the statue.
Main entryway into the palace court yard.
Beautiful ironwork in the palace gates.
A view of the courtyard.
Closeup of a ceiling panel.
Probably my favorite shot of the day.
This is Iain.
A shot from the walk between the Hermitage and the Church.
Another street shot.
A final street shot.
Subway in Russian. Subway in English.
They do really nice innercity landscaping here.
Dome close-up of the cathedral under construction.
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Cathedral thing under construction.
Beautiful street view, no medians here, just stunning waterways. Shame.
It's funny how even not famous buildings are absolutely beautiful here. The sad part is once you get 5 minutes drive from downtown the city is actually falling apart. It's clear that there is a large divide between the haves and the have nots... and it's also clear what the government considers a worthwhile investment.
First sighting of ONION DOMES!!!! I was so excited. Everyone around me just made fun of me. I don't care... this church was awesome. It is called The Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood. There are bullet holes all over it from battles it has seen. Creepily awesome.
A view of the upper part of the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood.
A view of the lower part of the Church. The way may camera is and the way the church was surrounded by other stuff there was no way for me to get far enough away to capture the whole thing without obstruction. I did my best...
Amazing mural and inlay artistry in a recess of the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood.
The Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood. The onion domes are absolutely astounding.
This is fence surrounding the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood.
After we spent 2 and a half hours wandering around to see all of the famous buildings, we spent 2 and a half hours in ths pub, mooching off of the free internet, large beer selection, delicious french fries (perfectly seasoned), and ignorance of how much a ruble was worth. (Well, Iain and Christian know, I chose to shoot blindly with a visa card.)
The view from the shuttle pickup is not always this breath-taking.
