European vacations

St Petersberg to Moscow - Russia As part of a tour group travelling from St Petersberg to Moscow, we waited in the Moscow Train Station (in St Pete...

To St.Petersburg, With Love, - St Petersburg Also called the doomed city by many. There is a legend, when the sphinxes take a dive in the waters of the Neva R...

We saw and experienced St Petersberg in March, with lots of snow on the ground and cold temperatures. Just picture a Dr. Zhivago winter scene, and that’s what it was like. We loved it, though, because there were no lines anywhere, and few tourists. The fur hat vendors did a good business with all on our bus, as did those selling beautiful books about the museums. In fact, the best buys on those books were from street vendors outside the various museums. We did not see any like them in stores. Other favorite items were Matryushka (stacking) dolls, army hats with pins and chevrons on them, and stamp books (like a collector would have).

The Russian Museum of Art had wonderful Icons, tables inlaid with precious stones, Italian landscapes painted by Russian artists, portraits of girls from the Smolney Institute in playful poses, and a very large painting, taking up one wall, of the Russian State Council. The only bad thing that happened was when a street vendor approached us at a stop light, and distracted us with conversation while an accomplice pick-pocketed a camera out of my friend’s coat pocket.

Another highlight was the Mariinskiy (Kirov) Theater, all resplendent in white and gold, and light blue, on the interior. The ballet, Gizelle, was wonderful, and at intermission they served champagne, vodka, and open-faced sandwiches with red or black caviar on them. There, as in all museums, it was required to check coats and cameras for free, or pay for a pass to use the cameras. There are many stations according to where your seats are, so the lines move very quickly afterwards.

Near the airport was the War Memorial, a circular structure surrounding a sculpture of starving people under the siege of Lenin. Eternal flames were burning from bullet-shaped lamps around the rim of the circle. Continuing on down the stairs was a huge room with walls of names of the dead, and showcases of war relics. At either end was a mosaic wall showing men leaving for the war, and of them returning and celebrating at the end of the war. In an alcove was a continuously running video showing footage of actual events during the war, covering both the military and civilian hardships. It was very moving!

The fact that they did not accept credit cards or travellers’ checks caused a problem for those who brought little cash. Dollars or rubles were accepted everywhere.

Be sure to see the very colorful Church On Spilled Blood, a memorial built for Tzar Alexander II, who was murdered on that spot in 1881. It took more than 25 years to construct and has more than twenty different types of minerals used in the interior. It sits on a park where mothers in beautifully hooded coats were pushing strollers through the snow, to give their babies an "airing". We also saw others in tattered clothing, begging for food for their babies. We found breakfast bars came in handy to give them.

Lastly, I need to mention the Hermitage Museum, a collection of former palaces, connected together so you walk from one to another inside without noticing a change. Some of the rooms were identified by the colors of silk or precious stones adorning the walls - lapis, malachite, white with gold, and red. Ceilings were much more decorative than the walls, and not much mention was made of paintings until we came to the room of Renoir’s works. The third floor had the Impressionists - Van Gogh, Cezanne, Pisaro and Picasso. We had only a half-hour to see them all, and ended up buying beautifully-illustrated calendars, post cards and posters of their various works to enjoy at our leisure,later.

Just outside was our first view of Palace Square, where horse-drawn carriages were giving rides through the snow, and young architectural students were selling paintings of the Hermitage or of the Church On Spilled Blood, very reasonably. We bartered and were able to get two for the price of one at $25.00.

An unusual pizza, eaten after that tour, consisted of mushrooms, cheese, pickles and salmon paste, and was washed down by two of by beer. Sound good?

Peter and Paul Fortress, built on an island, was a complex of buildings with six Bastions, or towers. A sign at the entrance said what you couldn’t do, including go naked inside the walls! A statue of Peter the Great was in the courtyard, all out of proportion, because they made his head from his death mask, but improvised on his body, which was way too big! We walked through the solitary confinement cells, where political prisoners were tortured, including Peter the Great’s son, Alexis. Guards spied on the prisoners and also on each other, in order to gain favors or bonuses. Peter and Paul Cathedral had beautiful marble columns glittering chandeliers, and carved wood appliqued with golf leaf on the altarpieces, and pulpit with its own roof, under which Catherine-the-Great and her husband stood during services. Outside we were in time to see a large group of people lined up against the fortress walls, with snowsuits dropped around their ankles, sunning themselves in bathing suits or less!

One final note on St. Petersberg, is that although March was a good time to go to avoid the crowds, we missed out on seeing how beautiful the parks and gardens must be in nice weather, with all the gray boxes covering the Grecian-like statues put in storage. Our tour guide, Catherine, was with us the whole time, serving as the tour escort as well as the informed tour guide in all the museums. She was terrific!

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Catherine’s Opulent Palace - St Petersburg

River Cruise St. Petersberg to Moscow - Russia