And then, the long dreamed of St. Petersburg

The flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg was, as all flights should be, uneventful, in spite of my angst.  Guide Tamara got up at the crack of dawn to see me off in Moscow, and to give my some last advice on getting the right taxi to the St. Petersburg hotel, and I got there like I knew where I was going...  

So, having slipped my minders, I was on my own in Russia, and, in particular, St. Petersburg, the city of canals...

....and hundreds of 17th and 18th century palaces.  Apparently, the center of St. P is a UNESCO heritage site; while these palaces can be renovated and updated, the facades must remain the same...

...there are musicians on the street everywhere.  Note the fellow in the wheel chair behind the violinists.  Disabled people were not thick on the ground (and, indeed, the ground was not very accommodating to them...)

...the venue of my first (but not only) ballet, fittingly, Swan Lake

.....there were all sorts of intriguing signs like this on Nevsky Prospect, the main drag (doesn't the name itself just reek of 19th century Russians novels.

.....not to mention kitsch...

......the cow is the logo for Moo Moo's (spelling) a very popular hamburger joint...

......and even Bart Simpson has made it here (not to mention MacDonalds and Starbucks...

...St. Isaacs Cathedral......

I sought out the Grand Choral Synagogue....

As you can see, it is huge, and was well attended (it was the High Holidays when I was there).  Well cared for too, although interestingly enough, there was no security, as there is in most synagogues in Europe these days.  I have been told that Putin is making nice to all the minorities, including the Jews these days.  (There is another, smaller, synagogue in St. P., but I never was able to find it, in spite of several attempts.

I knew that once I joined the next Road Scholar group, we would have an organized trip to the Hermitage, but the Impressionists - which I particularly wanted to see - were not on the agenda, so I headed there on my own....

.......it really is magnificent, isn't it?

...and though there were a million tour buses and long lines for the main building, the Impressionists (four glorious floors) were almost deserted.  English audio guide in hand, I spent four glorious hours...

.....after which I was completely exhausted and in need of sustenance...

.....this little Greek restaurant became my go-to place when I was on my own.  The prices were reasonable, the menu was translated into English, and it was close enough to my hotel (on Nevsky Prospect) that I could find my way home...

With a little help from the concierge at the hotel, I was able to negotiate the public transit pretty well.  Have I said: it was plentiful and cheap.  And everyone was helpful - all the young people had translation apps on their phones, and seemed happy to help.

Below is the Kazan Cathedral.

On day 2 on my own, the buses and trolleys seemed to have evaporated, so I started out on foot.  (I don't think all of Nevsky Prospect is more than 5 miles long...

.....turns out that the whole street was blocked off for a religious procession....

.....spontaneously joined in by passers by.  I think I have already commented on the abject failure of the Soviets to stamp out religion in Russia.  And now, with Putin being so religious (we actually saw his confessor at one of our church visits), most of the previously confiscated land is being returned to the church and rebuilding is rife....

below, believe it or not, is the Singer Sewing Machine Building, a masterpiece in itself...

One of the (many) highlights for me was the Faberge Museum.  I have always been fascinated by the eggs, and was excited to seem them up close and personal.  By the way, yet another one to chalk up to the oligarchs.   One of them bought the Shuvalov Palace, renovated, and bought all the remaining Faberge objects he could find for sale, including Malcolm Forbes collection of eggs.  This was the first private museum in Russia..  Trust me, the pictures don't do them justice (although, lord knows, I took enough of them...)

....the eggs all had a surprise inside...

I was hot to find the Pushkin House, where he lived, and died after a duel in St. Petersburg.  After several tries, I did find it.  It had one of the best English language audio guides I have had in a museum anywhere, and I probably spent an inordinately long time there...

....I also found the Dostoevsky Museum, one of the (many) places he lived here.  (He was apparently perpetually broke.  His rules were that he had to live on a corner and across from a church....  they're all weird, these geniuses.)  Another great English audio guide, another wonderful afternoon...

...and on the way home, I ran across, of all things, a political protest.  It wasn't huge - perhaps 1200 people or so, but still, not something one expects to find in Russia - and was protesting Putin's plan to increase the age of receiving pensions, to 65 for men (life expectancy is only 66!) and 60 for women.

The above were, of course, solo activities...After three (four?) days on my own, I connected with the tour  for the second half of the organized part of the journey.  We went to the Peterhof, the summer estate of the tsars on the Gulf of Finland. Peter liked to call it the Russian Versailles, and you can see why.....

.... I actually needed the coat.  In spite of the sun, the wind was howling off the Baltic...

This Church was one of so many fabulous ones..

.....the group, of course, went to places a little fancier than the ones I found on my own to eat...

Around now, we were eating a lot of mushrooms in all sorts of varieties (apparently now in season) and potato pancakes.  (Did you know that Peter the Great brought potatoes to Russia?  Who knew?  When you think of Russia, you think potatoes, like Ireland.  Apparently, prior to Peter, there were, what, leeks?  Anyway, he brought coffee, and Catherine the Great was addicted....The things one learns on trips...)

.....yet another palace, converted into a concert hall.  This concert was more on the folk line, in spite of the fancy dress of the attendants...

This is Chesma Church, built by Catherine the Great in honour of the victory over Turkey in 1790  (war is never far from the minds of the Russians...)  This is familiarly known as the wedding cake church, again for obvious reasons...

...the memorial is behind the church, quite lovely, really...

The war of 1812 is never far here, and, of course, the siege of Leningrad.  There is huge memorial dedicated to the defenders of Leningrad (you all know, of course, that St. Petersburg was then called Leningrad...).  The siege lasted 900 days, and more than 700,000 civilians died......

This is Catherine the Great's palace.  It's mostly a reconstruction, as it was severely damaged by the Germans during WWII..  It is in a town called Pushkin, but originally called Tsarskoye Selo ( a name some of you, at least, will recognize)....

......including the much - touted Amber Room (where we were not permitted to take pictures).  I was quite prepared to hate it - I don't even like amber - but it really was pretty impressive... Who knew there were 350 kinds of amber?

.....not too many pictures at the Heritage.  I got tired of fighting for picture-taking space...

our last eating opportunity before getting on the ship....

......this church actually contains the tombs of  the Russian tsars....

.... and a final look at St. Petersburg's Kremlin (remembering that it means "fortress"...)

......before heading to the ship, the M/S Mstislav Rostropovich (yes, as in the musician)....

And, for those you you getting bored with all this, only two more posts should get us back home...