St Petersburg

Upon arriving in St Petersburg, we ordered Uber. Although the car was not in great shape, our luggage was squeezed in and based on the app, the driver headed to the Akyan Hotel - St Petersburg. The fare for our 15 minute drive was under $3 Cdn so when the driver got a $2 US tip, he was thrilled and ready to be our best friend.

We were greeted at the hotel reception desk by Maxime, a young Ukrainian man who had moved to Russia for greater opportunities. As required he collected our passports, the 200 rubles per person registration fee and sent us to our rooms. The rooms and the hotel were very nice, certainly equal to any upscale North American accommodation. It was certainly Gloria's favorite of the trip.

The first grand palace we visited was Michael's Palace, pictured below, one of 200 in the city that house 180 museums for the public.

Maxime returned our passports within 15 minutes, we settled in and then went to the hotel restaurant for a early dinner. Service was slow so we had to rush to get an Uber and get to the Faberge Museum for our 6:00 pm reservation.

The Museum had added a Salvador Dali display which had allowed us to make reservations well in advance, the disadvantage is that the museum was extremely busy. Add to that the fact that there were lines for reservations and lines for last minute ticket buyers, a separate line to pick up audio tour guides in a very small area and then a requirement to check bags and jackets, our entry into the Museum was controlled mayhem.

However the climb up the red carpeted stairs, led us into an incredible world of breathtaking beauty and craftsmanship.

We weren't as impressed with the Dali art display but finished off a bucket list day with a walk to the hotel along Nevsky Avenue, pictured above, a broad street with many lanes and wide sidewalks for all the pedestrians. To our surprise most shops were open to 9 or 10 pm and there were great throngs of people out and about on May Day.

On May 2nd, we started the day with a multi-choice breakfast in the hotel and were picked up promptly at 9 am by our Tours by Locals guide, Irina Kochkina, a 29 year old Russian fluent in English and very well versed on the museums, Russian history & very open about it all.

Our first day with Irina, we visited the Peter & Paul Cathedral where the Russian royal family are entombed (opposite page top) ;

toured four of the six buildings of the Hermitage (middle picture - page 35 ); walked to the Church of the Spilled Blood where at the site in 1881, Emperor Alexander II was fatally wounded, the church was built there between 1883 and 1907 by the imperial family bottom picture - page 35 ); lunched in a traditional Russian restaurant and saw St Isaac's Cathedral ( picture at the bottom of this page ).

We had a long slow dinner in the hotel restaurant and went to bed fairly early after a full day.

On May 3rd, we set off with Irina at 9 am and stopped after a half hour drive to take a subway ride between two suburban stops and experience the art deco design and cleanliness of their underground.
Page 37 - top picture. We then drove to Peterhof, the czars' summer home arriving about 10:45 am just in time to take a couple pictures, enter the area and see the fountains being turned on for the day. All the fountains in the Palace grounds are gravity feed by a system build in the 1700's. Page 37 - middle picture is of pretty persons on a Peterhof park bench, Gloria, Judy and Irina and the third picture is the three Russkateers, Gloria, Curt and Judy, in front of the Peterhof chapel

People arriving at Peterhof by boat entered from the gulf of Finland through the channel and moored at a respectful distance before being ushered into the palace. The grounds and park are massive with several out buildings and many, many fountains some of which are pranks, starting based on stepping on the proper stone or simply by surprise at the whim of the out of sight controller of the water flow.

We then drove 30 km to the town of Tsarskoye Selo where we had lunch and then toured Catherine's palace. Originally built by Catherine I in 1717, it was remodeled in a Rococo style in 1756. Over 100 kilograms of gold was used to gild the exterior facade and statues. The palace was abused, abandoned and ultimately burned in WWII and walls of the Amber room looted by the Nazis. Much of its grandeur was restored including reclaiming and re-installing the walls of the Amber Room (pictured below).

Irina drove us back to the hotel where we said our fond goodbyes as she had indeed been an excellent guide for our stay. We walked to a nearby 5 story shopping mall and enjoyed seeing retail outlets with fully stocked shelves and lots of shoppers. It was a very different image than the 1960's Khruschev days of babas in babushkas waiting in long lines for bread.

May 4th we had an unrushed day of breakfast, uber transfer to the train station, smooth and timely ride back to Helsinki. Our ticket included travel to the airport where we checked in and got luggage tags in advance then took the airport shuttle to our hotel, the Holiday Inn Vantaa because with a 7 am departure, "the best surprise is no surprise" certainly made sense and the hotel was perfect for that.

May 5th we were on the move at 5:45 am, had a short flight to Copenhagen where we had breakfast and then enjoyed our premium economy seats back across the Atlantic, arriving in Winnipeg at 6 pm, tired but basking in a trip where we enjoyed many new experiences and sights. The fact that it was all arranged over the internet and all worked, is still a bit of a wonder and quite amazing.