St. Petersburg -- Peter & Paul Fortress

At the fork of the Neva River is where PTG first constructed what is now called the Peter and Paul Fortress.

"Visitors" to the Fortress, if they came in from the Nevsky Gate, knew they would never leave.

So, in a surprise piece of information, St. Petersburg was NOT named after PTG, but after St. Peter.  Here is Peter and Paul Cathedral in the heart of the fortress.  The cathedral was closed in 1918 and turned into a museum in 1924.  Religious services resumed in 2000.

It is the final resting place of most members of the Romanov family.  If a coffin has the double eagle symbol, the coffin contains an actual Tsar or Tsarina.

Or if you are Alexander II or his wife, you get buried in these marble coffins.

PTG

In the back right, Catherine the Great

Tsar Nicholas II and his family were killed in 1918 in Yekaterinburg.  He and three of his children were moved to the cathedral in 1998.

All but two post PTG Tsar's are buried here.  But PTG's son, who attempted to kill his father, is buried with his wife, underneath the stairs outside the nave.

Because Peter and Paul Cathedral was turned into the private Romanov family church, the Russian Orthodox church built St. Isaacs, which still is the largest Russian Orthodox church in the world.  It too is now a museum.

It is the fourth church to stand in this location.

Facing east, the iconostasis.

Ever wonder how they get those columns in place?  Apparently with this scaffolding, it took only 45 minutes.

St. Petersburg -- Peterhof

A free day in St. Petersburg, so DD and I decided on a picnic at the Peterhof Gardens.  As we were walking to the hydrofoil, we came across this exhibit of "Buddy Bears."  Each country had an artist paint one.  Here I am posing with the China Buddy Bear.

The Hydrofoil took us out the Neva River into the Gulf of Finland.  It took us past many naval shipyards that appear to still be in active service.

We passed by the only "Soviet" Bloc looking buildings the entire time we were in St. Petersburg.  Note at this point, the weather is overcast.  But we're still hoping for the sun to come through.

Peterhof is the "Russian Versailles"

This is the guest palace.

The famed "Grand Cascade"

The gardens are full of beautifully created fountains.  You'll notice that at this point, I've discovered the "VIVID COLOR" setting on my camera.  Helps overcome the gray skies and RAIN.

As DD "kinnear's" the cute guard, his umbrellas tells the story.  RAIN.  Picnic cancelled.

The gardens of the Peterhof contain a small outpost of The Hermitage, it's right on the Gulf and surrounded by a moat.

Rain, what's a guy to do, but simply call it a day and head home.  Later on in the evening, clear skies and a beautiful sunset....at 1130PM.

St. Petersburg -- Scenes from the City

The Russian Flag!  If you look at the Dutch flag, it has the same colored stripes but in a different order.  This is the RUSSIAN flag, not the red flag of the former Soviet Union.  The flag has these colors because Peter the Great (PTG) was a Dutchophile, having lived in Holland to learn how to build boats.  He adopted the Dutch flag colors and then reordered them for the flag of Russia.

St. Petersburg (actually not named for PTG, will be discussed in a future post) is built along many canals, thereby earning the moniker, "Venice of the North"

PTG started building the city in 1703 as his "window onto Europe."  PTG also turned St. Petersburg into the city that was the only city to have a naval bent.

And yes, that's a bear

Add to the PTG awesomeness category.  He was a humble and simple person.  This is the house that is built AROUND his log cabin.  It is now the museum that houses PTG's original St. Petersburg home.

The famed Winter Palace, which now houses the Hermitage, was built by his daughter, Elizabeth I.

"Nevsky Prospekt" is the avenue that is the heart of St. Petersburg.

DD and I are working on mastering our reading of Cyrillic.  Every time we can figure out a word (and it is a word that has direct English pronunciation, we celebrate).  Here's a simple one..."STOP"

Due to law, St. Petersburg can never change it's look.  It survived the World Wars and Revolution.  Thereby, it truly looks like a European city.

Nevsky Prospekt crosses many canals.  On one canal, there are four statues that show the stages of taming a horse.

I have only two of them here, the other two, I was simply to lazy to cross the street to get better pictures of those statues.

Kazansky Cathedral is modeled after St. Peter's in Rome.

Grocery shopping is always a fun way to learn about a country.  I had to buy these, which appear to be "kebab flavored sticks."  They were just...MEH

Why did we go to this railway station?

To see one of the few remaining statues of Lenin in the former Leningrad.

The Finlandsky Station also houses the train on which Lenin snuck back into Russia before the 1917 revolution.

Interesting reuse......"TOILET"

Piroskys (excuse the possible spelling mistake)

Our last day in St. Petersburg.....was a perfect Russian summer day.  No humidity, about 24 degrees Celsius (you Americans figure out the conversion yourselves!) and not a cloud in the sky.

I have to pay homage to DD's iPHONE.  First, she easily obtained a Russian SIM card, has a Russian Telephone Number and for a month has unlimited WIFI access.  With it she was able to find the Field of Mars and use the internet to determine that this Eternal Flame was lit in 1957 and is dedicated to all the unknown soldiers who have died for Russia in war.  I appreciate her iPHONE.

930PM in St. Petersburg in early August.  The sun is still high in the sky!

August 2nd is the day the "Green Berets" or in this case "Blue Striped Shirts" of the Russian military celebrate.  These guys/men were all over St. Petersburg, carousing and drinking.  One word....YUMMY.