This mornings weather is not looking great
as we await the arrival of the SPB Tours bus at 8 am. First on our agenda this
morning is a boat trip on the river Neva to see the city from the water. By the
time we got to the boat it was raining lightly and once we got on the boat the
heavens opened. Fortunately the boat was covered, but viewing through the
windows was challenging.
It was very overcast as we headed off in the boat
Naval School
Hermitage Museum
It didn’t remain heavy for too long and
there was one area where the sides had an opening that you could take some
photos from. The boat trip took about an hour and returned to the same place
where a hydrofoil rafted up and we all climbed aboard for our next adventure, a
trip to Peterhof Gardens, some distance away on another island.
Hydrofoil docking at the gardens
On arrival at the gardens, the rain had
passed over for the moment and once again we were just stunned by the opulence
and extravagance of yet another Romanov Palace, in this case the Palace of
Peter the Great. We get to see St Catherines Palace this afternoon.
The gardens have been beautifully restored
and maintained, and there is gold everywhere, even on the fountains. They need
to be reguilded every year to maintain their appearance after the harsh Russian
winter. The fountains are the feature of these gardens, including a few trick
fountains that fire up unexpectedly and wet passers by. Apparently Peter had a
good sense of humour.
This fountain had not been re gilded this season, the difference is obvious
After the visit to the gardens and another
incident where one of our accident prone Aussies appeared to disappeared, but
was later discovered ahead of our group, we went to lunch. It was another
“typical” Russian lunch with a salad, some soup (sort of a goulash flavor with
lots of cabbage and chewy meat), a chicken and rice dish which I think is a
Russian version of Chicken Parmigiana and some ice cream. Of course there was a
shot of vodka each on the table to help the digestion. It filled our stomachs
and wasn’t too bad.
It was now back on the bus and off to St Catherines Palace, one of the highlights of a visit to St Petersburg. The
queues were very long, but somehow our faithful guide managed to get us in there
with not too long a wait.
We expected that it would be a bit over the
top, as Catherine apparently liked Baroque architecture, and some of the rooms
were incredible. Two architects worked on the Palace, an Italian who did the
baroque rooms and a Scotsman, John Cameron, who did others that were more
subdued in style, but still very attractive.
Dining Room with Ceramic Stoves
Main Hall
The queue waiting to get in as we were leaving
Having completed the Palace tour, we had to
get back to the ship by 5 pm for a 5.30pm sailing. Along the way, we were
“ambushed” by the founder of SPB , Vika, a bright young lady who used to be a
tour guide and now has a substantial business running tours throughout the
Baltic. It is the 10th Anniversary of her company and she was making
a video to commemorate it, so some of us may be on the video as she stopped our
bus and cameras were running whist she thanked us for our support.
We did get to the boat on time and were
ready to put our feet up after a couple of very busy days.
I cannot speak highly enough of SPB Tours
who did a sensational job. We saw more than the ship organized cruises, had
lunch provided both days and were only a small group of 16. All of this was for
a cost that was substantially below the Ship Shore excursion.
Tonight we had our “free” meal at the
Italian Specialty Restaurant, Canaletto. Normally it costs $15 a head. We
wouldn’t rush back and certainly wouldn’t pay $15 a head to eat there again.
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