Travels to Russia - St Petersburg

The center of the city is still looks as it did in 1900's, and when I entered it from the rail station, I had a feeling that all the characters of Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Chekhov are going to appear right in front of me. The city has a very mystical appearance very early in the morning when it is still dark, and you cannot believe that you are traveling in a trolley along Nevsky prospekt. It seems that there should be carridges and ladies in gorgeous gowns ready for the balls.

The first day - 3 hour tour of the city, they show you pretty much everything and tell you about a lot of things to see in the city. After the tour I went inside the Isaac's cathedral and listened to several different tours. It's really something unbelievable. A must see!

Next day spend the whole day in the Hermitage - enormous collection of paintings, prepare to be very tired by the end of the day.

Also take: bus tour to Peterhoff, bus tour to Pavlovsk, and bus tour to Pushkin where you'll see Katherine II palace which is still looking for the Amber room stolen during the war.

Quick Tips:

If you don't speak Russian, always have somebody who does. Unfortunately, few people speak English. The tours can be arranged through the Web sites and on the spot. The Web sites provide a lot of information and even opening hours. Tickets to the Hermitage are bought right there, prepare to stay in line for awhile to enter.

Best Way To Get Around:

Public transportation is well-developed, but does not adhere to the schedule. So if you know what bus you need to take and where the stop is, just come there and wait for the bus, until it comes. The buses have a route number in front on the very top. With the cars, it will be difficult to drive because the cars most of the time do not have power brakes and power steering. There are, however, such agencies as Enterprise in the city. The subway system is good and fast and clean. But the stations announcements are only in Russian.

Open: 11 am - 5 pm, closed Wednesday and last Tuesday of the month.

This fortress is located right on the bank of the Neva river and you can still see on the wall facing the river the marks of the water levels in the city when the city was flooded in the 19th century. Now the river is taken into channels and its level does not increase as significantly as it did back then. The fortress used to be a political prison during the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. This was the place of imprisonment of the Decembrists (dekabrists - in Russian). Decembrists were Russian nobles who in December of 1825 organized a revolt against the tzar Nicolas I. They basically didn't want anybody to be poor. The revolt was overturned, 5 leaders were executed, hundreds spend their lives in the Siberia. Several wives followed their husbands to Siberia and spent their lives there. Also Dostoevsky spent some time in this prison. The jail cells were moist and damp, and many prisoners got sick with tuberculosis here. There were also mice and rats in the cells. Yet people were studying and writing and not giving up. The fortress also has a canon that sounds off 12 o'clock noon every day and used to warn people of the flood.

The fortress also has a Peter and Paul Cathedral on its grounds, which is a place of the burial of Russian tsars starting with Peter I.

This is really a must. The cathedral has this appearance of greatness about it that is just remarkable. The construction of the cathedral took 20 years and its architect Montferrand died right after it was built as if just hanging on to see his child in all its glory. There is a small exhibit inside the cathedral about the history of its construction. As all the orthodox churches it has the golden cupola. During the World War II it was covered with fabric to prevent the Nazi planes from bombing the cathedral. Yet if you walk along the columns you can see bullets stuck in the red granite. This is just a small reminder of the war that was now over 50 years ago.

The inside of the cathdral is really grandious. The ceiling was painted by a very famous Russian painter Karl Bryullov. The ceiling is incredible, it contains all the main themes from the Bible, the most recognizable of which are Adam and Eve, and the 4 prophets. The walls are covered with the mosaics which were created by slave painters. Each square in the mosaic is about 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch and every mosaic took about 3-4 years to make. Also if you stay inside long enough and listen to different tours you might be able to hear the story of at least 2 of the 4 gates in the cathedral.

If it's not windy which is quite rare, you might be able to climb to the collonade and get a panoramic view of the city.

Puskin is another suburb of St Petersburg I highly recommend visiting. It was formerly called Tsarskoe Selo (which means in translation "tsar's village"). It is home to the liceum and the palace of Catherine II.

This liceum was a school for elite in the 19th century, and Pushkin studied here. It was also at this location that Pushkin read his poetry to Derzhavin, who was the most admired Russian poet of the 18th century. Derzhavin was very impressed by Pushkin's poetry and encouraged him to continue with his great gift.

The other place definitely worth visiting in Pushkin is Catherine Palace which is the place where Catherine II lived and died. The palace of Catherine II is very beautiful, built in baroque style, and it is probably most well known for the Amber room. It is the most intriguing, mysterious and sought after work of art today. It was a rather large room where walls were covered with amber carved panels and mirrors. During World War II when the Nazis occupied the palace, they dismantled the room and piece by piece sent it together with other cultural masterpieces to Germany. Yet many think that the room never reached Germany and has been missing since 1944. Some think that it is still somewhere in Kaliningrad (Konigsberg); some think it's somewhere in Switzerland in private collection.

The palace had the same fate as other palace around St Petersburg. It was almost entirely destroyed by the Nazis during World War II but was rebuilt since and there is constant restoration effort ongoing. They even started to recreate the Amber room.

You should also walk along the alleys of the garden which is maintained in that curvy English-style landscape that looks so gorgeous.

Peterhof (also called in Russian Petrodvorets which is an exact translation of the German word meaning Peter's palace) is a suburb of St Petersburg. Prepare to spend a whole day. The best way to go there is by a tour bus with a guide. That way you will learn a lot of interesting things and he/she will tell you all the history associated with the place. It is no doubt the most gorgeous and luxurious of the palaces in the suburbs of St Petersburg. The palace has amazing parquets and a large paintings collection. The ornaments on the walls are covered with a very thin layer of gold. You also have to walk around the palace and especially go and see the unbelievable view of the Finnish Gulf that opens from the stairs that have statues of different Greek or Roman gods on the sides and the fountains all the way to the Finnish Gulf. It's really a breathtaking view when the weather is good. The palace was restored after World War II by the efforts of the enthusiasts painters, architects, sculptors and carpenters since it was almost entirely demolished during the siege of Leningrad by the German troops. Part of the collection of the palace was evacuated before the entry of the Nazis, a lot of pieces in the collection were destroyed during their presence at the palaces.

Peterhof is currently restored to its original grandure and is truely the place of the Russian royalty, and it bears the name of Peter I who was the most controversial tsar Russia ever had. He brought European culture to Russia and built St Petersburg from the ground up. The city was built by the slaves and cost thousands their lives. But Peter I really built a city that has no equals in the world. He brought the most modern ideas of his time to Russia and created a city that can truely be called one of the wonders of the world. The estate includes the Grand palace, Monplaisir palace, the Chateau de Marly, Hermitage Pavilion and several parks. All are really worth seeing. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the palaces or the fountains but here is a list of websites that have very nice pictures and more information: http://www.unilib.neva.ru/city/suburbs/sub1.html - this website has also name of architects and date of creation and restoration http://www.enlight.ru/camera/index_e.htm http://wwweng.gov.spb.ru/tourism/petrodvoretc/Pr_Petrodv.htm http://www.online.ru/sp/fresh/far-out/petrdvor.html http://www.photovault.com/Link/Cities/gEasternEurope/kRussiaNorthernEurope/Places/Petrodvorets.html

Yet another of the gorgeous palaces in a suburb of St. Petersburg. The palace was a gift from Catherine II to her son tsar Paul I on the birth of his first son. Paul I was a very strange and very unhandsome man and very much an opposite of his great mother. His main passion in life was military duty and he tried to create his own army basing it on the German army of the time and you can see some militaristic features in decor of several rooms of the palace.

The palace was Paul I summer residence and besides the amazing palace also has an enormous park which is one of the largest in Europe.

The palace is not very big but it has the most amazing parquet I've ever seen. It is made out of 11 kinds of wood and has very creative pattern to it. The most impressive hall in the palace is Grecian Hall. Columns of artificial marble line all sides of the room. Between the columns on the walls you can see copies of antique sculptures and urns in the niches.

The palace also has a large collection of paintings, furniture, antique sculptures and porcelain that was created during Paul's travels in Europe in 1781-1782. The palace has very interesting architecture and was preserved by the tsar family the way that it was in the beginning of the 19th century until 1917. Pavlovsk was totally demolished by the Nazis during World War II and even in 1960's there still was nothing left on this place except for pieces reminding you of the past. It took several decades for the palace to be rebuilt and now it looks as it did in the 19th century.