A good night's sleep worked wonders on our travel-weary bodies as we awoke refreshed. Our group of 15 had arrived on different days and times, but we were all together now and ready to explore Peter the Great's city.
The weather was cloudy and in the 60's as we drove from the pier into the city.Traffic on this Monday morning was as heavy we see in Austin, but this gave us a chance to enjoy the sites we were passing. The canals reminded me more of Amsterdam than Venice.
We passed one beautiful building after another but the most unique was The Church of the Spilled Blood where Alexander II was killed by a terrorist bomb in 1881 -- apparently today's problems have been around for a long
time. It's an incredibly striking site and big tourist attraction with it's colorful onion domes. There were several other sites to see such as St. Isaac's and the
Aurora whose canon shot announced the start of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.
A stop for lunch at The Academy restaurant included a delicious meal of Borscht soup and Beef Stroganoff.
By now we were refreshed and ready for the afternoon agenda -- Peterhof, the famous palace and park built, again, by Peter the Great
(he definitely deserved his title). It is located about 45 min from the city via hydrafoil from the Hermitage on the Gulf of Finland.The palace was closed for viewing, but I had seen it in 1972 and 2004 and found the grounds to be the major attraction. They included 144 foundations spread over 3 beautifully landscaped parks. You could easily spend hours just wandering the grounds where most of the G8 meetings were held.
Dinner tonight had a special treat. Yesterday was Diane Corley's
birthday and AMA Waterways surprised her with a birthday cake and Happy Birthday (Russian style).
Tomorrow holds more adventures-- I just hope it holds wifi as well.
More from St. Petersburg soon?
Linda
No comments:
Post a Comment