Day 2- We made it to St. Petersburg!

Day 2- We made it to St. Petersburg!

We woke up somewhere in Russian waters, and after a decent shower (in the teeny, tiny bathroom of our teeny, tiny cabin) and a decent breakfast, we sailed into the St.Petersburg harbour on the Gulf of Finland.

Our disembarkation was thankfully quick and stress-free.

After a solemn, individual screening by the Russian passport control officer, I entered Russia and Barry soon followed. We were happy to get through with no problems, as we are travelling on a visa-free 72 hour entry. (I had looked at the form for an individual visa, and was defeated by the part on page 7 that required a list of all countries visited in the last ten years, including entry and exit dates. It would take me days.... Just in case that wasn't enough, we had to list all of our employment history- and we think Barry has had 28 jobs....) This 72 hour visa is granted to those traveling to St. Petersburg by ferry on a tour that includes their hotel and a group sightseeing tour. We were able to chose from several hotels and our group tour was Barry, me, our guide, and our driver.

Our guide, Diana, was a welcome sight. She led us to our vehicle for the next three days- an emerald green VW passenger van, complete with custom leather seats and three seatbelts. (Only those in the front seats are required by law to be belted in, so the guide and driver were not concerned about a lack of seatbelt for Barry.)

We spent the morning getting an overview of St. Petersburg: highlights were the Monument to Peter the Great,  the Church of the Spilled Blood, the Winter Palace, and the Peter and Paul Fortress.

The monument to Peter the Great symbolizes the victory of Russia (symbolized by the horse) over Sweden (symbolized by the snake beneath the horse's hooves) in the Northern War (1700-1721).

The Winter Palace was the official residence of the Russian Emperors from 1732 to 1917. Today, the palace and its adjoining additions house the amazing Hermitage Museum.

The aptly named Church of the Spilled Blood was built on the exact spot where Emperor Alexander II was severely wounded and died in March,1881.

The Peter and Paul Fortress is the original citadel of St. Petersburg, founded in 1703 by Peter the Great.

In the afternoon, we wandered out on our own. St. Petersburg was a big surprise in many ways. 

It's obvious why it's called the Venice of the North, as it has a system of canals but we hadn't realized that the architecture is also very European. 

It was easy to get around and it is the cleanest city I have ever visited- no litter, no cigarette butts, no homeless people (they were moved out of the city center for the 2018 World Cup.)

We lined up and herded through the Church of the Spilled Blood- quite beautiful with its thousands of mosaic tiles

and then walked over to see the significantly less crowded Kazan Cathedral.

We found the restaurant on Nevsky Prospect (the main shopping/strolling street) that our guide had recommended and really enjoyed an early dinner.

We walked back to the hotel where we slept very, very well.



Note: Wifi seems intermittent at best and so I cannot update daily. Not even gone a week and I'm already behind.  I'll keep working to catch up!