We have just come back to the ship after our two day tour with White Night Tours, our guide was Anna, who was a lovely German girl, and our driver was the very efficient Paul. Anna spoke good broken English, Paul .... No idea!
We disembarked to begin our tour at about 8.15 am and had to queue for customs ..another snot freezing wait, we were in the line to nowhere, and consequently last through. A very surly customs official scared the crap out of me, but must have thought I was OK ... He let me in after waiting for well over an hour.
Off we went through the city to visit the Hermitage Museum, the Winter Palace, I just asked Warren how big was the palace, his reply was $&@£€# HUGE! So no details, sorry! Again we formed a "far q"to gain entry, again our snot froze over. It was like sheep being herded not a fun wait, but when we finally entered (after having to remove our jackets and check them in the locker room..... Because. Wait for it .........ITS SUMMER!!!!!) we were gob smacked, the place is enormous, and holds some incredible irreplaceable works of art, by many famous artists, nothing is a replica. We toured for what seemed like a year and a half, with the other 3 million tourists, shuffling along, snapping awesome photos of the back of some Japanese tourists head.
Much to Warrens relief we moved on ....
Our coach took us out to our lunch spot, a village 40 minutes from town, the drive was pleasant, passing the Presidents Winter residence. There are more palaces and churches than people.. Go figure!
Lunch was efficiently served and was really delicious, an authentic Russian meal, in a building made in the traditional way of large logs all joined together beautifully, and nit using any nails! We were served Borscht soup, cabbage and carrot grated (????) yummy beef stroganoff and blueberry
pancakes..oh and lovely local wine and not so lovely local beer.
Next up was Peterhoff Gardens, home to 150 fountains and some more palaces. The gardens were sensational, just blooming tulips, what a great sight. We even saw another squirrel, much to my excitement. We walked for a long long way, admiring all the sights, the sun was out, and life was grand in Russia! From this park you can see across to Finland. Our camera was running at full steam again.
Peterhoff Palace was very grand, gold turrets gleaming in The sunlight..
A lovely secret fountain where you took a risk to
run through the cobblestones to try and miss the water spout.
We were warned to be aware of pickpockets here, to me there appeared to be no sign of vagrants, or beggars.
On we go driving back to town. Time for a nana nap for me on the way! I was not alone :)
We saw the main office of the Russian Navy, an ice breaker ship, a submarine, one dating back to 1927, and for a change a few dozen more palaces, oh and churches!
St Petersburg was originally made up of 102 islands, they have since filled in a lot of the canals and now consists of 42 islands. There are many canals and over 400 bridges, gotta wonder how the 5 million fit, between bridges, palaces and churches. The population doubles in summer...A large influx of tourists certainly helps the economy.
Back to the ship to charge up phone/iPad/camera and nana batteries. Or venture out for a bit of socialising.... As you do!
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