2013 Baltic Cruise - Part 7 - St Petersburg Day 1

2013 Baltic Cruise - St Petersburg - Day 1

Days 9 -  15th May 2013

Up early as always – my internal clock always wakes me up an hour or so before sunrise no matter where I am.

So up on deck to watch us dock – three cruise ships heading towards St Petersburg – in front of us was the P & O Arcadia and behind us the Thompson Spirit.

My excursion was due to leave at around 730am – everything went great until I had to go through passport control – they took forever – have no idea why – maybe they have not had a South African coming through their port on a cruise ship – anyway after what seemed an eternity I was through.

I have always had this romantic Romanov idea about Russia and St Petersburg - was I prepared for what I saw – I suppose not – mixture of architecture from Romanov era to communist concrete blocks of flats and buildings in the city centre.

It’s all grey and drab yet clean – some beautiful churches of course  - we were are on our way to the Catherine Palace in the city of Pushkin – not famous for the drink but for the poet.

The only reason I wanted to do this is excursion was the Amber Room. 

 Catherine’s palace did not disappoint at all – beautifully restored as it was almost completely destroyed during the Second World War, not to mention that the Amber Room was dismantled and ferreted away by the Germans – never to be found. All the porcelain and valuables were stored away in Siberia during WW2 - so most of everything is still original – all the gilding had to be re – done and the roof replaced.

 

The gardens are magnificent and all trees that were once again destroyed - have been replaced. Pretty cool if you think that the communist fathers were not keen to be reminded of the imperial past – but they did and now all the world can marvel at the sights.

 Saw some wonderful sights of the old city on our way back to the ship and was looking forward to my excursion the following day.

 

River cruise and a tour of the Peter and Paul fortress.