Добро пожаловать в Санкт-Петербурге!

At the half way point of our trip, we hit the most anticipated port.  St. Petersburg.  Because of visa restrictions, we had to book the ship excursion rather than going out on our own as we’d done in all the previous ports.  There were also a list of rules about three pages long on what to do, not to do, and when to do it (or not do it!).  As Adam mentioned earlier, a few of our fellow passengers might have been slightly older than us and a little more set in their ways, so these rules were repeated constantly in the days leading up to arriving in St. Petersburg.  (Still we were shocked as the couple in front of us at immigration were turned away for not having their boarding card!)

Reflecting back now, I’m glad we were with a group for these two days.  We had local guides for all our tours, so I feel we still got some of the authentic experience (and every one of the guides took us to a gift shop at the end of each tour, all of which I’m pretty sure they were related to the owner), but we were kept safer.  Adam & I can now boast that we’ve been to a significant number of world capitals, Washington DC, London, Paris, Rome, Barcelona (yes, I know that’s not the capital of Spain), Stockholm, etc.  St Petersburg is the first one that really made me nervous about pickpocketers and getting lost or robbed.  I told this to my Dad and he commented that he was surprised I didn’t seem nervous about the tube in London as pickpocketing run rampant there (and it does).  Maybe it’s just what you get used to.

So we booked every tour that we thought we could pack in (and probably would have done more if they’d figured out a way to let us).  Our table group thought we were nuts.  Okay, even we thought we were a bit nuts.  But we’re probably not coming back to St. Petersburg anytime soon, so we needed to see as much as we could!

So here’s the schedule:

Day One

8:00 am – 12:30 pm : Catherine Palace & Park

1:30 pm – 6:00pm : Peterhof Palace

7:00 pm – 11:00pm : Swan Lake Ballet

Day Two

9:00 am – 12:30 pm : Hermitage Museum

1:45 pm – 5:15 pm : Church on the Spilled Blood

6:00 pm : collapse into bed as the ship heads to Helsinki

The problem that I didn’t anticipate that I should have was that the traffic in Russia is worse than 635 from I-35E to 75 at 5:15 on a Friday evening.  So instead of returning to the ship at 12:30, eating lunch then returning to the tour bus at 1:30, we arrive back at 1:15 and walked from one tour bus to another without sustenance or a potty break.  Then instead of returning to the ship at 6pm with an hour to grab a bite and change for the ballet, we returned at 6:40 and again walked from one coach to the next (this time with the potty break) without eating or changing clothes.  Needless to say that by the time we returned at 11:30pm (why is there still traffic at 11pm??!), I was quite hungry.  And, lesson learned, I took a couple of rolls from breakfast packed in my purse for day two!

I felt slightly embarrassed by my American education when one of our tour guides was speaking about the siege on the city during World War II where it was bombarded by the Nazis for almost 900 days, supplies running short, water and electricity were cut off and getting out of the city was not an option.  Further subsequent research has revealed that I did know about this, I just didn’t know that the city name at the time.

The city was founded in 1903 by Peter the Great to be the capital of Russia and named St Petersburg to sound more European and blend better into the German trading routes.  It has been renamed three times since.  First in 1914 at the beginning of World War I it changed to Petrograd (apparently they no longer wanted to sound German!) then in 1924 after the death of Lenin, it became Leningrad (ah ha! I have heard of the siege on Leningrad!) then again in 1991 by popular demand vote it reverted back to St. Petersburg.  Our tour guide said her grandmother’s birth certificate says Petrograd, her mother’s and her’s say Leningrad and her daughter’s says St. Petersburg despite all four of them being born in the same hospital.

Remembering then all the destruction in the early 1940s, I was not quite as surprised to learn that both Catherine Palace and Peterhof Palace were pretty much destroyed and have been rebuilt.  Neither are still in use by anybody in power, so my assumption is pretty much they’re there for the tourists.  Despite that fact, they are both amazing.  Gold leaf everything, inlaid floors, intricate plaster castings for wall art, and hand painted tile fireplaces abound.  My grandmother would have never made it inside the palaces as she would still be wandering though the 1400-acre gardens looking at the hundreds of thousands of shrubs, trees, flowers, and grasses.  Sorry Grandmother, but even in late September St Petersburg was cold and the indoors took precedence over the outdoors in my photos!

Photo tour of Catherine Palace:

We even got to wear amazing booties over our shoes to protect the floors!

There is something just barely out of place in this photo.  What could it be?  What could it be?

Catherine Palace was built for Catherine I of Russia in 1717 and served as the summer residence of the Tsars.  The impetuous daughter, Emperors Elizabeth decided she didn’t care for her Mom’s outdated style (does this sound like our bronze vs nickel discussions, Mother?) had the palace completely rebuilt in a flamboyant Baroque style.  The remodel took four years and used about 250lbs of gold to gild the sophisticated stucco façade.  When Catherine the Great later inherited it, she tried to tone down some of the opulence…you know by turning it into an art gallery and adding Neo-classical statues in the gardens.

After Catherine died, the other Tsars favored some of the other palaces and Catherine Palace fell into disrepair.  Then, when the German forces retreated after the siege of Leningrad, they intentionally destroyed the palace. Prior to the war, the Russian had removed much of the furnishings and taken pictures of all the interiors so rebuilding to the standards of the Catherine the Great standard was not too difficult (though really expensive!).

And then on to Peterhof Palace. Peterhof was built in 1714 for Peter the Great.  Several guide books say it was built to resemble Versailles.  Our (Russian) tour guide vehemently disagreed; saying rather that it was a completely Russian design by Russian architects and Russian builders.  Like Catherine Palace, Peterhof was captured by German troops.  Rather than just destroying the insides as in Catherine’s case, they occupied Peterhof until 1944. In the few months that elapsed between the outbreak of war in the west and the appearance of the German Army, employees were only able to save a portion of the treasures of the palaces and fountains. An attempt was made to dismantle and bury the fountain sculptures, but three quarters, including all of the largest ones, remained in place. Needless to say, much was destroyed and it was also restored significantly after the war.

We couldn’t take pictures of the inside of this one.  But to imagine what it looks like, scroll up to the indoor shots of Catherine Palace above and double the amount of gold you see.  I know, not possible, but it is.

The gardens here are even more intricate than Catherine Palace.  Each area is set out with a themed fountain and all of the foliage around is reflective of that theme.

I particularly loved the trident fountain.  At the center stands Rastrelli's spectacular statue of Samson wrestling the jaws of a lion.

After fighting through rush hour (or decade, it appears) we again switched buses and headed out for the ballet.  The theatre was beautiful on the inside.  Though, I’d come to expect nothing but gold leaf from St. Petersburg.  We had wonderful seats, on the floor just 10 rows back (we hope that’s what those tickets said, anyway!)

We finally made it back to the ship after 16 hours on shore & without a meal.  The late night buffet that we'd been promised onboard was canceled due to 'a few people feeling ill'.  More on that story to come...

Eesti Vabariik (Estonia)

Adam & I have thought long and hard about what was our favorite stop in this two week mega sightseeing trip.  Obviously St. Petersburg was amazing and one of the main reasons we wanted to take the cruise in the first place, but Tallinn has to be towards the top of the list of our beloved cities.

Estonia is another great interesting mixture of cultures.  They were dominated by the Swedes then the Russians from the early 1700’s to early 1900’s finally winning their independence after World War I.  The mid 1900’s saw them as a relatively poor county and unable to preserve their independence from Soviet expansion in World War II.  In 2004 they joined the European Union as an independent nation and finally switched from the krooni to the euro in January 2011.  They now enjoy the freedoms that come with being in the EU and not a Soviet State, but also benefit from Finns who come to Tallinn for cheaper shopping and partying than at home (as Tallinn is only 50 miles from Helsinki).  With nearly 30% of their population still ethnically Russian, however, they haven’t quite lost all the Communist influences.

Stepping off the ship in Tallinn you're vitally aware that you are sticking out a bit geographically as the wind whips through each of the 5 layers you thought might protect you from the cold.  (By the way, you might notice the newest addition to my hat collection making its debut appearance about half way through this blog.  It’s not the prettiest I’ve ever owned, in fact it might just be the ugliest, but style was not the top priority in its purchase!)

I decided also that men must have been solely in charge of naming the city walls and turrets within Tallinn.  What woman would name the main gate into the city ‘Fat Margaret Tower’?  Seriously?

Okay, it’s named that way as it has very thick walls to keep out intruders (the walls are nearly 8 ft thick in most places).  But come on, how about ‘Really strong Margaret Tower’?

The relief above the gate is Hanseatic (mid-16^th century) before Sweden took Estonia from Germany.

The color in the old town was highlighted by our guide as being new (since the late 1980’s) as Estonia started to emerge from Russian rule, they looked to publicly address how different they were under their own government.  The first thing they thought of, apparently, was pastels.  [Take that Russia!]

I have absolutely no historical context for this next photo.  We didn’t go in to investigate as the tag line on the menu outside of ‘No-one does American quite so well in Tallinn’ didn’t inspire confidence, but in case you’re wondering, the cost of two tacos with no sides was approximately $15 USD.  I think I’ll just wait and go to SuperTaco in another 8 months…

Back on our tour of what might be slightly more authentic Estonian.  As each nation took over Estonia, they all built their church on the same spot, replacing both the building and religion of the previous occupiers.  The statue of Martin Luther and relatively simple German church was replaced by a shrine to Swedish war heroes which in turn was torn down and replaced with the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in 1900.  We thought this was quite a bit of gold and glitz.  Wait until you see Adam’s post about the Church on the Spilled Blood.

Directly across from the Cathedral is the Estonian Parliament building.  I’m not sure if you can tell fully from the picture, but it is Pepto Bismal Pink.

From here we climbed up (what would be a stop in a European capital if we didn’t get to go up a really large hill?) to the city overlook.  St. Olav’s church in the distance, above Adam’s right shoulder, was once the tallest spire in the world (in 1492).  It was used by the KGB to block Finnish TV signals and served as their headquarters during the height of their rule.  Our guide said locals knew it had to be the tallest building around because from the basement of it, ‘you could see Siberia’.  The church today has been restored to a place of worship as a Baptist Church.

So we've hit the point in the day where the hat comes in.  No, this won’t be the last time you’ll see it.  I can’t remember what I’m standing next to, probably because I didn’t actually see it due to the fact that the hat covers about three quarters of my eyes.

(Adam here: I'm going to chime in here real quick to explain that the street pictured below was a must see because it housed several glass blowing shops that I figured Amanda would enjoy. Unfortunately, the hat got a bit in the way. Also the giant stones being supported on the wall by iron clamps were actually enormous headstones discovered during excavations just outside the city walls. Back to you, Amanda)

Reading the guidebook became increasingly difficult…

In complete contrast to the earlier Texas Cantina, you can also get a ‘decent bowl of elk soup’.  Slow down there, let’s not oversell our quality!

Warn-de-Stock

Our second port of call was Warnemunde, which in German apparently means place where cruise ships stop, as there really isn’t any other reason to find yourself in this sleepy little German town. Amazingly, this was one of our longer stops on the trip and so Amanda and I rolled with the schedule and decided to see as much as we could of Germany. As small as Warnemunde is I can tell that the locals are determined to make their town as accessible as possible to the numerous tourists who come calling throughout the year. It is fastidiously clean, as only a German town can be, and the locals are attentive and helpful. 

The last time Amanda and I were in Germany was over our 2012 Christmas Holiday and we stayed in the sleepy medieval town of Rothenburg, were I might have had the best German Sausage ever. It was so good I somehow talked Amanda into letting me get two! So you can imagine that when we disembarked from the Marco Polo I was keen to see if Warnemunde or Rostock could equal my previous culinary experience.  Unfortunately for me Amanda said I had to wait until at least eleven o’clock before I could begin my quest.

We began our brief tour of Warnemunde by following the cruise ship’s suggestion and strolling down the main thoroughfare which is lined by small shops and the odd home on your left, and a canal where you can find several barge styled restaurants, a few personal yachts, a local ferry and an emergency fire and rescue watercraft on your right. The path eventually comes to an end atop a jetty that stretches back into the Baltic Sea and supports one of two small lighthouses that indicate the entrance to the small harbor. Walking back from the lighthouse we detoured along a surprisingly wide promenade that was intended to support a far busier summer day than we were experiencing at the end of September. Interesting aside about the promenade, I honestly thought I'd taken a picture of it specifically for the blog post but apparently I was mistaken. This is becoming something of an unfortunate trend and really not all that interesting I suppose.

Anyway, On our way back towards the town center we tried to make friends with some of the locals but they paid us little heed.

Of course at least the birds didn't bury themselves up to their ears like this guy. German art is a bit odd.

Having exhausted all the tourist attractions of Warnemunde we hopped a train and made our way out to the Hanseatic village of Rostock. Rostock is one of the oldest towns in northern Germany and has a rather surprising intellectual heritage as the University of Rostock, established in 1419, is one of the oldest Universities in the world.

It’s also home to what is believed to be the third oldest working astronomical clock in the world and displays a calendar that stretches into the year 2017. Let the end of the world long-form calendar debates begin anew! The clock can be found in St Mary’s church which is just off the reconstructed Ernst-Thalmann-Platz which, like so many other places throughout Europe, suffered mightily from heavy bombing during WWII. The church has under gone renovation efforts numerous times throughout its history and work is still being done to shore up its interior structure of columns as well as a few areas of crumbling façade on the exterior. Even with the scaffolding it is a striking sight when you round the corner and confronted with this view.

Rostock is also home to a handful of street vendors who practice the fine art of crafting dough into the uniquely wonderful shape of a warm, freshly baked pretzel! Here you can see Amanda thoroughly enjoying her pretzel on a park bench along Kropeliner Strasse. A few of the street vendors specialize in Bratwurst as well, yet I devoured mine long before Amanda had a chance to reclaim the camera and catch me in the act of passionately consuming my lunch. After lunch we continued our walking tour of Rostock where we saw one of the original entry gates into town. It's rather large!

The town also overlooks a small harbor that has access to the Baltic yet is far too shallow for contemporary cruising vessels.

After another half hour of meandering we came to an ivy-covered wall that Amanda thought was pretty but I thought looked potentially poisonous. She wanted to touch it but settled with having her picture taken next to it.

Our tour of Rostock ended back at the Ernst-Thalmann Platz where the second gate into the ancient town stands guard. This end of the Platz is also home to a handsomely constructed red and brown brick building and capped with a beautifully adorned tile roof. I thought it looked a bit like some of the churches we'd seen around Germany and thought it interesting that it was home to a bank and a cosmetology school.

Of course the town square across the street was very nice as well.

Upon returning to the ship we discovered a rather peculiar series of sand carvings that we somehow missed while disembarking earlier in the day.

There’s apparently a story behind these carvings but my German isn’t quite good enough for me to make it out. Anyway our time in Germany was coming to a close and we had time for just a few photos or our ship before setting sail again.

Next stop: Estonia!