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  • Day 34

    St Petersburg Part 1

    May 17, 2018 in Russia ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    Early start Wednesday as we made our way to the airport for our flight from Helsinki to Russia. No hassles and arrived in St Petersburg and thankfully were met at the airport by a travel representative and transferred to our ship. Russian river boats are not like the fancy European river boats and our cabins are quite cosy (real estate lingo for cramped) however they are comfortable enough. There are 210 passengers on board - all Australian I think. Unlike ocean cruises, WiFi is available (free ) in the lounge/ bar although it may be a bit sketchy along our journey.

    Our first full day started early with a city tour including photo stops at various points of interest such as the Smolny Cathedral, St Isaacs, and the Church of the Saviour on our Spilled Blood (with its ornate onion shaped domes) before visiting the Winter Palace (The Hermitage) which was the main residence of the Russian Tsars from the 1760's. Today, the Hermitage boasts over 2.7 million exhibits from throughout history (from Ancient Egypt to the early 20th century Europe). The experts say that if you were to spend a minute looking at each exhibit on display in the Hermitage, you would need 11 years before you'd seen them all. Needless to say, we only saw a smidgen of artworks etc. One of the must see exhibits was The Peacock Clock which features 3 birds that which come to life when it strikes (only once a week apparently - 5pm Friday), so we didn't see it working but there was a video showing its operation. There was also an impressive vase made from from a single slab of jasper and weighs over 19 tonnes.

    After a four course lunch at a local restaurant, we then visited the St Peter and Paul Fortress which is a citadel that houses several buildings including the mint (for coins only) and the Peter and Paul Cathedral which is the burial place of most of the Russian tsars plus a few other members of the royal family.

    It was a busy day with a lot of walking and standing around but it was very interesting. The guides kept thanking us for bringing lovely sunny Aussie weather as they generally only have 30 sunny days a year. Our run of great weather continues!
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