St. Petersburg
Сайнкт Петербург
Hermitage or Ermitage in St. Petersburg
July 27, 2004
Flying into St. Petersburg we saw the most amazing palace, which we later found
out was Petergof, Peter the Great’s summer residence. We landed alright, but our
pick-up at the airport had another pick up half an hour later so we waited. At the
airport we met M.J., Stephanie, Dave, and others who are on our trek to Mt. Elbrus
with us.
We got to Hotel Moscow, sort of run down, but with a great location and soon found
our way around the city. We went to Alexander Nevsky Prospect, then to dinner for
fish and mushrooms, welcome to Russia.
Our hotel stands at the end of Nevsky Prospect, which is an impressive street, but
nothing compared to the nearby the Hermitage. We were staying near the end of the
street right on the Neva River. From our room I could see Tikhvin Cemetery, the
final resting place of both Dostoevsky and Tchaikovsky.
Church of the Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg
July 28, 2004
The next day we toured the city, highlighted by the Hermitage or what was once the
Winter Palace. The palace sits on the river and the approach from the side welcomes
you with the palace on the left, an incredibly ornate building draped in greens
with a touch of white and highlighted with gold. After seeing the building it was
difficult to decide what is more impressive the art or the building itself, which
I suppose could be considered art in and of itself. On your approach to the right
of the Winter Palace, sprawls the vast open area called Palace Square (Dvortsovaya
Plochade) decorated with the Alexander Column displaying Imperial Russia’s military
prowess and victory over Napoleon in 1812 along with the dominating columned General
Staff Building.
Among the other sights we saw were the Battleship Aurora, Decembrists’ Square, the
Bronze Horseman made famous by Alexander Pushkin, St. Isaac’s Cathedral, and St.
Peter and Paul’s Fortress, which is the final resting place for most of the czars
since the time of Peter the Great in the early 1700’s. The fortress was also a high
security prison, which has held such famous names as Gorky, Trotsky, Dostoevsky,
and Lenin’s brother.
Both lunch and dinner today were, well Russia and to me, that translates to just
being bad.
St. Isaac's in St. Petersburg
July 29, 2004
I had a tough time getting to sleep last night given the long days. It was 11:00pm,
or as we like to say in Russia 23:00 and it was so light out I had to hide under
the sheets.
This morning we got up and went to Petergof, Peter the Great's summer palace
just south of the city. The palace has large grounds, great buildings, but the most
impressive aspect of the complex is the fountains. Behind the palace, facing north
towards the Gulf of Finland a cascade falls down numerous waterfalls between golden
statues until it reaches a small stream leading to the Gulf. It was here that the
czars lived in the time of imperial Russia.
We again took a stab at the local cuisine; this time we had the Stroganov, which
was quite good. Stroganov was invented in St. Petersburg. There was a large party
for the upper class hosted by a man named Stroganov, but he didn’t have enough steak
for every guest so he asked his chief to find a solution. The chief cut the beef
into little pieces and poured it into a sauce with a mushroom base. The dish went
over very well and Stroganov was born. Stroganov's palace is on Nevsky Prospect
and so I found it fitting to try the dish here... plus it's much better than
most Russian food.
Petergof or Peterhof near St. Petersburg