St Petersburg

St Petersburg is beyond description....but I'll try! We met our guide, Alexander,at the pier at 7am and rushed around like mad to see everything. All of this was complicated by the G20 world leaders meeting that ensured delays and closures. We were scheduled to take a hydrofoil on the river but Putin cancelled it. Oh well, we did see some nice countryside on our way to the summer palace of Catherine and Elizabeth the first. It was pretty stunning and very over the top....gold leaf everywhere and a whole room made out of 11 tonnes of amber. Just nuts! When the peasants were starving....no wonder they revolted. We had a fun trip on the subway, full of mosaics depicting sports and scenes of ancient times. Very ornate and very clean...no graffiti. In no particular we saw the Winter palace, visited the Hermitage museum, (which was amazing) took and boat cruise on the Neva River, visited the awesome Peterhof Gardens, and the Yusupov Palace,where they killed the mad monk Rasputin. It was an incredible experience and we learned a lot of history but very little about the present day. I guess our guide was making sure we got our money's worth. One of the highlights for me was a night at the ballet...Swan Lake. It was so beautiful and the dancers were very talented. The theatre could have used a little cosmetic help but it was still very nice. I was pretty tired for days after. Mike stayed on the ship to rest up as he used crutches for the trip through the Hermitage and it was a big day. We also visited the iconic Church of the Saviour on the Spilled Blood. It is almost a symbol of Russia...all colourful domes and ornate spires. It has another name but Tsar Nicholas the First was murdered on the very spot! We had a very good guide who disliked cruise ship passengers so I had a little chat with him about his role in teaching...it is not so much about facts and figures but about the relevance to people today. He need to understand where the mostly old people are coming from, that they are just trying to see the world as best they can, in the face of not having a hot clue about any place other than the USA, just as Russians view the Americas with movie glasses!