Tuesday, June 19
St Petersburg, Russia, Day 1
11 hours later than Tucson
Partly sunny, high 77F, low 61 F
Sunrise 4:36 am
Sunset 11:25 pm
St Petersburg has just opened a large new passenger port to accommodate the new “larger” (huge) cruise ships. It is about 40 minutes out from the center of the city. Our ship is much smaller is comparison with 680 passengers maximum. We were therefore able to cruise up the Neva River almost to the center of town. The Neva is the city’s main waterway with most of the city built on both banks of this river and on 44 islands formed by the Neva River and 90 other rivers and canals. Canals and natural waterways connect the navigable Neva with the Caspian, Ural and White seas and also with the Dnepr and Volga rivers, making St Petersbur
g the port of exit for much of the Caspian, Ural and Volga areas. Although the harbor is frozen from November to April, ice breakers keep the channel open except during the severest winter period. The population of St Petersburg is 4.7 million, approximately 3% of the Russian population.
There are many elaborate palaces, the most famous of which is the Winter Palace. An ornate Baroque building completed in 1762 be fore the Revolution of 1917. It now houses the Hermitage Museum.
Our morning tour took us of an overview of the city founded by Peter the Great in
1703. We first saw the pale blue and white Baroque façade of St. Nicholas Cathedral and the Mariinsky Theater, home of the Russian Ballet. Then it was on for a brief stop at St Isaac’s Cathedral whose dome is covered with 200 pounds of gold. We passed by the beautiful Field of Mars and the Marble Palace en route to the extraordinary Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood.
Our evening took us to the Russian Ballet performing Swan Lake. Saturday, June 21st was a big celebration in the city with graduates from the Naval academy, colleges and high schools having their celebrations along with the summer solstice celebration. In addition there was a summit meeting with Russian dignitaries including Mr. Putin in attendance. So, naturally many streets were blocked off with bandstands being set up in several locations. Our bus parked 5 blocks away from the theater so we walked through the streets with the celebration students. We returned to ship just before 12 pm as the sun was setting. At 4 am the sky was light and many people were still walking along the quay and sitting on the steps by our ship. What crazy light!
St Petersburg, Russia, Day 1
11 hours later than Tucson
Partly sunny, high 77F, low 61 F
Sunrise 4:36 am
Sunset 11:25 pm
St Petersburg has just opened a large new passenger port to accommodate the new “larger” (huge) cruise ships. It is about 40 minutes out from the center of the city. Our ship is much smaller is comparison with 680 passengers maximum. We were therefore able to cruise up the Neva River almost to the center of town. The Neva is the city’s main waterway with most of the city built on both banks of this river and on 44 islands formed by the Neva River and 90 other rivers and canals. Canals and natural waterways connect the navigable Neva with the Caspian, Ural and White seas and also with the Dnepr and Volga rivers, making St Petersbur
g the port of exit for much of the Caspian, Ural and Volga areas. Although the harbor is frozen from November to April, ice breakers keep the channel open except during the severest winter period. The population of St Petersburg is 4.7 million, approximately 3% of the Russian population.There are many elaborate palaces, the most famous of which is the Winter Palace. An ornate Baroque building completed in 1762 be fore the Revolution of 1917. It now houses the Hermitage Museum.
Our morning tour took us of an overview of the city founded by Peter the Great in
1703. We first saw the pale blue and white Baroque façade of St. Nicholas Cathedral and the Mariinsky Theater, home of the Russian Ballet. Then it was on for a brief stop at St Isaac’s Cathedral whose dome is covered with 200 pounds of gold. We passed by the beautiful Field of Mars and the Marble Palace en route to the extraordinary Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood.
Our evening took us to the Russian Ballet performing Swan Lake. Saturday, June 21st was a big celebration in the city with graduates from the Naval academy, colleges and high schools having their celebrations along with the summer solstice celebration. In addition there was a summit meeting with Russian dignitaries including Mr. Putin in attendance. So, naturally many streets were blocked off with bandstands being set up in several locations. Our bus parked 5 blocks away from the theater so we walked through the streets with the celebration students. We returned to ship just before 12 pm as the sun was setting. At 4 am the sky was light and many people were still walking along the quay and sitting on the steps by our ship. What crazy light!
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