The Oxymoron that is Russia Part 1

I learnt while in Russia that I am a bit of a conspiracy theorist (which will probably come out in this post eventually as I express my feelings about Motherland).  I have never been keen to go to Russia, partly because I like to spend my money in places that promote equal human rights and democracy. I went to Russia anyways. It was an experience and I had fun but I probably won't go back on account of how difficult it is to get into the country. You can't just show up at Russia's borders without some planning. There are two ways to successfully (legally) enter the country: 1. apply and receive a visa from the Russian government, or, 2. get on a cruise ship, prebook a tour with an authorised tour operator and go on said tour. We did option 2. I had planned for option 1 but by the time we got around to actually booking the cruise, it was too late. Lesson learnt: the Russian government works at a slower pace than the New Horizons spacecraft arriving at Pluto (for those who don't know it was sent in January 2006, just arrive this month). 

Our two day tour was jam-packed with seeing basically all of St. Petersburg in a very short time. We also opted to have a personal guide in the evening for a few hours so we could go for dinner and see the city at night. 

Our first stop was to the Russian subway.  Apparently, people are amazed that the subway is 86 meters underground. London's deepest station is 58.5 meters. Two jaded "Londoners' like ourselves realize that this means a long escalator ride with broken wifi connection.  

Riding the long escalator down. At least in London, you have ads to look at.

The view from the bottom of the escalator. So far, not that impressed Russia!

Our next stop was to Peter and Paul's fortress and cathedral.  What is that you ask?  Well, I didn't really know either till we got there. We learnt that it is the first citadel in St. Petersburg, built by Peter the Great in 1703.  For those who don't know Peter the Great is kind of a big deal to Russia. He ruled Russia and expanded the country. He also had a vision for St. Petersburg and hired people to build it.

Here we are at the fortress.

This would be the Cathedral.

 The cathedral is what made this place.  It was not much to see from the outside. The inside, however, was spectacular. It is the oldest structure in St. Petersburg (1712). It also holds the imperial tombs of the most Russian emperors and empresses.

The interior of the cathedral.

A wall of icons and religious paintings. This is the vocal point of the church.

The tombs of Tsar Nicolas II and his family. This is the Tsar that was arrested and executed along with his wife, son and four daughters. 

 The Cathedral was quite impressive. It was interesting to see a cathedral with nothing religious in it (hence the wall of icons).  Good ol' Russia!

Our third stop for the day was to the Peterhof, the royal summer residence/island.  After a dull and kind of scary ride on a hydrofoil that looked like it was almost ready to head to Russia's boat graveyard, we arrive at the "Versailles of the North." The island consists of various buildings, fountains and gardens designed by Peter the Great. The fountains were interesting because they operate without pumps. Water is supplied by natural springs and collected in reservoirs in the Upper Gardens area. Because of the elevation, pressure is created to drive the fountains in the Lower Gardens.

I could have spent far more time here.  We never even went into the palace which apparently looks larger than what it actually is.  There are only 30 rooms and the building is quite narrow. Also, most of the original buildings were destroyed in WWII.

The main palace and the Lower Gardens. The Upper Gardens are on the other side of the palace.

The Lower Gardens.

The roses were in bloom. 

This is the Samson Fountain. It depicts Samson tearing open the jaws of a lion which represents Russia's victory over Sweden in the Great Northern War. The original fountain was stolen during Nazi occupation in WWII. 

The fact that the fountains are all the same height without pumps is impressive!

 While travelling to our next destination, we came across the most Russian church we would see for the rest of our time in St. Petersburg. I wish I could tell you more about it, but we just zipped by.

A very Russian church.

 The next stop on our journey was to Catherine's Palace. Because having an island for your summer residence was not enough, Catherine I had Catherine's Palace constructed for her pleasure in 1717. Like so many things in Russia, it was ransacked by the Nazis during WWII and very little of the original structure actually exists today.  It has been mostly rebuilt to look like it did in 1796 but the original gold decor throughout is now just paint.

The front entrance to the palace.

The columns are made of wood now and painted a gold colour.

Part of the lovely garden that surrounds the palace.

Because you are not allowed in Russia without a visa or an escort tour, we opted for a private tour which would allow us to enjoy St. Petersburg at night.  Basically, we hired a driver to take us to a restaurant and then to Palace Square where various Russian revolution marches and demonstrations were held.

Us on the Square.

Shea really enjoyed seeing the city at "night." Please note, that we were a month too late for White Nights (24 hours of sunlight in St. Petersburg). It was approx. 11 pm at this time and the sun was just starting to set. Nights were never dark there.

Because Russians are strange, they had this for the tourists.  Also note, that we saw many track suits worn by mullet-styled men. And women as well.  It was never  a good look. 

On a bridge. All bridges are raised at 2 am till 4 am to allow boat traffic to travel through the canals.

Did I mention Russians are strange?  They love tacky cars for some reason. 

I would like to say that this was a bank at one point. Now it is a crumbly building designed to reflect Greek architecture. The Russians are all about taking other countries architecture and gardens and building it in the Motherland. 

A selfie on the Neva River with the Hermitage Museum in the background.

This sight made us miss Tie Lake and all the Seadooing we were missing this summer. 

And that was the end of Day One of St. Petersburg.  We acquired four stamps on the back page of our passports to enter and leave and then enter and leave Russia that day. We also learnt that Russia has called the back-page of all passports.  They will only use that one and no other country is allowed to.