July 27 St. Petersburg Russia

We enter the land of czars and revolutionaries in St Petersburg, or as I knew it in my youth, Leningrad.

Unlike our previous visit, we're berthed at the industrial port on the SW side of the city.  Last time we were on the river just down from the Hermitage.  But being here we get to see the Gazprom International Building.  It looks to me like someone was trying overcome feelings of inadequacy.

 Berthed next to a big Norwegian ship.  Just think of the quick disembarkation if you disconnected the slide.

 Crumbling Soviet era apartments distract from the grandeur of the monuments and churches from the Czar's time.

 Most Russian stoplights have countdown clocks embedded in the "yellow" light section.  It counts down in red when you're stopped, and counts down in green when you can proceed.

 This was a Saturday, with Sunday being a big holiday for Russia and St. Petersburg -- Navy Day.  Ships are anchored today awaiting the big parade tomorrow.

 We first toured Yusuprov Palace, not part of the czar collection, but a wealthy family that was friends with the czar.  It was here that Rasputin was killed (finally).  Here's a bedroom.

 Sitting room

 They have their own small theater -- seats maybe 100.  I guess that makes it Off-Broadway.

 ceiling

 oak ceiling

 In the basement they have a couple of dioramas depicting the murder of Rasputin.  Here are the officers plotting.

 And here's Rasputin after ingesting the poison that didn't faze him at all.  They finally had to shoot him and throw him in the river.

 Next up was a canal cruise.  St. Petersburg sometimes refers to itself as Venice of the North, but it's not nearly that water centric.  There are a number of canals, and we cruised them. 

 Horse statues are frequent on the bridges.

 Not sure what this is about.  But it's colorful and artistic.

 Ornate bridges

 Low bridges

 More ships for Navy Day

 A beautiful day in the low 80's.  Peter and Paul Fortress became Fortress Beach for the natives.

 Peter and Paul

 Regalia for the boat parade

 St. Petersburg's mosque

 This turned out to be the most interesting part of the cruise.  As we passed under the first bridge, several people waved.  At the second bridge, more wavers -- until someone remarked "those are the same guys from the first bridge."  And there they are, running alongside the boat to the next bridge.  So for more than 10 bridges, these guys appeared at each bridge, waving and cheering.

According to the guide, college guys in the summer will do this, hoping for tips at the end.  By GPS we went about 4 miles in a little less than an hour.  Not sure just how far they had to go, but they did have to go out onto each bridge and then back to the path alongside.

Sometimes they had to sprint the last 50 meters to get to the bridge just before we went under.  They were quite tired by the end, it appeared.  Most of the people on the boat gave them a little money, but I have no idea what their hourly rate would have turned out to be.  At least they got some exercise.


TV equipment for the Navy Day parade, with more boats on the river.

 As we approached the harbor, we saw the hydrofoil ferries that run in the area.  A fast way to get around the Greater St. Petersburg area.