The next ports of call aboard the SS Geriatric are St Petersburg and Tallinn. First up, two days in St Petersburg.
It just so happened that we were there for the birthday of St Petersburg. Which was crazy. Thousands of people in squares eating and drinking and listening to music. The was a choir of 4000 people that sang, even an ice cream festival! (Canberra's centenary celebrations could have done with a ice cream festival...).
We started our trip to St Petersburg in royal style - at the Hermitage. Thankfully we got in a full hour before the public opening, which meant we could actually see things for the first part of our visit (we were not so lucky once the doors opened and thousands of people flowed in). Catherine the great was not only a lover of the baroque style, but the queen of opulence. She probably single handedly kept the price of gold high during her rein. Today the outside is painted mustard, but in her day, that was all gold on the outside.
The were precious stones, intricate floors and Italian marble.
You could understand why the revolution of 1917 happened after seeing this. Sadly though, after the revolution many many items were sold to help the country financially (including all of their Faberge eggs). In WWII when the Germans got to Leningrad all of the treasures were packed up and shipped to Siberia to help protect them from looting and theft. In all though, there remains enough treasures here that if you wanted to look at each piece for 1 seconds it would take over 7 years!
Next we took a walk (YES!!!! Walking!!!!! Not a bus for a hundred meters down the road and man oh man did they bitch and whinge and moan at that). We went down to the cathedral. We thought there was a massive line
But it turned out it was just a 4000 strong choir lining up to perform for the birthday concert.
Once inside, I was a little blown away. I had thought the Hermitage would be the most impressive building I would see all day, but I was wrong. The ceilings in the church were amazing. And yes, more gold!
Lunch was caviar and stroganoff (invented as legend goes because Mr Stroganoff hurt his hand in a sword fight and needed to eat food that didn't require both a knife and fork). And vodka. You didn't have a water glass, you had a vodka glass.
We also went to the Church of Resurrection, also known as the Church on Spilled Blood. It looked a bit dull on such a grey day, but with the sun shining on it when we drove past the following day the fold looked like fire in the sun.
In the evening we hit the ballet - Swan Lake - in the theater at the Hermitage (Catherine the Great wanted people to be cultured).
The following day it was off the Catherine's palace in Pushkin, and the gardens at Peterhoff.
Again, Catherine loved her gold. again, the brown painted areas were gold once upon a time.
Now, this palace is not original. A lot of it has been rebuilt and restored to what it once looked like. Like most destroyed historical places in Europe, we can blame this on the Nazis. The Germans burnt e palace down during the siege of Leningrad. Whilst they started at the palace packing to send treasures to Siberia as well, they ran out of time, so whilst a lot was salvaged, many things were destroyed.
The place is pretty opulent. So much so that Elton John got married here.
The gardens were also pretty spectacular.
Speaking of gardens, after this we moved on to Russia's version of Versailles. This place was built by Peter the Great. Who it turns out knew a thing or two about gravity fed water systems and fountains.
Again, everything was gold. Apparently the water strips the gold leaf off and it has to be re done once a year. Hence the €18 admission fee I guess!
He invented many "jester fountains" where people walking through the gardens could get soaked by stepping on the wrong trigger stone. Apparently this didn't make him very popular with many of his guests!
The following day I woke up in Estonia. Tallinn was awesome. A beautiful little medieval city whose geographic location have out them repeatedly at risk of conquerors through history. You can still see the Russian influence.
The old town is UNESCO listed and hence many old buildings remain.
Had to giggle, medieval city and who do I see? Shrek. Turns out even he and donkey need a taxi now and again.
I basically spent the day walking and enjoying a lovely day. There was a restaurant that served only dishes with garlic - including the dessert!
I loved the humour in the town as well - with door handles like this.
All in all a beautiful little city.
One final comment on Russia and Estonia - you can get the souvenirs tailored for anyone. Hockey fans.
Even political junkies.
Still bummed I couldn't get a photo of the 'women of Bill Clinton' nesting dolls. Was perplexed as to why Monica was a bigger doll than Hillary...
It just so happened that we were there for the birthday of St Petersburg. Which was crazy. Thousands of people in squares eating and drinking and listening to music. The was a choir of 4000 people that sang, even an ice cream festival! (Canberra's centenary celebrations could have done with a ice cream festival...).
We started our trip to St Petersburg in royal style - at the Hermitage. Thankfully we got in a full hour before the public opening, which meant we could actually see things for the first part of our visit (we were not so lucky once the doors opened and thousands of people flowed in). Catherine the great was not only a lover of the baroque style, but the queen of opulence. She probably single handedly kept the price of gold high during her rein. Today the outside is painted mustard, but in her day, that was all gold on the outside.
Inside the opulence continued.
Room after room of treasures and gold and paintings by masters. There were whole rooms of Renoir, Picasso and Matisse.
The were precious stones, intricate floors and Italian marble.
You could understand why the revolution of 1917 happened after seeing this. Sadly though, after the revolution many many items were sold to help the country financially (including all of their Faberge eggs). In WWII when the Germans got to Leningrad all of the treasures were packed up and shipped to Siberia to help protect them from looting and theft. In all though, there remains enough treasures here that if you wanted to look at each piece for 1 seconds it would take over 7 years!
Next we took a walk (YES!!!! Walking!!!!! Not a bus for a hundred meters down the road and man oh man did they bitch and whinge and moan at that). We went down to the cathedral. We thought there was a massive line
But it turned out it was just a 4000 strong choir lining up to perform for the birthday concert.
Once inside, I was a little blown away. I had thought the Hermitage would be the most impressive building I would see all day, but I was wrong. The ceilings in the church were amazing. And yes, more gold!
Lunch was caviar and stroganoff (invented as legend goes because Mr Stroganoff hurt his hand in a sword fight and needed to eat food that didn't require both a knife and fork). And vodka. You didn't have a water glass, you had a vodka glass.
We also went to the Church of Resurrection, also known as the Church on Spilled Blood. It looked a bit dull on such a grey day, but with the sun shining on it when we drove past the following day the fold looked like fire in the sun.
In the evening we hit the ballet - Swan Lake - in the theater at the Hermitage (Catherine the Great wanted people to be cultured).
The following day it was off the Catherine's palace in Pushkin, and the gardens at Peterhoff.
Again, Catherine loved her gold. again, the brown painted areas were gold once upon a time.
Now, this palace is not original. A lot of it has been rebuilt and restored to what it once looked like. Like most destroyed historical places in Europe, we can blame this on the Nazis. The Germans burnt e palace down during the siege of Leningrad. Whilst they started at the palace packing to send treasures to Siberia as well, they ran out of time, so whilst a lot was salvaged, many things were destroyed.
The place is pretty opulent. So much so that Elton John got married here.
The gardens were also pretty spectacular.
Speaking of gardens, after this we moved on to Russia's version of Versailles. This place was built by Peter the Great. Who it turns out knew a thing or two about gravity fed water systems and fountains.
Again, everything was gold. Apparently the water strips the gold leaf off and it has to be re done once a year. Hence the €18 admission fee I guess!
He invented many "jester fountains" where people walking through the gardens could get soaked by stepping on the wrong trigger stone. Apparently this didn't make him very popular with many of his guests!
The following day I woke up in Estonia. Tallinn was awesome. A beautiful little medieval city whose geographic location have out them repeatedly at risk of conquerors through history. You can still see the Russian influence.
The old town is UNESCO listed and hence many old buildings remain.
Had to giggle, medieval city and who do I see? Shrek. Turns out even he and donkey need a taxi now and again.
I basically spent the day walking and enjoying a lovely day. There was a restaurant that served only dishes with garlic - including the dessert!
I loved the humour in the town as well - with door handles like this.
All in all a beautiful little city.
One final comment on Russia and Estonia - you can get the souvenirs tailored for anyone. Hockey fans.
Even political junkies.
Still bummed I couldn't get a photo of the 'women of Bill Clinton' nesting dolls. Was perplexed as to why Monica was a bigger doll than Hillary...
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment