ST. PETERSBURG DAY 1

We arrived in St. Petersburg by train about 8:30 PM, but of course the sun was still up and the sky was quite bright.  Even if we weren't.  Our hotel was quite near the train station, so we had a very short walk, and a quiet evening to get settled.

The next morning we headed out in the bus to get our bearings in St. Petersburg.  The most obvious feature of the city is the canals, and the broad Neva River.  We also saw many more domes and green parks and parkways than we had seen in Moscow. 

 

Our first stop is there in the distance, St. Isaac's Cathedral.

We did not go inside, but took in the magnificent statue honoring Peter the Great, the founder of St. Petersburg, and the exterior of the church.  

 

We stopped next at a small orthodox church tucked away in a lovely park, just beginning to show its leaves.  The weather was so warm -- continuing the unseasonable Moscow heat wave -- that we could watch spring emerge even in the few days we were there. 

 There were no photos permitted in the church, sadly, because it was lovely.  Violetta told us that the church was attended by conservative folks called Old Believers, who maintain the stricter rules handed down from before Peter the Great.  There was a service going on with singing by a small group of parishioners.  We lit a candle and listened for a few minutes.  

And then we were off to the Peter and Paul Fortress, the first outpost of St. Petersburg at its founding.  

 The Neva River is fairly broad, and we could see a few of the many islands that make up St. Petersburg, which originally was a marsh so swampy that even seasonal fishermen from Sweden loathed it. 

The ship is not a monument, but a restaurant.  At least it is not a KFC.

Although we did not see it at the beginning of our visit, the story of St. Petersburg begins inside this small building, which was closed to visitors when we arrived.

For a thousand years or more, Moscow was the center, and then capital of Russia.  Peter the Great became tsar as a child, and was soon fascinated by boats.  Russia had no tradition of sailing or of boats, and no European port.  He studied shipbuilding himself with foreigners who lived near Moscow, then as a young man, in Holland.  As soon as the opportunity presented itself -- in the form of a war with then-powerful Sweden -- Peter decided to build a new capital of Russia at what is now St. Petersburg, even though the site and the region belonged to Sweden.  He ordered that the rivers be dredged and islands raised, and buildings be built, all pretty easy when you are an absolute autocrat and have a vast nation of slaves.  While the work went on, he lived in a small cabin he built hismelf.  The cabin is inside this building.  To the right, it overlooks the Neva River, with the Fortress of Peter and Paul across the water. Peter could watch his city take shape from his home here.   

 

This is what he saw:

It never served as a fortress, but it was a prison for many famous names, including Alexis, Peter the Great's son, who fled Russia rather than obey his father.  He tried to get support for a coup from European rulers, ultimately leading to his execution, ordered by his father.
 

Not particularly fortified, but he planned that it would be protected by ships in the river, and at sea not far away.

Inside the fortress is the Peter and Paul Cathedral, where Russian tsars were buried.

To the side of the altar area are the tombs of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great; rather modest for two Greats.  

  Peter the Great's tomb from another vantage.

At the back of the cathedral is a room containing the tombs of the last tsar, Nicolas II and his family, who were killed by the Bolsheviks.  

 This is the chair for the tsar, should he happen by for services.  

After our visit to the Fortress, we made our way back to the center of town (with a souvenir shop stop along the way).  With the statue of Pushkin in Theater Square as our landmark,

 
we dispersed into town to find lunch.  For us it was a light snack at the House of Books, an art deco building designed and built for the Singer Sewing Machine Company.

 For me, a fruit tart, for Tom, blinis with caviar....

 and in no time at all, it was time to return to the bus,

 and to the hotel, to rest up for the concert of National Music and Dance.  We were entertained by active-duty military dancers, singers and musicians, who provided a variety of performances.  At intermission the brave enjoyed vodka, the soignee, champagne, and the rest of us, orange juice. 

And that was enough for Day 1!