Third Port of Call: St. Petersburg, Russia (Part 1)

This post starts the highlight of our trip, the main reason for taking a cruise over other means of travel: St. Petersburg, Russia. For Ashley it meant walking in Anastasia's footsteps. For me it was visiting a magical place someone told me about twenty years ago. For Don it was seeing someplace new.

I have about 31 pages of notes, and nearly 500 pictures. 

The overview of the trip to St. Petersburg:

Day 1:
* Panoramic City Tour around most popular sites: Peter and Paul Fortress, Golden Spire of Peter and Paul Cathedral (tallest structure in town)

* Subway tour along the most beautiful metro stations

* Drive to Peterhof (Kingdom of Fountains)

* Guided tour of Peterhof's Lower Park with Fountains

* Russian lunch (included)

* Guided tour of Catherine Palace with Amber Room

* Drive back to St. Petersburg

* Guided tour of St. Isaac's Cathedral


Day 2:
* Private river and canal boat tour

* Guided tour of Church of the Spilled Blood

* Guided tour of Hermitage

* Russian Lunch (included)

* Guided tour of Yusupov Palace with Rasputin Basement


That was the plan. First we had to go through immigration, which we had been told could take a couple of hours, especially since other cruise ships all wanted to do the same thing.

We were told to gather in the theater at an assigned time. Really, they did not check our IDs so it was first come first serve for gathering.

Then we left the boat together to go into immigration -- a frightening enough place under normal circumstances as the guards have the power to admit you to their country, or not. As I was flipping through my passport, excited about getting a new stamp, I was reminded that this passport was the one I used to go to Cuba. Would that hinder my chance of entrance (no reason why not, since they are both Communist countries, but it was still a fleeting thought). 

It could have just been the room where we waited for immigration. Though I've been in a couple of dozen immigration lines, the one at the dock in St. Petersburg reminded me the most of the one in the Havana, Cuba airport. No photos were allowed, so no photo proof.

On the other side of immigration was a giant gift shop we could explore while we waited for the rest of our group. Our guide, Nadya, greeted us with a sign and a smile, and optimism it would all work out. In the end we were nine people -- a couple from Australia on a six-week tour of Europe, a family of four from upstate New York with two sons about Ashley's age (and just as mute), and the three of us. We struck up many conversations on the drives between places. 

Nadya was accompanied by Andrew, our driver for the two days. Andrew did not seem to speak English (perhaps he knew more than he was letting on) but he navigated the busy Russian roads with grace and ease. We later learned you need either a Russian, Estonian, or Finnish passport in order to even rent a car in Russia because their rules are so different from the rest of the world, as are their street signs. 

For example, this is a Russian stop sign. Evidently it sounds out phonetically as stop if you know what sounds the Russian letters make.

Though we were to meet our guide and start our tour at 8:30 AM, we didn't start until 10:17 AM, which is pretty much as it happens every time. One last word on immigration, we had a two-day visa, which was collected at the end of our first day. We then went through a different set of doors on day two which led us directly into St. Petersburg with no wait. I don't get it, even though it is exactly what we were told would happen. To compensate for the late start, we ended our day an hour later than planned, but that doesn't quite work out because we also started the next day an hour later than planned. 

Nadya told us she was rearranging our schedule. Her way was truly better. We took advantage of the nice evening for our canal cruise (instead of chancing the weather the next morning), and went to the cathedral as it opened (meaning we had the place to ourselves for a few minutes) instead of as it was closing. She even squeezed in a requested trip to Hard Rock Cafe so we could buy the souvenir we really wanted. A fabulous guide. Between her and Jim (our guide in Berlin) my tolerance for guided tours is being restored.

A quick note on the name of St. Petersburg: In 1924 St. Petersburg was renamed Leningrad in honor of Lenin. In 1991 the locals voted to return to its original name, St. Petersburg.

This feels like a short post, but it is a good stopping point as we then took an hour-long bus ride to Catherine's Palace.