Day 6 - St. Petersburg, Russia (July 6th)

Don't ever leave a spouse, with a bad sense of direction, alone 15 minutes before a tour departure! The group was supposed to meet at 8:45AM in the Explorer's Lounge under the violins. At about 8:30 I thought I'd head upstairs and grab a few Danishes to take on our 2nd day Den Rus tour. When I realized it was 8:45AM, I headed directly for our meeting place. The group was there but no Janet. Frantically, combing the ship for my lost wife, I eventually told the rest of the group to meet us down at the gangway. I would check back one more time in the cabin and if Janet didn't turn up I'd have to leave without her. No Janet so I made my way through customs. Standing by the mini-van was my bewildered wife who got lost and felt the safest bet would be to get off the ship. Before we could have an all and out fight, Ludmila rushed us into the van. In hindsight, I should have known that Janet would never find the Explorer's Lounge and I never did tell her to meet me there. I assumed. I apologized to the group and felt so embarrassed particularly since Ludmila told us that we were behind schedule and might miss our entry to Catherine's Palace.

Traveling to Pushkin was a pleasant drive with attractive countryside and pricey looking estates including Nicholas II's last retreat. Catherine's Palace (pic above ^) is reminiscent of the Peterhof palace we saw yesterday without the magnificent fountains. What stood this one apart though was the Amber Room. Take one of the rooms overdosing in gold and replace it with amber and you get the idea. We were told yesterday not to bring our boxed lunches and instead for a few dollars we'd be taken to a Russian restaurant. Somewhere off the Nevsky Prospekt we were taken to a below the ground café where we dug into some Russian dumplings, borscht and beer (pic right >). This was a welcome treat, though I wondered if the Russians in line were being charged the same as we were. The bill was divided equally at $10US a pop so I couldn't complain particularly since I indulged a little more than my tour mates.

Ludmila informed us that she would be taking us to see the Hermitage next followed by a photo op of Church on Spilled Blood (< pic left). We all exclaimed that in addition to the photo op, we'd also paid to enter the Church on Spilled Blood. Not according to Ludmila's itinerary. Thank god for ever-organized Bonnie who not only had the revised itinerary but the email correspondence detailing the revision. Ludmila had no choice but to make a few cellphone calls and it was a miracle she got us in because the Church on Spilled Blood wasn't even open to the public on Wednesdays. So after a brief introduction to the Hermitage, we were whisked out of the museum and over to the site where Alexander the 2nd was murdered in the late 19th Century. As we were leaving, I asked Ludmila, referring to the Alexander Column (pic below) in Palace Square why such a structure would be built to celebrate Napoleon. Clearly I had gotten it backwards, as I later learned that the column was built to celebrate the defeat of Napoleon. What frustrated me though is that even after I clarified my question by mentioning that there was some sort of monument erected in St. Petersburg relating to Napoleon, she brushed me off with a "Why would a statue related to Napoleon have wings?". My patience was wearing thin. We were in a rush though as Ludmila had scored us an entry to the Church on Spilled Blood and we had 15 minutes to get there. Just as exciting on the inside as it is on the outside, the Church was unique in that it is covered with over 70,000 square feet of mosaics (pic right above ^).

Back to the Hermitage for Part 2, I quickly realized that Ludmila had no intention of giving us a tour of Palace Square, the historical spot of the Bloody Sunday massacre of 1905. We were to continue our tour of artwork in the Hermitage. I asked if I could temporarily separate from the tour but it was a no go as Den Rus held my visa. I begged for at least a photo op of the Winter Palace from the far side of the square as the sun was at a perfect angle to catch the Alexander Column (< pic left) in front of it. Ludmila informed me that it had to be a group decision. Angel that she is, Karen said, "Go, we'll wait," so without hesitation I was off. Now if it had been January 22, 1905 and the Imperial Guards had seen the frenzy in which I ran, I would have been gunned down in a heartbeat. I reached the other side of the square, grabbed my photo and ran back in under 3 minutes flat.

The Hermitage was more interesting, not for its fantastic collection of artwork but, for the way in which it was housed, protected and the creatures that lived within it. The Cézanne was covered in glass but why didn't an alarm go off when I tapped on it? All of the windows were open and it was humid in there; Couldn't be good for the art, I thought. And security at the Hermitage was comprised of a few dozen old apple faced ladies sleeping in chairs. Even more interesting was the family of cats who live there for the sole purpose of keeping the mouse population under control. Looking out the windows of the museum, I could see some locals walking along the river and longed to join them. I would have loved to hang out at the local supermarket to see what Russians place in their shopping carts. I was tired of Russia's past and wanted to experience Russia's present. The dog chain approach of the tour was wearing on me.

Ludmila, microphone in hand, began to speak as we entered the dock area and gave a heartfelt speech to the effect that we should all come back some day when Russia gets its act together. After the group presentation of the obligatory tip, I put on a forced smile, shook hands and broke the chain for good. In retrospect, and after talking with other cruise passengers, I realized that we actually had seen more of St. Petersburg than anybody. We wouldn't have been able to navigate safely around the city or covered so many sights in such little time. But in the end we felt more like we saw Russia rather than visited it. Note for next Russian Trip: Make Russian contacts and apply for Visa.