St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg is an amazing city.  It is hard to imagine so much of the creative arts and culture concentrated in one place.  It helps in understanding how the Russian Revolution came to happen.  The opulence of the building, both inside and out, almost distracts from the works of art inside.

Our hotel, for the first 2 days, was very centrally located (on St. Issac’s Square).  The city is very level and the weather was great so we were able to walk a lot and Lois did amazingly well.  We took a canal cruise the first day to help get oriented.

On the Canal Cruise

Over the time here we have visited many sites including St. Issac’s Curch, The Church of the Resurrection (Church of the Spilled Blood), The Russian Museum, The Hermitage, The Fortress of Peter and Paul, The Faberge Museum, and Catherine’s Summer Palace in Pushkin.

When we transferred to the river boat we were not as conveniently located (about 45 minutes from the center of the city) but most of our sightseeing was done on organized tours.  We opted out of organized tours the last day and went back into St. Petersburg on our own.

It was great to have 5 days in St. Petersburg as it enabled us to see a lot but we are ready to move on, we really don’t need to see another opulent mansion that is now a museum!!