A Baltic boating adventure TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 11/19 - Page 71 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Saturday 11 June – part twelve: these were put up in just 40 minutes
We headed off again, seeing some more sights on the way, and everyone was very taken by the name of this restaurant. Elena told us it was a vegetarian restaurant (sounded good to me), so of course the jokes related to the idea that you were an idiot if you came here expecting to eat meat.
Our next stop was the St. Isaac’s Cathedral that we'd photographed from some distance earlier, and I was glad we had, as we were literally dropped right off by the door. It was quite an imposing place from outside...
Elena told us that these great columns were put up in just 40 minutes... Inside, she explained how, with the use of this model. It was basically a pulley system, from what I could gather, with heaps of men turning the wheels on one side to bring the columns into place. I bet that was something to see, and I doubt we could columns of such magnitude in that quickly even today.
It was once again beautifully decorated, and Elena had warned us that you couldn't judge any building in St. Petersburg from the outside, as often the interior wasn't what you expected, and I was starting to see what she meant...
St. Issac’s is one of the world’s largest cathedrals and was designed in 1818 by a then unknown architect. I have to confess I still don’t really know the name – Auguste de Montferrand. The building work was obviously a massive piece of work, as it opened 40 years later in 1858. During the Communist era, it survived, which was a surprise, given their views on religion, but it was used as a museum of atheism during this time. Ironic, huh?
Elena explained that these doors are normally supposed to be closed, and only opened during services, as the priest emerges from here. However, as there's now very rarely a service in here and it's mainly open for visitors, they just keep them open all the time, so you can see the stained glass window behind them.
We headed off again, and passed the Admiralty building once more...
... and went over the River Neva..
It may not have been a live one, but I saw a Russian cow.
As you can see from some of these shots, the rain was now getting heavier, which was a shame, but at least it had been dry for the majority of the day.
I had to go back and look at what doors you were speaking of to see the stained glass.... I didn't even see doors the first time I looked! Again, so overwhelming! Completely true - you don't know what the inside looks like based on the exterior!
Any cow sighting is legit.
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I was so happy that we could take photos in all those churches in St. Pete. When I was in Moscow 10 years earlier, photography was strictly prohibited in all churches. You just can't do justice to them with words, can you? Oppulent is the word that first comes to my mind whenever I see the pictures.
I had to go back and look at what doors you were speaking of to see the stained glass.... I didn't even see doors the first time I looked! Again, so overwhelming! Completely true - you don't know what the inside looks like based on the exterior!
Any cow sighting is legit.
I was so happy that we could take photos in all those churches in St. Pete. When I was in Moscow 10 years earlier, photography was strictly prohibited in all churches. You just can't do justice to them with words, can you? Oppulent is the word that first comes to my mind whenever I see the pictures.
you can't and photography is still prohibited in the one church we went into anyway, which was a great shame.
Sorry about your experience at the palace! At least it was very beutiful inside and St. Isaac's Church even more so!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
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Sorry about your experience at the palace! At least it was very beutiful inside and St. Isaac's Church even more so!
I definitely preferred the church to the palace and that wasn't just down to the problems we had getting in there. I just felt it was nice, but it was probably the let down of the whole day, compared to everything else.
Beautiful cathedral! Incredible process for erecting the columns.
I know, right? I always look at things like that and think "how did they come up with those ideas back then?" I think, if we were presented with that sort of problem today, we'd probably even have our work cut out solving it today with all our modern technology....
Saturday 11 June – part thirteen: visiting the tombs of Russian emperors
We made our final stop at the Peter and Paul Fortress, and when we got off, I was very glad of the ponchos the tour company had provided. As well as these, they also offered umbrellas, which was excellent customer service.
We headed into the square and made our way over to the cathedral...
Once again, from the outside, you really would not believe what you found inside...
This was the last burial place for a various of Russian Emperors and Empresses, and if this tomb looks new to you...
.. it's because it is. It was apparently only put here in the 1980s. I think she was the only one to escape the massacre as part of the 1918 Revolution as she was in Crimea at the time. She fled to Holland or Denmark, I think, died there, and was buried there, but she always wanted to be returned here to be buried with her family, and eventually many years after her death, she finally got her wish.
More sadly, those murdered in the revolution are also buried here, but not in some great individual set of tombs. They're all buried together, along with the faithful servants that stayed with them until the end - the only time Royalty and peasants were ever buried together here. Apparently, that decision to rebury them here was only taken in 1998, and was very controversial. I’m not sure why, but I thought it was nice that they were finally buried where so many other members of the Royal family have their final resting place.
At the front of the church were more graves of famous Russian emperors...
I did find it weird that they were all buried here, rather than a more central location in St. Petersburg. This seemed a bit way out, and although there were tour groups here, it was nowhere near as busy as some of the other places we'd visited today.
It's certainly worth a visit, as it's very ornate. Elena told us everything you see here is gold, including these tassels, which I found hard to believe. The work that must've gone into creating these!
We headed out, and thankfully by this point, it had stopped raining.
Elena explained that they fire these cannons every day (with blanks thank goodness)...
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Elena told us it was a vegetarian restaurant (sounded good to me), so of course the jokes related to the idea that you were an idiot if you came here expecting to eat meat. 
The building work was obviously a massive piece of work, as it opened 40 years later in 1858. During the Communist era, it survived, which was a surprise, given their views on religion, but it was used as a museum of atheism during this time. Ironic, huh? 
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At least it was very beutiful inside and St. Isaac's Church even more so! 
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