St Petersburg & Tsarskoe Selo

Our first full day in St Petersburg and we were all set form our tour.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't that great. Overcast and rainy. 

Our guide for the day, Maria, was quite interesting. Always willing to answer any and all questions.

We started our tour driving through the city, and Maria pointed to the grilled windows on this building.

This was one of the Laboratories of Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, who was resident of.St Petersburg and a member of the faculty at the University.

Overlooking the Fortress of St. Peter and Paul, the Rostral columns, also called the Strelka, are two iconic red columns that were historically used as beacons. Now they're lit with gas fires only on ceremonial occasions.

Our next stop was across the River, the fortress of St Peter and Paul, built by Peter the Great. We entered just at noon, and heard the cannon being fired.

It's a thing there, a cannon blast exactly at noon.

The fortress is home to one division of the Russian mint, the one that still mints coins.

 

The fortress is also home to the Cathedral of St Peter and Paul, where all Romanov monarchs are buried. The remains of last of the Romanovs were later moved and interred here.

A statue of Peter the Great.

Peter the Great was supposed to have extremely tall (well over 6 feet), with a disproportionately sized head and small feet 

This was made a few years ago by a local Russian artist.

The fortress of St Peter and Paul is known for it's collection of hare.

Our next stop was the nearby gardens with a miniature model of At Petersburg.

These gentlemen, the best in Russia and the rest of Europe at the time, were brought in by Peter the Great to design the city.

The miniature garden.

The Kazan cathedral.

The Church of the blood, built on the site where Emperor Alexander II was assassinated.

The Winter Palace, now the Hermitage state museum.

The Rostral columns and the stock exchange.

And St Peter keeping an eye on the city named after him.

This little house is something of a suprise. Originally built of.wood, it's now.covered by a layer of brick to preserve it well.

It was built for Peter the Great and he was known to have spent most of his time here.

Our next stop was Tsarskoe Selo. Literally, it means village of the Tsar.

It's the home of the Alexander Palace, Catherine palace with it's well renowned Amber room, the Dacha of Alexander Pushkin, a few old churches etc. It was the summer residence of the Romanovs.

The spires of the chapel at the Catherine palace.

Facade of the Catherine palace.

The elaborate baroque rooms 

Personal dining room of Catherine the Great, who preferred the less ornate Wedgewood style, rather than the baroque look in the rest of the renovated palace 

The renowned Amber room which was a gift to Peter the Great from Prussia, but was only installed at the Catherine palace long after his death.

The Nazis dismantled the entire amber room from there and it completely disappeared.

It was recreated later from old photographs.

Ivory chess set

The waking Cupid at the east end of the grand staircase.

The sleeping Cupid at the West end of the grand staircase.

Stoves in the reception rooms lined with Delft ceramic tiles.

The grand ballroom.

The barometer at the grand staircase which apparently works even now.

The ceiling of the grand staircase 

The grand staircase 

The gardens.

The facade of the Catherine palace.

Maria then took us to see something unusual and definitely off the well beaten tourist track

The St. Petersburg–Vitebsky railway station. 

This station connected At Petersburg to the town of Tsarskoye Selo and  it was the first railway station and railway line to be built in Saint Petersburg and the whole of the Russian Empire. Later the station was renamed after another destination: Vitebsk in Belarus.

The platforms.

Ornate spiral wrought iron staircase 

Paintings in the main salon. Even now, concerts are held here once a week.

Stained glass panels and the grand staircase

Pretty flowers.

Guardhouse for the Cossack bodyguards.

the Feodorovsky chapel.

This building with a dome and spire on its Facade is very interesting.

This is the entrance to the courtyard of this building.

Across the courtyard was the house of a other very well known resident of St Petersburg, Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin.

Yes.. the one and only Ra Ra Rasputin.

Our last stop for the day was the church of the Spilled Blood, a church built on the spot where Emperor Alexander II was assassinated. For some reason this church was never consecrated and is a museum today.

Maria also told us something very interesting. Stalin, in all his infinite wisdom, declared that this building had no architectural merit or use to the state and ordered it to be bombed and demolished. Not just demolished, bombed and demolished.

I asked her if the locals said Nyet, because it still stands.

Maria said, ' one doesn't say Nyet to Stalin, we just didn't get around to it.' Sounds like the BBMP.

Apparently Stalin was very fed up with the people of At Petersburg and their laid back yet stubborn attitudes and just ignored them after  a point. 

And the Admiralty, the first ever shipyard in St Petersburg, now a Naval base.

More from here later

From Russia... With Love