Daines Family Take Scandinavia: St. Petersburg, Russia

St. Petersburg Russia: what a unique and once in a lifetime experience.  While it's not on my list as a place to ever re-visit, I am glad it was a port on our cruise.  The best part about the day was my dad had arranged a private tour for just our family.  We packed it in and saw SO many things.  It was so fun to all be together.  The tour was very scripted and we we heard a lot about the golden era of Russian history; Alexander's, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and the likes.  But there was no mention of more recent historical figures or life currently.  And when we tried to ask her questions about the KGB she very expertly diverted the topic.

Going through Russian customs.  My brother David got held up at customs because his passport has so many stamps!  They even had to pull over a supervisor who questioned him.  Luckily he was able to get through, although it took him about 30 minutes.  

There were lots of picture stops on our day.  The first one happened to be by the river and this random Egyptian Sphinx.  

Bret took it upon himself to clean up the steps a little bit.

We went to a subway station and rode the subway so we could see how beautiful and clean the subway was.  It was pretty cool.

We stopped for a picture outside St. Isaac's Cathedral.  This is one of the most famous cathedrals in St. Petersburg, dating back to the early 19th century.  The gold dome was created with over 100 kilos of real gold.

We then drove for another picture spot outside the Church of Spilled Blood or the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ.  It is called the Church of Spilled Blood because it was built on the spot where Alexander II was assassinated.  We couldn't go inside because we were there on the one day a week it was closed.  

We then made our way to The Hermitage.  Having a private tour here was definitely the way to go in this place.  We were able to see all the the major highlights and learn so much history.  The knowledge of our tour guide and the amount of schooling she had to do to become a tour guide was really incredible.  The Hermitage is really a collection of five buildings: the Winter Palace, the Small Hermitage, the Large Hermitage, the New Hermitage and the Hermitage Theater.  It was massive!

One of my favorite memories of the day was when we walked into this room and Bret grabbed my hands and started dancing with me.  Not many people can say they have danced in a real palace!

A second highlight was this Rembrandt painting of the Prodigal Son.  It was so moving.  

A third highlight for me was the Raphael Loggias.  Catherine II commission this and it is an exact replica of the Gallery in the Papal Palace in Vatican City.  

We saw this statue of the Crouching Boy by Michelangelo.  

Michelle and Bo outside the Hermitage buildings.  

My parents are the cutest!

This is the Winter Palace of the Hermitage buildings.

Chris and Maren

Rob and my Dad outside yet another cathedral.  This is part of the Peter and Paul Fortress and where many of the tzars are buried from Peter the Great to Nicolas II.

We then took a boat to Peterhoff Palace.  It became a little family joke to take pictures of anyone that fell asleep.  I think I was the only member of the family that stayed away on this boat ride!

Of all the Palace's we saw, this one was my favorite!  Maybe that's because we didn't go inside but walked around the gardens and saw some of the marvelous water fountains.  

I'm standing so weird in this picture (don't ask me why) but I just love it of my sisters and I with our Dad!

Me and Kathryn  

Our final stop of the day was driving about a half hour to see Catherine's Summer Palace.

It is inside the Summer Palace where you find the Amber Room.  The Amber room is 100% covered in gold and amber.  The original room was stolen during the war and in 2003 the Russian government rebuilt the room at the cost of more than 3.5 million dollars!  

The whole family on our private bus.  Those of us that have a tendency to get car sick sat up front.

As we made our way back to the ship I couldn't stop thinking about the grandeur and massive wealth I saw on the display throughout the entire day.  As as we passed buildings like these, I couldn't help but think about all the money that was used to create such extreme palaces and how much better spent it would have been to help their own people who were starving and suffering.  These buildings are probably a much better representation of real life in Russia, not the gold covered extravagant cathedrals and palaces.  

We all gave a little cheer when we saw that Dave made it back through customs with no delays!