Excessive, Lavish, Too Much

By now, everything seems excessive.  We visited the country home of Catherine I today.

One of Catherine's reception rooms.

The band, at the entrance to Catherine's home,  was  a refreshing break from the lavish homes and gardens we have visited. One of their tunes, popular with the mainland Chinese crowd who sang along, was the "Internationale".

"This is the final struggle
Let us group together and tomorrow
The Internationale
Will be the human race." (chorus)

Ready for Another Adventure

We're ready for our next adventure.  I've got my travel hat, my passport and some maps.  We are going to Russia to visit St Petersburg and Moscow. Then we meet the Road Scholars for Azebaijan, Georgia and Armenia.  May 6 departure date.

The MIR Corporation organized the Russia part of the trip.  As a  bonus we got the hats and the nice leather passport case shown below.  A little swag is always appreciated.

It's All About the Water

Peter the Great built his country estate, Peterhof, 19 miles outside of St Petersburg on the Gulf of Finland. 

The palace is grand. But the gardens are magnificent.  It is said they rival those at Versailles. The gardens slope from the palace down to the sea. The gardens are dotted with fountains all gravity fed. There are no pumps involved at all.  It's truly amazing. It's all about the water.

After strolling the grounds, go into the cool grotto and help yourself to a piece of fruit. Peter was a very thoughtful host.

Oops!  This turns out to be one of many fountains Peter designed to trick his guests.  Children of all ages love it.

This canal goes from under the grotto with the fruit bowl out to the Gulf of Finland.

More fountains, and the palace is right behind us.

As these little animals swim around their fountain, they make noises - all powered by water.

Religion in St Petersburg

While the rest of the city celebrated victory, we explored various religious sites in St Petersburg.

Taylor and I celebrated our own small victory at St Isaac's Cathedral where we climbed 262 steps to get to the colonnade to enjoy the vista of the city.

St Isaac's Cathedral, across the street from our hotel.

View from the top of the 262 step hike to the colonnade, of the bell tower of St Issac's.

Outside the Church of the Savior on the Blood.  This is the site where Czar Alexander II was killed in 1881.

Inside Savior on the Blood I discovered a reason for the "selfie" mode on my phone - I used it to capture the ceiling mosaic on the dome of Savior on the Blood.

Choral Synagogue - one of three synagogues clustered in the same area.  This synagogue is the second largest orthodox synagogue in Europe. It is active, men were praying as we were there.

One of the oldest orthodox churches, Naval Cathedral of St Nicholas.

Smolny Cathedral built by Empress Elizabeth in 1761. This was the first state school for girls and a nunnery.

Today we focused on a lot of religion which was a good contrast to the military celebration swirling around us.  Tomorrow we move on to the more secular side of Russian life.

Victory Day

Today is Victory Day.  Everybody is out to celebrate the defeat of the Nazis at the end of WWII.  There are military parades on land and in the air, parades of families showing placards of their loved ones lost in the war, music of the era, music of today, fireworks..............the city is alive. While we were not among the elite who actually got to see the military parades, access being restricted, we saw what we could on the fringes.

The overall patriotism is astounding. As our host in the hotel restaurant told us, "Today we are in the Soviet Union, tomorrow we will be back in Russia."

Walking in St Petersburg

To get ourselves oriented in St Petersburg, we spent the entire day walking.

St Petersburg is a city of rivers and canals, reminiscent of Venice or Amsterdam.  This is the Moika River.

The Church of the Resurrection of Christ on Spilled Blood.

There are many little churches tucked between larger buildings. Discovering them is kind of like being on an Easter egg hunt.

This is the day before the day.  The city has been decorated for May 9, Victory Day, the commemoration of the surrender of the Nazis in 1945.

Arrival in St Petersburg

It's amazing to think how accessible the world is.  This morning we said good bye to Mount Hood as we flew away from Portland.

About 9 hours later we were having "slow" tea while we sat through a 5 hour lay over at the Amsterdam airport.

After a 2 1/2 hour flight from Amsterdam to St Petersburg, we are now in Russia!  Too tired to even walk around the block, we made ourselves comfortable in our room, and went down to the bar to sample vodka and admire people passing by St Isaac's Cathedral.  Tomorrow we will begin exploring in earnest.

I know you all know what vodka is.  The tall colored glasses, however, are Mors. These are homemade juices made every season from available berries.  The one on the left is raspberry, the one on the right is sea thorn berry.

Here's hoping for a good night's sleep so the real adventure can begin.