St Petersburg

I loved St. Petersburg!  It's known as the Venice of the North with its 342 bridges and Venice-like canals.  The architecture reminded me of Paris.  A truly beautiful city!

We started our day at the Peterhof Palace which was built by Peter the Great and, keeping with the Paris theme, is very reminiscent of Versailles. 

After exploring for several hours we took a hydrofoil back into the city.  Of course I noticed the World Cup Stadium.  Unfortunately this was where Russia beat Spain and sent them home earlier than we had wanted. 

We disembarked right in front of the world famous Hermitage Museum which has the largest collection of art in the world...yes more than the Louvre! Our guides said that if you took 1 second to see each piece of art, it would take you 10 years to see it all.  Others say that to see everything would take a visitor 18 years.  Either way it is just enormous.  See that line in the front.  That is the line for people who had tickets to enter at a certain time.  That was us.  The wait wasn't as long as I had feared when I first saw that the line went all the way around the corner.  

 Once inside, the place was absolutely packed.  Chinese tourists have discovered St. Petersburg and the museum was FULL!  The crowds and the heat didn't contribute to a relaxing experience. I wondered why they didn't have the priceless art in a temperature controlled environment - to say nothing of having the mobs of tourist more comfortable and more relaxed.  In spite of that, the art was just breathtaking.

Two  Di Vinci's were among my favorites. 

I had to fight the hordes to get this close but I am so glad I did.

After several hours absorbing the culture we were treated to a scenic boat ride on the canals and were able to enjoy a light lunch. 

Our guides continued to give us information and history of their much loved city but I'm afraid no one paid much attention to them.  

 Instead we all were focused on this little boy who was on every bridge, sometimes waving and other times blowing us kisses. 

 We were told that he runs 4.4 miles to keep up with our boat.  Can you see him?

 All of us were delighted...well, all the tourists were delighted our guides less so.  They don't like these kids since they take all our attention away from what they want to share. 

 I remember practically nothing of what the guides said, but I will always remember him.  

 Naturally when we got off the boat, he was waiting - just in case we wanted to give him a few rubles for his troubles.  We were all pretty generous which is good since we learned that he does have to share his spoils with the ship captain.  He is a cutie!

I'd love to spend a day in St. Petersburg in the winter when everything is covered with snow.  One thing we learned about Russians is that they don't see the winter as a negative.  They embrace it and even make a wish on the first snowflake they see.  I also LOVE the snow.  'Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow' is my mantra in the winter.