This was our schedule for our 2 days in Russia
08 July 2019 Day 1
| 8:30 | Meet at the ship | ||
| 8:30 | - | 10:00 | City orientation drive tour with the panoramic views on the bridges, squares, palaces, and the Neva river embankments |
| 10:00 | - | 11:00 | Drive to Peterhof Summer Residence |
| 11:00 | - | 12:30 | Guided tour of the Peterhof Fountain Park and Gardens |
| 12:30 | - | 13:30 | Lunch time |
| 13:30 | - | 14:30 | Drive to Tsars Village (Pushkin) |
| 14:30 | - | 16:00 | Guided tour of Catherine's Palace incl. Amber Room and a walk through the park |
| 16:00 | - | 17:00 | Drive back to St. Petersburg |
| 17:30 | St. Petersburg, former capital of Russia, was founded by Peter the Great in 1703. He indeed built this great city on a swamp while his people laughed at his idea. Peter the Great was a long-visioned man and stuck to his idea and now St. Petersburg is one of the major destinations in Europe. But the city wasn’t named after him. St. Peter is the patron of the city after whom the city was named. It is the former home of the Russian Emperors who were known as Tsars/Czars and a center spot of imperial Russian culture. The city was known as Leningrad in 1924 honoring founder of Soviet Union, Lenin.Today was the day to visit all the Palaces and Parks out of the city. We had to visit the city through a tour company because you need an invitation from the country to get visa with Canadian & American Passports. We booked this tour with AllaTours. On our 1st day we were picked up from our cruise-port around 8:30 and ended at 6pm and the next day it was from 9am to 5pm. Our guide was a very enthusiastic lady and was very honest about her country, giving us some pros and cons on overall living conditions in past and present day Russia. Other than getting the visa, I think it’s better to have a guide when you are visiting any cities in Russia since almost everything is written in Russian. We had 2 full days to spend in St. Petersburg. It’s a huge city and everything is very spread out. I don’t think we could have seen all these spots if we didn’t have a coach and an expert guide. You can spend weeks here and still will be left with many unseen spots…St. Petersburg has countless things to see and do.  Catherine Palace is named after Catherine I, the wife of Peter the Great, who ruled Russia for two years after her husband's death. Originally a modest two-storey building commissioned by Peter for Catherine in 1717, the Catherine Palace owes its awesome grandeur to their daughter, Empress Elizabeth, who chose Tsarskoe Selo as her chief summer residence. Starting in 1743, the building was reconstructed by four different architects, before Bartholomeo Rastrelli, Chief Architect of the Imperial Court, was instructed to completely redesign the building on a scale to rival Versailles. Amber room pictures are not allowed. Sorry, it was a very long day today and we both are exhausted.  To be continued....Stay tuned |
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