We visited the Yusopov Palace (where Rasputin's murder began...), the Winter Palace, the Church of Spilled Blood, Swan Lake Ballet, and drove around the city and rode a boat around some canals. The buildings in St. Petersburg are very colorful and were made such to become a "Venice of the North." Since they get so much rain and bad weather, the colorful buildings help to make it seem less dreary. Before being inhabited, St. Petersburg was a forest and is surrounded by natural lush vegetation.
I did love St. Petersburg, but it has become a tourist hot spot as well as being a big city, it was very crowded. It took a few hours for us to go through immigration which was frustrating. There was also a lot of traffic and the tourists were not allowed to get around on their own (unless we arranged for a tourist visa several months ahead of arrival). Anyway, I still really enjoyed what I saw in St. Petersburg. One other important fact I must state is that pedestrians do not have the right of way. It was a bit scary trying to cross busy streets and our tour guides just had us jay walk instead of going to an intersection. Matt loved that, but I felt a bit uncomfortable.
In Front of the Church of Spilled Blood
The back yard of the Winter Palace. The fountains are very pretty and go out to the sea. Yet, they did not compare to the fountains in Italy (Travoli was my favorite).
The front of the Winter Palace
Inside of the Church of Spilled Blood. The picture is not good, but it was amazing inside. The entire interior (floor to ceiling) are beautiful mosaics. Breathtakingly beautiful! I cannot imagine putting it all together!!
Church of Spilled Blood
Look at these beautiful rooms! I love the parquet floors! That is not a rug, it is all inlaid wood. The floors were beautiful. I honestly cannot remember which palace these are from, but all the rooms were gorgeous.
2 comments:
I like the front of the Winter Palace. Thank goodness you guys didn't get hit by a car when crossing the street. I would have been nervous too.
I love the fountains and the fact that Matt liked J-walking. The architecture is amazing and the wood floor is too. When I was preparing to go on a mission, I wanted to go to Russia. It opened up when I was working on going, but that didn't happen the way I wanted it too! Great Pictures!!
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