Port #2: St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg is the city of palaces. If the czar liked you, you got a palace. If the empress liked you, you got a palace. Communism gave us an odd brand of palace, mainly, the concrete-block apartment palace. These are the really nice ones, by the port.

I was leaning against the bus window the second morning in St. Petersburg and we pass by a white Volvo with Illinois license plates parked outside of one of these buildings. I found it slightly disconcerting.

Peter the Great, St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg angel

Annunciation Bridge, St. Petersburg, Russia

St. Petersburg is famous for its bridges. There just weren't too many good pictures to be had, as I was travelling by bus. To find out more about the great bridges in St. Petersburg, there are many images compiled here.

Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood, St. Petersburg

Interior, Church of the Spilled Blood

Altar, Church of the Spilled Blood

Only mosaic in the world depicting Christ as a teenager.

Christ Pantocrator

Interior, Church of the Spilled Blood

Day Two: we ventured outside St. Petersburg to see Catherine's Palace in the town of Pushkin, and Pavlovsk Palace. Catherine's Palace is famous for the amber room. We weren't allowed to take pictures, so you will have to view it here. 

Mirror detail, Catherine's Palace

Entrance, Catherine's Palace

There were plenty of these interesting blue-tiled fire places.

Elegant dining room, Catherine's Palace

Cool 3-D parquet pattern, Catherine's Palace

Small chapel in Pushkin, Russia

Catherine's Palace is named for Catherine the First, not Catherine the Great. Catherine the Great definitely added much grandeur to the palace when she owned it. Catherine the First was born in Lithuania, and was named Marta. She was on staff at Peter the Great's Palace and became his second wife. He built this palace for her. She was re-christened Catherine after converting to Russian Orthodoxy. We had lunch in a restaurant in Pushkin: Borscht, Chicken Stroganoff, vegetables, bread, wine, ice cream. I really liked borscht. Pushkin is, by the way, named for the famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.

Pavlovsk is Russian for the name Paul. This town and palace were given to Paul by his mother, Catherine the Great. More about him here.

Domed entrance hall, Pavlovsk

Library, Pavlovsk

Library, Pavlovsk

Amber legged bowl, Pavlovsk

Green pillars, Pavlovsk

Floor detail, Pavlovsk

Floor detail, Pavlovsk

Chapel altar, Pavlovsk

Hallway between the king's and queen's quarters

Bedroom, Pavlovsk

Dining Room, Pavlovsk

Exterior, Pavlovsk

Exterior view of the chapel in Catherine's Palace

Reconstruction of Catherine the Great's regalia

Bath house and gardens, Catherine's Palace

Pavlovsk was definitely smaller and more intimate than Catherine's Palace. It was a marathon of seeing old buildings with lots of nice things inside. Under communism, much was left to rack and ruin. There is still much deferred maintenance throughout the environs of St. Petersburg. The Church of the Spilled blood (above) was used for vegetable storage. There was a Lutheran church on Nevsky Prospect converted to a swimming pool.

Ornate fence, St. Petersburg

Admiralty, St. Petersburg

Annunciation Bridge, St. Isaac's in the background, St. Petersburg