Upon the Baltic Sea

Page 6

Saint Petersburg, Russia (day two)

The night after Day One, many from the cruise went to the Kirov Ballet, some to a Folkloric Dance concert in St. Petersburg. We unfortunately, stayed on the ship and saw the Troika Dance Troupe, a tacky nightclub act brought in from the city. Oy! They were pretty terrible, especially the lead male singer, who wailed dramatically the Russian songs, off-key; and the male dancers who were could barely kick and certainly couldn’t do the authentic Russian dancing! The girls and the costumes were quite good, but otherwise it was cringe-making.

September 3, 2008 Day Two: As you see above, we began our second day just as dawn broke – a magical time to see the city. We began with a bus tour of the city, followed by a terrific river/canal boat ride. Below are a few photos taken during those tours.
	.

Next came what was decidedly, the absolute highlight of the whole trip: The Hermitage and the Winter Palace! There was so much to see there that I’ve made a separate page for HERMITAGE photos, Click Here to see them.

Totally wiped out after our Hermitage tour, we had a much needed lunch. It was much more elegant and intimate than the day before, in a very nice house that had been turned into a catering hall. The food was also better, with more champagne & vodka. (Note the harpist on the stage in the background.)

Our tours ended with the spectacular Saint Isaac’s Cathedral. It was magnificent, rivaling St. Peters in Rome, but I still liked the Church of Spilled Blood better.
The huge green columns are malachite, and the blue ones are lapis lazuli – magnificent!

Thus ended our Grand Two Day tour of St. Petersburg. I could do two weeks, in the Hermitage alone.

In case you missed the page for HERMITAGE photos,

Click Here to see them.

Go to the Tallinn page:

Go Back to the BALTIC home page