St. Petersburg--Day 2

7/20/2008 -- St. Petersburg, Day 2 with Alla Tour

After a wonderful, sunny day, we were met with rain on our second day in St. Petersburg. This time there were no lines to get off the ship. We just walked to the port, turned in our tour papers, picked up another laminated card and off to meet our guide. 

The owner of Alla (not sure if Alla is her name) came on the bus to collect our tour money.

Our first stop for the day--the Hermitage.

We entered from the back door which is right next to the river.

The Hermitage is just an amazingly beautiful place with countless treasures inside.

The whole building is well ornated.

We were there early, before anybody else, so we got the whole place to our group to explore leisurely.

Too many art works to post.

Indoor 'bridge'

One can easily spend a whole day in here.

This is also a good place to buy picture books. We paid $5 each for the picture books here, cheaper than the vendors out on the street.

As we came out to the front we could see long lines of people waiting in the rain to get inside, including the excursions from the ship. One advantage of private tours is that we usually can get to places early and in much shorter lines.

I believe this is the place where the revolution started.

Our next stop, Church on the Blood, or Church of the Spilt Blood, something like that.

An icon of St. Petersburg.

Unfortunately, such a beautiful place is no longer a place of worship. Our guide told us that they only hold church service maybe once or twice a year on special days. We found that many churches in Russia are more for tourists and visitors nowadays.

Time to eat! A simple lunch was included in the tour price at this cute restaurant.

Delicious hot mushroom broth was perfect for this wet and cold day.

with our waiter

chicken breast with rice

ginger cake

pictures on the walls at the entrance of the restaurants

St. Peter's Cathedral

Our last stop for the day--the Yusopuf (?) Palace. This was where we had problems with our guide, Ana. She insisted that we did not have enough camera passes and that Christian should give his pass to another member in our group. The fact to the matter is that we paid extra for the tour just so Christian can have a camera pass of his own as a paid adult. Of course, I refused to comply. She was very rude to us as she tried to get the pass. Eventually the problem was solved by itself, because she found out that the person already had a pass. It dampened my good spirit for the day and I told her that she handled that situation poorly and I did not appreciate that one bit. 

You can see that I was still upset.

Trying to smile inside the theater of the palace.

Other than the camera episode, we had two wonderful days in St. Petersburg. I am sure we just scratched the surface of this great city and, if God willing, maybe we can come back for another visit, maybe...