Constellation Baltics Trip Report and Lots of Pictures!

[Cindy]

Tuesday, May 27 – St. Petersburg, Russia

 

I apologize it’s taking me so long to get back to this review…I seem to be easily distracted these days! I’m also more than a little obsessive. I’m taking a Lightroom class right now, and as I learn new techniques I’m going back through my pictures before I post them!:o

 

We were up very early on Tuesday to prepare for two long days of touring in St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, a quick check on the balcony let me know our Beautiful Baltic luck had run out.:mad: As spectacular as the weather had been, it had done a 180 overnight. We dressed for our new reality – mid 40’s, gray skies, drizzle with intermittent rain, and wind. Welcome to Russia!:p

 

We were part of a group of 11 who had arranged to tour with TJ Travel for our two days in St. Petersburg.

 

 

 

Our group gathered down in Café al Bacio at 6:45. We knew the ship had arrived early (I think we were docked before 6:00), and at about 7:15 we were a little puzzled that the only announcement had been there would be an announcement when it was OK to disembark. Jim went and looked out a window, and saw they were taking the Celebrity tours off from the theater. We went ahead and mixed in with those passengers and we were through immigration and in the bus ready to start the tour right at 8:00. Unfortunately, I did hear many of the people who waited for an official announcement got stuck on the stairs and it took them a long time to get off the ship and through immigration.

 

 

Coming tomorrow -- St. Petersburg Day 1, and hopefully Day 2 as well!:D

Edited July 24, 2014 by Cindy

[suometar]

We didn't dislike Helsinki...we enjoyed our visit! In general, the architecture didn't appeal to me as much as some of the other cities we visited, but we still enjoyed the sights we saw. I thought Market Square and that whole area was just beautiful as well as interesting and a lot of fun to explore. I also thought Helsinki was incredibly clean, as was Porvoo. The citizens obviously take a great deal of pride in their home towns.

 

Sorry I left everybody with the impression we disliked Helsinki. I probably should have elaborated a bit more in my post than I did.

 

Cindy, there is no need to apologize! I am the first to agree that Helsinki is not as scenic as Stockholm or St. Petersburg. I was just a little taken aback by your description of it being very stark -- it brought back memories of the barren apartment blocs that I saw in St. Petersburg when I visited in 1978, when the city was called Leningrad and before the breakup of the Soviet Union. (But I do have happy memories of that time, because I met my husband on that cruise.)

 

And I also agree with you that Porvoo is a quaint little town.

[Cindy]

I’m not sure where to start when it comes to St. Petersburg. I have always been a little fascinated with Russia – probably because it was a kind of mysterious forbidden fruit for so long. We planned for, looked forward to, and enjoyed all the cities on our itinerary, but if I’m being honest St. Petersburg was the main reason for choosing this cruise.

 

Unfortunately, as often happens, I had a picture in my head of what St. Petersburg was going to be like, and the fantasy and the reality didn’t quite coincide. For starters, in my fantasies the sun was shining and the places I saw looked like the postcards I had seen, and in my fantasies there were no crowds or traffic jams either! To put it another way, in the immortal words of Charles Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

 

Russian immigration was kind of what I thought it would be…it was very organized and regimented, and the agents were very stoic…there were no welcomes and no smiles. Each of us was treated to a silent 60 second inspection of our documents, had our passports stamped, our "travel permit" generated, and then waited for the light to turn green which meant we were free to enter Russia.

 

Permission to be in Russia...this paper stayed in my passport while I was in port.

 

 

On Day 1, we emerged unscathed from immigration, and easily found our wonderful guide, Elena (Ellen).

 

Elena was a wonderful guide!

 

 

Elena was a very personable and knowledgeable guide, and my experiences with TJ Travel both before and during the cruise were very positive. I have nothing but praise for TJ and Elena, but I didn’t expect the terrible traffic that impacted our days in Russia, nor did I anticipate the ridiculous overcrowding situation at some of the major tourist sites. I think future visitors would be wise to temper their expectations of what can be accomplished in a short visit. It was very, very crowded in St. Petersburg the two days we were there, and that led to some disappointment, some frustration, and what I thought was a potentially dangerous situation.

 

 

 

 

[Cindy]

We drove around (and sat in traffic) seeing the city for quite a while, and then went to the Hermitage for our 10:10 slot. I now feel much the same way about the Hermitage that I do about Versailles and the Louvre…been there, done that, and I have no desire to go back. The crowds were HORRENDOUS!

 

St. Peter and Paul Fortress and Cathedral

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Winter Palace is one of six buildings that make up the State Hermitage Museum. Five of the six are open to the public.

 

 

[Cindy]

The Hermitage was so crammed full of tourists one could barely move. Elena did a good job of trying to move all 11 of us through the crowds, but it was so chaotic and unorganized in there that she was fighting a losing battle. I thought the crowd situation inside was bordering on a riot/loss of control. I was repeatedly elbowed by a woman from a very large group of tourists who were trying to push their way through the lobby, and ultimately this same lady shoved me in the back as hard as she could. Had it not been wall-to-wall people, I would have tumbled down the marble staircase.

 

 

 

The Winter Palace was magnificent!

 

 

Many of the ceilings looks carved, but it's actually masterfully-done paint!

 

 

 

 

The doorways stretch into the distance...the Hermitage is HUGE!

 

 

[kaseyoz]

Just marking my place.

 

What a wonderful feast for us readers.

My good friends were on the same cruise right after you and her words and photos on Facebook were a taster to your review.

 

Thank you for your hard work and time.

[Cindy]

Unfortunately, even though I was really looking forward to it, I didn’t enjoy this site at all. My primary interest in the Hermitage was the architecture, and it was really impossible to get any feel at all for what the palace looked like. It was an absolutely spectacular structure housing important pieces of art, and I really couldn’t see any of it because of the pushing, shoving, and elbowing that was going on. I realize part of the problem was that I don’t like places that are that crowded and I tend to get panicky, but when did it become socially acceptable to physically shove somebody out of the way so you can take a picture? Sadly, the venue I was most excited about, that should have been one of the gems of our whole cruise was a very unpleasant experience for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few hundred of the thousands of reasons I didn't want to stay!:rolleyes:

 

 

Lunch was in a tiny little place where we had a very unusual mushroom salad (not a traditional salad at all), mushroom soup (broth), beef stroganoff, potatoes, and “pancakes”. An interesting thing happened right after we went in and sat down. Elena jumped up and started yelling into the other (front) room. A group of pickpockets had followed us in and were trying to steal from the group in the front room while they were distracted by the commotion of us walking through. Elena had been warning us repeatedly to be aware of our surroundings and watchful of pickpockets, but I couldn’t believe how bold these guys were!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did hear later that one group from the Constellation fell victim to the thieves. They had their backpack stolen…cash, credit cards, and everyone’s passports were gone in an instant. Because they had no passports they couldn’t get back on the ship Tuesday night. Their tour company helped them find a hotel, and walked them through the process of having their replacement (Singapore) passports overnighted from Moscow. We were told repeatedly everyone should carry their own passport and some money…I guess what happened to this family is why.

[Cindy]

After lunch we went to St. Isaacs Cathedral, then drove to Peterhof. Both were spectacular, and although there were plenty of people, thankfully the crowds were nothing like the Hermitage.

 

St.Isaac’s, like all but one church in St. Petersburg, was closed and stripped of its religious artifacts during the Soviet regime. Instead of being used as a Russian Orthodox house of worship, it was turned into the Museum of History of Religion and Atheism. Fully restored after the fall of communism, the cathedral today is once again used for worship on a limited basis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TeaBag]

This is a wonderful review, Cindy. Your way of describing things is awesome. You have me a bit worried about the Hermitage. I don't like crowds and I'm afraid I would not respond well to being shoved.

[HLR]

Your Pictures are just Breath Taking!!!!

[Cindy]

After touring St. Isaacs we drove to Peterhof to tour the magnificent grounds. We were scheduled to conserve time by taking the hydrofoil over, but the boat wasn’t running due to pier construction and we had to drive both ways.

 

Peterhof was the vision of Peter the Great, and he had construction of the buildings, grounds, and fountains started according to his sketches and wishes. Peterhof was originally used as Peter the Great’s Summer “Pleasure Palace,” a place to relax coming and going to Europe in the summer. Almost totally destroyed by German forces during the war, restoration and rebuilding started right after and work is ongoing to this day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cindy]

I wish the weather had been better to really appreciate the beauty of the gardens and fountains at Peterhof. Despite the gloom and mist, the grounds were spectacular. I would love to return on a clear day, when I didn’t have to have my camera in a Ziploc bag!:p:eek:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cindy]

Traffic was so bad getting back into town from Peterhof that Elena had to call the Church of our Savior on Spilled Blood (Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ) to arrange to let us in since we missed the open hours. Thankfully, she was able to arrange for us to get in, because I’ve never seen a church that beautiful! There’s bright color everywhere, but virtually no paint…all the décor is mosaic tile. There are more than 80,000 square feet of mosaic tile completely covering the walls and the ceilings! Don’t miss this…I could have stayed hours!

 

 

 

 

For some reason this made me laugh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Holy Gates were destroyed in the Soviet era and recreated from pictures and drawings beginning in 2005.

 

 

The new Holy Gates were installed in the cathedral in 2012.

[Cindy]

The church sits on the ground where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated, and there is a shrine inside on the exact spot where he was mortally wounded. The builders even rerouted the adjacent canal to incorporate the cobblestone street where the killing occurred, and the old stones are visible on the floor of the shrine.

 

 

 

 

This church has a very interesting history. It was looted and badly damaged following the Russian Revolution, and finally closed by the Soviets in the early 1930’s. After sitting empty for many years, it was used as a morgue during the Siege of Leningrad, suffering even more damage, and then finally had another life as a potato warehouse. Restoration started in 1970, and the cathedral reopened in 1997. The church has never functioned as a full-time public house of worship, and religious services are only occasionally held here.

 

 

The mosaics took my breath away...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cindy]

In addition to the mosaics, the other thing I really liked about the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood was the structure fit my Russian fantasy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were all pretty tired by the time we got back to the port…it was a long day, and the Constellation looked warm and welcoming! I was happy we had decided against going back into town for dinner and evening entertainment. Instead, we watched a wonderful Russian Folk-Dance Troupe “The Stars of St. Petersburg” on the ship. They were entertaining enough to keep me awake, and as soon as they were done, my day was done too! We had another long day of touring Wednesday, and I was beat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cindy]

Cindy, there is no need to apologize! I am the first to agree that Helsinki is not as scenic as Stockholm or St. Petersburg. I was just a little taken aback by your description of it being very stark -- it brought back memories of the barren apartment blocs that I saw in St. Petersburg when I visited in 1978, when the city was called Leningrad and before the breakup of the Soviet Union. (But I do have happy memories of that time, because I met my husband on that cruise.)

 

And I also agree with you that Porvoo is a quaint little town.

 

There's actually still plenty of that...I thought St. Petersburg was a real study in contrasts. I'm going to talk a little bit about it and post a couple pictures when I finish day 2.

[Cindy]

This is a wonderful review, Cindy. Your way of describing things is awesome. You have me a bit worried about the Hermitage. I don't like crowds and I'm afraid I would not respond well to being shoved.

 

Hopefully you'll get lucky and not have the same problem. There were a LOT of people on the ship talking about how crowded it was, and I know some of the people who were on ship tours filed a complaint with the Shore Excursion desk.

 

I was pretty freaked out when the lady pushed me. Thankfully I held it together enough to restrain from starting something physical, because my first instinct was to wipe the smirk off her face. I did unleash a tirade of every nasty thing I could think of. I know English wasn't her first language, but I like to think she got the gist!:D;):D

Edited July 25, 2014 by Cindy

[kandagal1939]

Such wonderful photos.

[HelenREMfan]

I agree your photos are wonderful. We did a Baltic cruise on the Eclipse in June and it was fabulous. We had been forewarned by our tour group SPB to be ready to disembark the ship and we left it promptly and were through Immigration very quickly. I cannot praise SPB enough as we sailed through even the busiest sites. I don't think the Hermitage was as busy as when you went but we had early entry tickets for a Sunday morning and our guide steered us to some of the rooms she had selected for us and been asked for. The peacock clock was fabulous and a piece I would recommend that anyone going should seek out.

The other visit we did that isn't mentioned here was a subway ride.... that was brilliant. One escalator took 3 minutes to take us! Well worth doing. The mosaics are wonderful and all so clean - so much better that the London Underground Of course you cannot cover all of St P in 2 days no matter how full you make a schedule. We took advice from SPB and were extremely pleased with what we accomplished.

A glad you had such a great Baltic cruise I would do it again any time. The sail into Stockholm (I was awake from bout 3 30am and taking photos! )

 

Alas this site will not allow me to upload photos... :(

[suzzek]

Cindy, you are writing a most wonderful review, and your pictures are spectacular! Thank you for taking the time to do this. You are really enticing me to take this same cruise, but maybe a little later in the fall would alleviate the problem of over crowded tourist sites. I'm adding this cruise to my bucket list! Thanks again!!

[Cindy]

Wednesday, May 28 -- St. Petersburg

 

 

 

Wednesday started with an advantage…we got to sleep quite a bit later! Unfortunately the weather hadn’t improved. In fact, it was colder and windier and it rained ALL day. The worst thing about the weather was that the bus windows were continuously fogged up throughout the day, and wiping them off just kind of smeared the moisture around!

 

 

 

 

We left port a few minutes before 9:00, headed for Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin) and Catherine Palace. The drive was about 16 miles, and seemed to pass quickly…we arrived at our destination well before 10:00. Catherine Palace was spectacular, and I thought had a much, much better procedure for touring than the Hermitage. Unfortunately their computers were down so they had to hand write all the tickets for that day. It took about 30 minutes for Elena to get our passes, while we stood in the cold and rain waiting. Surely, there must be a better way!

 

Pushkin

 

 

Pushkin

 

 

Guides lined up to get a hand-written ticket for their group!

 

 

Trying to stay warm and dry while we wait for Elena to get through the ticket line. If Jim is wearing gloves, you know it's cold! Well, at least to the Texans it was cold!

[Cindy]

The guard looked just as unhappy about the weather as we were!

 

 

Outside the palace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cindy]

 

 

 

 

We finally got inside, put on our paper booties (to protect the floors), checked our coats (a MUCH less painful process than at the Hermitage), and we were off! Like the churches, I was overwhelmed by the beauty and opulence of Catherine Palace. I didn't know where to look first…the ceilings covered in painted murals? The beautiful inlaid wood floors? The gold encrusted walls? There were so many things to focus on that I could have actually spent the entire visit in one room examining all the details!

 

 

Gold, gold, everywhere!

 

 

Ceiling mural

 

 

Inlaid wood floors

[Cindy]

There were some truly fascinating things, like the big Delft tiled “heaters” in each room. The clever design brought heated air up from distant furnaces, and the occupants never had to deal with smoky rooms or the disruption of servants entering the room to stoke the fire.

 

 

 

 

 

One of the plainest rooms in the palace!

 

 

The Amber Room was, as advertised, truly spectacular. I was going to follow directions and not take pictures, but when I saw everybody else doing it I decided not to be left out. These aren’t great because I at least tried to be discreet, but you get the idea.

 

 

 

 

 

[Cindy]

The other thing that really struck me were the photographs and paintings of the utter destruction of Catherine Palace during the war. As German forces retreated after the Siege of Leningrad, they looted and set fire to the palace.:( What was left was just a shell. Restoration work is ongoing, but it really is remarkable to see the detail and care that has been put into reconstructing and restoring this magnificent palace.