Norton Explorer(er)s Trumps BFF Putins land

[Emperor Norton]

Day 2 in St. Petersburg was going to be a little bit different. Instead of going on a ships tour I opted to use a private provider (Alla tours) to see a very specific list of sights. Originally I was going to use Alla for some other sites, but because I saw them on the ships tour the previous day (and wanted to be back early to not miss my evening tour) I wound up with some holes in my schedule. They provided some interesting filler stops.

 

Our first stop was to the icebreaker Krassin. It was built for the Imperial navy and subsequently renamed by the communists. At one point during I believe World War 2 the US almost wound up with it (along with a $500,000 repair bill).

 

 

 

 

It's a museum ship now and was left in it's Soviet state (It was refurbished ~1950s in the DDR - land of vine and grape...)

 

 

I never did find out what this was.

 

 

[Emperor Norton]

Across the river were what appeared to be a few Kilo (or Kilo improved) class diesel electric submarines. No luck on finding the Lada class St. Petersburg submarine in St. Petersburg.

 

 

 

Nearby was a post WW2 vintage Whiskey class submarine (S-189).

 

Interesting size comparison between it and a "small" cruise ship.

 

Not surprisingly we wound up at another church, this time the Church of the Assumption of Mary.

 

 

[Emperor Norton]

I guess they had some soccer thing happen in the recent past (though I was told this one wasn't from the World Cup).

 

 

Next we loaded onto our camels and made the trek across the desert to see the sphinx.

 

Apparently for a while this was the place to spend time if you were a mystic.

 

One of the many draw bridges in the city.

 

 

One of the many man made canals. Depending on the guide it was designed to be similar to either Amsterdam or Venice. Flip a coin.

[Emperor Norton]

Still having time to kill before our first "must be" stop we went to palace square where it was surprisingly uncrowded.

 

There were a couple of Star Wars fans (I think they were reenacting a lightsaber duel)

 

The angel that protects the city.

 

 

The Winter Palace aka Hermitage

 

[Emperor Norton]

Having yet more time to kill we slowly made our way to Nevsky Prospekt. I think we'd just missed some kind of flower/art show.

 

 

They had a nice pedestrian walkway running right down the middle of the street.

 

There was a lot of artwork featuring horses

 

 

[Emperor Norton]

This poor ship lost its way and ended up in a mall.

 

Somehow I don't think this place catered to locals.

 

 

The backside of Kazan cathedral.

 

 

The old Singer Sewing Machine company building

[Emperor Norton]

Now there's something you don't see every day (even in Russia) or They don't make them like that anymore are both appropriate for this car.

 

Eventually it was time to visit the side of the Hermitage to catch a hydrofoil to Peterhof.

 

[YOUTUBE]Zh1ETg1EsRE[/YOUTUBE]

[flossie009]

We are really enjoying this thread.

Fabulous photos, and video, in what seems to be good weather in St Petersburg :cool:

A few years ago you would probably have been locked up, or worse, for taking photos of the submarines :eek:

[Emperor Norton]

I don't know if the subs were being repaired or scrapped but they seemed to be missing their periscopes and antenna. I'm very happy the weather cooperated. The last time I was there the weather was perfect. Except for Peterhof. When we were in the gardens. The rain cover I had for may camera didn't work and the camera shorted out. Thankfully after the camera dried the only loss were the pictures I wasn't able to take.

 

The hydrofoil dropped us at the far end of the pier (like all my flights get into the point furthest from) and it was a little walk to the crowded ticket booths. The guide picked up our tickets and we wandered the gardens while waiting for the fountains to be turned on.

 

 

The city (aside from the Gaz Prom appendage) looks relatively flat from a distance.

 

Some of the periphery fountains were already running.

 

 

 

I think those are supposed to be musical notes

[Emperor Norton]

Apparently Peter the Great was a joker and liked to get his guests wet. The guide claimed this particular fountain was pressure activated (eg: you step on it and it squirts).

 

It was pressure activated all right. By the pressure this guy applied to a switch.

 

 

Peter the Great. The area around the statue was littered with coins. It seems that you get good luck if you manage to toss a coin into the backside of his boot.

 

This was another "pressure activated" fountain. It was surrounded by the faux pressure plates. There were booths hidden on either side with watchers who would turn the water on/off. The guide tried to get us to go around the far side.

 

[Emperor Norton]

It seems previous victims wanted to see others share their fate.

 

 

 

This one was rather straight forward. It seems some people came prepared.

 

[Emperor Norton]

 

Here there be dragons

 

 

 

 

The wind turned this into a water hazard.

[Emperor Norton]

The water seemed to be following me.

 

Big. But boring (in comparison).

 

The "main" fountains

 

 

For those wanting to cool down they did offer a splash zone.

 

[Emperor Norton]

 

 

 

 

 

[Emperor Norton]

 

Memorial to the Daughter of Nicholas I, Alexandra Nikolaevna who died of TB when she was 19.

 

A video of the fountains and gardens

[YOUTUBE]gBc8liLaZTE[/YOUTUBE]

[Emperor Norton]

After Peterhof we headed back towards St. Petersburg. We stopped at a WW2 (Great Patriotic War)memorial with a T34 tank and a bunker. The site was supposed to show where the German advance was stopped.

 

 

 

 

[Emperor Norton]

Our next stops were a few years after the end of WW2 and during the cold war. We saw a few Soviet era metro stations (we had a choice, modern or Soviet and I opted for the Soviet version assuming the modern would look like any other subway).

 

Interesting artwork and clean. Something you'd never see in NYC or SF.

 

 

 

Column types: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Communist.

 

[Emperor Norton]

 

 

 

 

 

[YOUTUBE]0lPJVxB-voI[/YOUTUBE]

[Emperor Norton]

 

 

Our next stop was just to admire the scenery in the Seven bridges area.

 

 

 

[Emperor Norton]

St. Nicholas Cathedral

 

 

The skies are turning ugly over Peter and Paul Fortress

 

[Emperor Norton]

Sometimes there are no words.

[Mudhen]

Photos and videos are just fabulous! Thank you so much for posting them!

[Got2Cruise]

Your photographs and videos make my day. Thank you for posting.

[Emperor Norton]

Photos and videos are just fabulous! Thank you so much for posting them!

 

Your photographs and videos make my day. Thank you for posting.

 

Thank you and you're welcome.:cool:

[Emperor Norton]

Along the way to Peter and Paul fortress we passed columns that were setup in the style of Roman victors (the Romans seem to have liked to decorate their columns with the bows of captured ships).

 

Inside the fortress

 

 

 

 

A series of signs showing the high water level at various points in the fortresses history