January 7th NCL Star cruise to Antarctica , Argentina and Chile with a 10 day stay photo travelogue

[scubacruiserx2]

  Rembrandt was one of my favorite painters and we were entering a large room of his paintings including one of my favorite Bible stories and my favorite painting , The return of the Prodigal Son .

 

 

 

 

 

Depicting the moment of the prodigal son's return to his father in the Biblical parable, it is a renowned work described by art historian Kenneth Clark as "a picture which those who have seen the original in St. Petersburg may be forgiven for claiming as the greatest picture ever painted".^[2]

 

 ^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Return_of_the_Prodigal_Son_(Rembrandt)}

[scubacruiserx2]

Also in the Rembrandt collection was the Sacrifice of  Isaac

 

 

Christ healing the sick

 

 

David and Jonathan

 

 

Descent from the cross

 

 

 

Christ and the Samaritan Woman

 

 

Photos from the hermitagemuseum.com

Edited April 5 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

  One of the most exciting things that we did was a helicopter flight aboard a medium size Mil 8 helicopter that flies over Saint Petersburg . I still remember when President Khrushchev visited the US in 1959 and his Kitchen debate with the Vice President Richard Nixon . 

 

 

During an official visit to the United States in September 1959 Nikita Khrushchev took a flight in the S-58 presidential helicopter for the first time and was reportedly extremely impressed.^[8][9] Upon Khrushchev's return he orders the creation of a similar helicopter and wishes it be ready in time for the return visit of the American president to save face.^[10] A luxury version of the Mi-4 was quickly created and Khrushchev took an inspection flight where Mikhail Mil proposed that his helicopter in development was more suitable for this role. However, it would be necessary to have a second engine for reliability. This gave Mikhail Mil the power under the orders of Khrushchev to build the original two-engined helicopter which would need purpose built turbine engines created for the first time in Soviet history, rather than those adapted from fixed wing aircraft (as in Mi-6 and the first prototype V-8) and an entirely new main rotor gear box that would be designed in-house for the first time. In May 1960 the order is given for Mikhail Mil to create his twin engine helicopter. The Sergei Isotov Design Bureau accepted the task of creating the engines.

 

 

Mi-8 of Baltic Airlines taking off at Peter and Paul Fortress in Saint Petersburg

 

 https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Mil_Mi-8

 

 Here's our videos of the start up and the flight .

 

The start up 

 

 

 

The Flight , soaring over the Rostral Columns and circling the Peter and Paul Fortress before coming in for a landing at the Peter and Paul Fortress to the sound of The Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky .

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 Awake at 0400 and we hope to shoot a bird ( or 2 ) about an hour away from where we live . It's about 55 F ( 12.7 C ) and expected to reach 80 F ( 26.6 C ) at 1600 today .

[scubacruiserx2]

  Our guide said that he had a surprise for us as we headed South toward the airport . It  was the Feodorovskaya Icon Cathedral near Catherine's Palace .

 

 

 

 

 

It was said to be the last Czar's favorite  church . They would not allow us to photograph the inside while they were restoring it but here's a photo from the story link below .

 

 

 

https://tsarnicholas.org/2023/07/14/the-restoration-of-nicholas-iis-favourite-church-at-tsarskoye-selo/

[scubacruiserx2]

  We did go to Catherine's Palace on our visit to the Baltic cruise on the NCL Dream in 2006 . The place was packed with people in spite of us bypassing the huge line waiting to get in by using a private guide .

 

 

 

Everybody had to wear booties over their shoes to protect the beautiful floor .

 

 

 

Our guide on our first trip .

 

 

 

 Their were no such lines in May when we stayed in Saint Petersburg . Many people think that the palace was made by Catherine the Great . It was a gift from Peter the Great to his second wife Catherine the I , a Polish woman who changed her name . When the Germans forces retreated during WWII after the siege of Leningrad , they had looted the palace and the Amber Room and burned the palace , thus what you see is a reconstruction .

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Palace

 

 The gates

 

 

The palace 

 

 

There were delft tile heaters in which a small fire was built and they radiated heat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catherine the Great

 

 

The last Tzar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra

 

 

 

In the gardens

 

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 Most of what we wanted to see in Saint Petersburg in a very small area close to where we stayed . A lot of things are free like the Summer Gardens where you will always see pretty brides when the weather is nice .

 

 

 

 

 

A Russian train in the garden

 

 

 

We saw the same bride while we were waiting for the bus at the rear of the garden . You can see their car with 2 wedding rings on the hood . The wedding photographer was setting up to take a photo that was on the cover of a free tourist brochure  which showed a single bride on the bench waving to get the bus to stop . They were duplicating the shot on the same bench . When she saw me with my small camera zoomed in she gave me " the pose " .

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 My favorite wedding photo was in the Moscow mall called GUM ( pronounced Goom ) . The bride is the rope in a tug of war while the groom is being hung by the Mother in Law .

 

 

 

There's no doubt that they will have a Mother in Law Cake which has fake poison mushrooms on it .

 

 

 

A real poisonous mushroom that we saw in the woods when we went to a Dacha

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUM_(department_store)

[scubacruiserx2]

 The day that we went to the Summer Garden was Friday May 8th , 2009 . After lunch I was tired so I took a firefighter's power nap . When I woke up Pat told me " There are tanks around our building ".

I must have really been asleep if I didn't hear the tanks . As I looked out of the windows I didn't see any tanks and so after a cup of tea we grabbed our cameras and went to investigate .

 May 9th is a BIG deal in Russia , it's the 2nd most important day after New Years Day . It's called Victory Day of the Great Patriotic War ( WW II ) and is celebrated much like the 4th of July here only on a grander scale . More civilians died in Saint Petersburg than the worst war in our history , the Civil War ( 1 million people ) through starvation and bombardment in the 900 day Siege of Leningrad ( St. Petersburg ) . People became so hungry that they began to eat each others pets and turned to cannibalism in the winters . What we saw was military trucks that were staged for the parade the next day . Photos after church today the next time .

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Leningrad

Edited April 7 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 This map shows where we stayed ( Apartment Konyushennom in pink ) and where we crossed the River Moyka at the bridge and walked to the Pushka Inn ( also in pink ) . We took photos from across the river to see more of the line up .

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@59.9413475,30.322475,18.23z?entry=ttu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The last photo is of a Katyusha multiple rocket launcher much feared by the German troops .

 

German troops coined the nickname "Stalin's organ" (Stalinorgel), after Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, comparing the visual resemblance of the launch array to a pipe organ, and the sound of the weapon's rocket motors, a distinctive howling sound which terrified the German troops,^[7] adding a psychological warfare aspect to their use .

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyusha_rocket_launcher#Variants

 

 

 

Our video clip of the staged military equipment for the Victory Day Parade

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

  Victory Day signs and decorations were found all over the city . Many people have forgotten that the Russians  ( USSR ) were our allies in WWII with Germany .

 

 

 

And on the way to Catherine's Palace at the Narvskaya Metro Victory Arch

 

 

The Monument to the Heroic Defenders traffic circle on the way to Catherine's Palace

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Palace Square

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 On Victory Day we walked down to Palace Square to try to see the parade but it was packed .

 

 

 

 

We went down to the Neva river which was less crowded and the Rostral Column were lit - only on national holidays .

 

 

 

There were also some Naval ships on the Neva River

 

 

 

 

 

We also went to the Peter and Paul Fortress

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the Artillery Museum which was free on national holidays to everyone 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch was at The Other Place owned by an American married to a Russian . Doug's daughter was there and a WW II Veteran who we bought a drink .

 

 

 

 

 

 On the previous evening we saw this carriage at a rainy Palace Square 

 

 

 

 

 

And we saw it a dinner at the pie shop near where we stayed

 

 

 

A lot of people on cruises would grab and go here but because we were staying at dinner time it was uncrowded . We usually had Salmon , mushrooms or this one if they had it Rabbit .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And after dark there were fireworks over the Neva River

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 8 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

  The next evening we had concert tickets to see Blackmore's night in concert . 

Richie Blackmore and Deep Purple were one of my favorite bands growing up and they were also one of President Medvedev favorite bands . When Richie met his wife , Candace Night , the band was formed with Candice on vocals and Richie playing acoustic guitar, hurdy gurdy, mandola, mandolin, nyckelharpa, and electric guitar  . Wikipedia

 When we got to the concert , I noticed men in suits wearing hearing aids and talking to their coat sleeves . I told Pat that the President may be at the concert . We were allowed to photograph and video the first band . But in about 10 seconds after videoing Blackmore's Night one of the coated men shined a bright flashlight into my face and yelled at me in Russian ! So this is all we got .

 

 

 

 

 

 We don't know if the President was at the concert but Pat did point out to me that a red Laser was pointed on the back of peoples heads when they took photos , showing the coated men their next target .

[scubacruiserx2]

  On Monday we had a tour in the afternoon with DenRus who was the company that we used in 2006 when we went to Saint Petersburg on the NCL Dream . We liked that they had a phone number using our same area code so we could phone a local number and speak to their office in St. Pete . The tour was called Have lunch with a Russian Family . But Gennadiy had promised us a surprise in the morning . He told us a bit about the  Smolny Institute on the way there .

 

 

In 1917, Vladimir Lenin chose the building as Bolshevik headquarters immediately before and during the October Revolution. It was Lenin's residence for several months, until the national government was moved to the Moscow Kremlin in March 1918.^[3] After that, the Smolny became the headquarters of the local Communist Party apparat, effectively the city hall. In 1927, a monument to Lenin was erected in front of the building, designed by the sculptor Vasily Kozlov and the architects Vladimir Shchuko and Vladimir Gelfreikh. The Smolny Institute was also the site of Sergei Kirov's assassination in 1934.^[4]

After 1991, the Smolny was used as the seat of the city mayor (governor after 1996) and city administration of Saint Petersburg. Vladimir Putin worked there from 1991 to 1997 in the administration of Anatoly Sobchak.

Today, this historic building is the official residence of the governor of Saint Petersburg and also houses a museum dedicated to Lenin. Visitors to the museum can tour Lenin's office and living rooms and see the assembly hall where the victory of the October revolution was proclaimed in 1917.  Wikipedia

 

 What he didn't tell us was that he was a Colonel in the Russian Army and had retired to become the head of Security at Smolny Institute . We had to wait in a room while he got clearance and he walked us past Security and guards with AK -74 's into the building .

 

 

The Ball Room where Lenin spoke from a painting there

 

 

 

 

In Lenin's office

 

 

 

 We had the resident guide give us a tour of the office and artifacts while while Gennadiy translated . It was like stepping back in time to 1917 .

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 The Smolny Cathedral from a helicopter and then the ground

 

 

 

 

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/cathedrals/smolny-cathedral/

 

Busts of Marx and Engels in the garden of the Smolny Institute

 

 

 

The Communist Manifesto, originally the Manifesto of the Communist Party, is a political pamphlet written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London in 1848. Wikipedia

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 These are friends Yuri and Nellie who we met for lunch after our morning in Smolny . Behind them are a number of icons from their families used to have to hide buried so the Communists would not destroy or confiscate them .

 

 

 

 We found that we much more in common than our differences . Yuri is an artist who paints and makes porcelain objects like eggs seen over his shoulder and like Pat , was a swimmer in collage . Nellie was a scientist which I love especially Anatomy and Physiology and loves to cook . They introduced us to a friend of theirs who was an actress on the many stages in Saint Petersburg  .

 The meal was prepared by Nellie who refused to allow us to do dishes as their guests and Yuri was the toastmaster with wine for everybody and Vodka , usually for the men and always a a cold shot followed with a bite of food after the drink .

 

 

 

  We asked if we could return their hospitality by taking them out for dinner and we're glad that they chose Georgian Cuisine . The Georgian love of family and friends is one of the reasons why the supra (tablecloth) is so important in Georgia. Supra is offered spontaneously to relatives, friends or guests. Every supra has its tamada (toastmaster), who gives the toast and entertains the guests . Wikipedia

 

  Dinner was here

 

 

Khinkali you bite the dumpling and slurp the juice and meat

 

 

Adjarian Kachapuri - Cheese bread with egg and a pat of butter

 

 

 

 

 Nellie painted this bottle that sits on the mantle of the fireplace

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 10 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 There is so much to see and do in Saint Petersburg that we would not recommend going to Moscow if you are visiting on a cruise ship .

But we were staying there and we had an invitation from a couple that we had met on a cruise in South America . Anyone who knows Scubacruiserx2 , knows that we like Al Stewart . His song that we remember and listened to as we were traveling there is called Roads to Moscow . This is a video that we shot of him in the Royal Albert Hall a week after visiting Moscow . The Song is about the German invasion of Russian after the secret signing of a non aggression pact .

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov–Ribbentrop_Pact

 

 

 

Here's an explanation of the song and the lyrics . Al revealed that the song was based on the life of Russian  Nobel Prize winning writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn . 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roads_to_Moscow

 

All music and lyrics by Al Stewart 

 

They crossed over the border the hour before dawn
Moving in lines through the day
Most of our planes were destroyed on the ground where they lay
Waiting for orders we held in the wood
Word from the front never came
By evening the sound of the gunfire was miles away

I softly move through the shadows, slip away through the trees
Crossing their lines in the mist in the fields on our hands and our knees

And all that I ever
Was able to see
The fire in the air, glowing red
Silhouetting the smoke on the breeze

All summer they drove us back through the Ukraine
Smolensk and Vyazma soon fell
By Autumn we stood with our backs to the town of Orel
Closer and closer to Moscow they come
Riding the wind like a bell
General Guderian stands at the crest of the hill

Winter brought with it the rains , oceans of mud filled the roads
Gluing the tracks of their tanks to the ground, while the skies filled with snow

And all that I ever
Was able to see
The fire in the air, glowing red
Silhouetting the snow on the breeze

x4 - all thru bridge
In the footsteps of Napoleon, the shadow figures stagger through the winter
Falling back before the gates of Moscow, standing in the wings like an avenger
And far away behind their lines, the partisans are stirring in the forest
Coming unexpectedly upon their outpost, growing like a promise
You'll never know, you'll never know, which way to turn, which way to look you'll never see us
As we steal into the blackness of the night you'll never know, you'll never hear us

And evening sings in a voice of amber, the dawn is surely coming
The morning road leads to Stalingrad, and the sky is softly humming

Two broken tigers on fire in the night
Flicker their souls to the wind
We wait in the lines for the final approach to begin
It's been almost four years that I've carried a gun
At home, it will almost be spring
The flames of the tigers are lighting the road to Berlin

I quickly move through the ruins that bow to the ground
The old men and children they send out to face us, they can't slow us down

And all that I ever
Was able to see
The eyes of the city are opening
Now it's the end of a dream

x4 thru this section
I'm coming home, I'm coming home, now you can taste it in the wind the war is over
And I listen to the clicking of the train wheels as we roll across the border
And now they ask about the time that I was caught behind their lines and taken prisoner
They only held me for a day, a lucky break I say
They turn and listen closer
I'll never know, I'll never know, why I was taken from the line with all the others
To board a special train and journey deep into the heart of holy Russia

And it's cold and damp in the transit camp and the air is still and sullen
And the pale sun of October whispers the snow will soon be coming
And I wonder when, I'll be home again and the morning answers never
And the evening sighs and the steely, Russian skies go on,
Forever...

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 In order to get to Moscow we would be riding the Sapsan high speed train . It was quicker , cheaper and more convenient than flying and having to go thru 2 airports . We just took the Metro to the train station and showed our Passports when boarding the train as we had pre purchased the tickets online .

 

 

 

 The Sapsan , Russian for Peregrine Falcon , could fly us at 150 mph nonstop to Moscow in 3 hours and change . Since we were in First Class it included a meal .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 This is the Saint Petersburg Metro map that we are familiar with and we rode to the train station with 5 lines .

 

 

 And this is the Moscow Metro map with 15 lines . We hired a guide from Tours by Locals to meet us at the train station and the first thing that we saw was some of the Metro Stations . Maps from Wikipedia

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 A map of Moscow from above 

 

 

 

Komsomolskaya Station is one of the busiest is near 3 rail stations including Leningrad ( Saint Petersburg )  It has mosaics of victories on the ceilings .

 

 

 

1292 Alexander Nevsky leading Russian orthodox vs Roman Catholics

 

 

1612 Minin and Pozharsky vs Poland attacking Moscow . Their statute is in front of Saint Basil's Cathedral in Red Square

 

 

 

1945 Soviet Union troops at the Reichstag building in Berlin

 

 

 Bust of Lenin under the Coat of Arms of the Soviet Union

 

Edited April 12 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 The Kiyevskaya Station shows mosaics of life in the Ukraine and is near to the train station to the Ukraine .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All of the photos are ours except the panel at the end of the hall from Wikipedia

[scubacruiserx2]

  We popped up from the Moscow Metro like 3 groundhogs on February 2nd . We were there in time for the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier near the Kremlin wall .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The video

 

 

 

It reminded me of when I was on a drill team in the Navy in 1973 . But our team carried the 50 state's flags and I carried a sword .

Edited April 13 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is in the Alexander Garden 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Garden

 

 In the upper part of the garden is a grotto using rocks from when Napolean invaded Moscow and the Russians set fire to Moscow in a Scorched Earth policy that they also did in WW II when Germany invaded . When the French Grande Armee invaded Russia they had 

 685,000 men that constituted the initial invasion force . But only 93,000 survived to leave Russia .

 

 

In front of the Grotto is a obelisk celebrating 300 years of the Romanov rule .

 

 

 

Lunch was at a Ukrainian place

 

 

Edited April 13 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 We were at # 37 on this  map of the Kremlin so we decided to walk to the right of this map and see Red Square .

 

 

 

  Nothing says Moscow more than Red square and nothing says Red Square than Saint Basil's Cathedral . A Babushka sweeping the street . The stands were for the Victory Day Parade in Red Square .

 

 

The Red building on the right is where Lenin is entombed and you can see his preserved body , creepy to us but there was a big line to see him . The roof of the tomb is where the President and other high ranking people watch the parade .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minin and Pozharsky statue outside 

 

 

While it is beautiful outside it's rather plain on the inside .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It had began to rain and we took this photo from the front looking back across Red Square with some places annotated in black if you enlarge the photo by clicking on it .

 

 

Edited April 14 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 What we see from left to right in the last photo is :

The Kremlin ( Fortress in a city) 

 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kremlin

 

 Lenin's Mausoleum

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenin's_Mausoleum

 

 We found this photo on line even though photography is forbidden

 

 

Taking photos of Lenin's body isn't permitted. This rare shot shows the revolutionary leader in October 1991. 

AFP/AFP/AFP/Getty Images

 

 The State Historical Museum is the large red building which we would visit later that evening with our cruise friends from Moscow 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Historical_Museum

 

 The Resurrection Gate and Chapel

 

Destroyed in 1931 by the Soviet regime, the Gate and the Chapel were rebuilt in the 1990s.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iberian_Gate_and_Chapel

 

 And GUM Department store which we visited next is 800 ' long .

 

GUM (Russian: ГУМ, pronounced [gum], an abbreviation of Russian: Главный универсальный магазин, romanized: Glavnyy universalnyy magazin, lit. 'Main Universal Store')

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUM_(department_store)