Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Waiting Day 8 - Peter and Paul Fortress & Vasilevskiy Island

This was our last full day in St Petersburg so we decided to back it with all the activities we had left. We walked over to Vasilevskiy island to see the sites there. We saw the Sphinxes, St Andrew's Cathedral, Rostral Columns and Menshikov Palace. We were a bit disappointed when going into St Andrew's as their was only a tiny closet sized room open to the public today. There must have been a special service going on.









For the afternoon we went to visit Peter and Paul Fortress. It was a long walk and once we got on the island we couldn't figure out how to get into the fortress. We ended up taking the long route which took us through the beach area. We were really surprised to turn the corner and find a large number of sunbathers leaning against the wall. Please see above pictures and notice that Mom and I are still in winter jackets and then see picture below.


Seriously...how do they handle the cold and, yes, that is snow on the ground. Mom wanted to join them but I told her we were in too big of a hurry. Just kidding. :-)

We finally made it into the fortress and grabbed tickets and audio guides. We rushed over to Peter and Paul Cathedral. This is where many of the Russian Tsars are buried. This is also the place where the last Romanov family is buried.





Unfortunately, Mom and I lost each other at this point and spent the next hour looking for each other. In all the craziness I dropped my ticket so that was the end of my touring. Mom was able to visit the prison system while I listened to the audio guide. On the upside, I did get to sit and pet a Russian cat. We walked around the fortress, took some pictures and then it was closing time.


We did take a short detour on the way home to peak at Peter The Great's cabin. Too late to go in but we got a peak at the outside and some pics with the lions that guard it.





As a finish to a wonderful eight days we went to eat a nice meal at Tandori Nights, a local Indian restaurant. The food was great and we enjoyed it very much.






Tomorrow we head back to Kemerovo as it is almost time to pick up the babies.

Lindsey

Location:St. Petersburg, Russia

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