After the Winter Palace we just started walking around the city hitting all the spots I had blocked off. First church we went to was the Kazan Cathedral. Man on man was this a beauty!!! Ya never know just what your going to get when viewing churches in Russia. So different from each other. This looks more like a government building to me than a cathedral.
This is not a museum. It is very much a functioning church that people attend mass in. There was a line for those to light a candle and pay homage to something. I am not sure what it was. A ritual of some sort.
The cathedral that rivals St. Basil's in Moscow... The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. This church was built on the site that Emperor Alexander II was murdered in 1881.
One of several rivers running through the city
St. Isaac's Cathedral ~ 4th largest Cathedral in the word and Worlds largest orthodox basilica
Government building
And now folks, we come to the $20 bathroom break. Truthfully by this point we had been walking for 5 days straight averaging between 7 and 9 miles a day. Will and I were feeling it, we were exhausted, our feet hurt, we were complaining :-) , and let us not forget that I am 6 months pregnant. We stopped at various benches just so we could let our feet rest. Good thing we didn't have the kids!!! Man, if we were in this rough of shape there is no telling what kind of creatures they would have been!!
So... Being 6 months pregnant, my bladder has a mind of it's own, with no warning of "I need to go to the bathroom". It just comes upon me like a wave and I need a bathroom within a few minutes otherwise... bad news bears friends!
We had gone back and fourth on visiting the Yusupov Palace but were not sure how far it was in relation to things. So we walked, and walked, and walked some more. Kinda felt like the first movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. We got to the outside of the palace pictured above and I was less than impressed. The Subway we ate lunch in was in a fancier building than this!
A little back story on this place.... The reason we were so interested in this place is because it was advertised as "Come visit the historic building where Rasputin was murdered". Interesting and Exciting!!! Lets go.
The Yusupov's were lavishly wealthy Russian nobles said to be as wealthy as the Czar. For being that wealthy I was expecting a bit more of a grand estate. Nope.... Not quite.
Well, we got there and as stated, we were less than impressed with the outside so going in was not as appealing. All of a sudden. Connor kicks me and BAM... I GOT TO GO POTTY!!!! Was I going to make it back to the cruise ship? NOPE!! Did I want to walk around St. Petersburg for a bathroom? NOPE! Only option was to go in. Expensive little museum. All this for a bathroom...
We buy tickets, go in, use the bathroom, and I feel like a brand new person. Here is where trouble and drama strike... Nothing can ever be easy for us. EVER....
We "try" and make our way up these gorgeous stairs pictured below when this grouchy old Russian lady tells us to stop and scolds us in Russian. We tell her we are not with the tour that she is talking to and we again tried to walk up the stairs. Again, she yells at us and we try and find someone who speaks English because we have no clue why we are being stopped. Come to find out they are telling Will he can not enter the museum with his backpack but I can enter with my purse that is big enough to smuggle a small child out of the country in. Great logic guys, great logic! Naturally Will is angry, as he should be. We put the bag away in the unsecured area and again try and get up the stairs. We made is past the witch lady to only be stopped by someone else. Good grief guys! Can't we visit your museum without being bothered! We wanted to just go about out business so we entered a room and a lady runs up to us demanding to see out tickets. Then tells us we need a headset in English. We explain we do not want one and just want to walk through the room. Not an option I guess. WE ARE REQUIRED TO WEAR ONE. Guess where we had to go? Back down the stairs to the witch lady who again verifies our ticket. We get headsets, verify once more with the keeper of the stairs and FINALLY.... We can walk through this museum.
Gorgeous stairs! I need these in my house. I was actually happy we decided to enter. I thought this palace was much prettier than the Winter Palace. Listening to the rooms was actually interesting as well.
"Blue" Room ~ Actually what it was called
"Red" Room
Here we are again with Russian Malachite
"Green" Room
So this place had something that the Czar's palace did not have. It's own theater. MAN.... This was GORGEOUS!!
How about having this in your house!!!
Music Room
Library and Billiard Room
This room was really interesting. The entire room was a Mosaic inspired by the Middle East
Parlor Room and Library
Courtyard of the Palace. So... after listening to each room in its entirety, do you think we got the history of what Felix Yusupov did to Grigori Rasputin? NOT A SINGLE MENTION!!!! UGH!!! Once more.. disappointed. Oh well... Time to head back to the boat and collect our children.
Anyone want to stay at the Four Seasons St. Petersburg? Looks fabulous!!!
Admiralty Building. We couldn't go in this building but it was cool to see. It used to be the headquarters for the Imperial Navy and now houses the Russian Naval Headquarters.
Here is that crazy Roller blade / Bike / Stroller race. It kicked off just as we were headed back to the Winter Palace to catch out cab back to the pier.
Good Bye Hermitage. It's been fun!
Now the fun begins again. Remember how much trouble we had on the way in through passport control. Yep... Just as much trouble getting out! I could not believe it! It took more people to check the validity of our Visa's. I mean, at this point, we are already in the city, just let us out.
30 minutes later, Will and I are through. Yep... Not talking the kids through that hassle. I bet we'd get hung up on some human trafficking charges for having 3 children with Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Visa's... They clearly can't be our kids :-)
Tomorrow... We venture out with an organized tour!
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