Living in Putin's Backyard ~ Our Adventures in Mother Russia: St. Petersburg, Russia ~ Hermitage / Winter Palace

So... The one city that I was over the moon excited for and had such high expectations for had let me down. I would like to think that had I visited this city before Moscow, my opinions might have been different but who knows.

We left the kids on the ship in the skids club and took to St. Petersburg on our own. We had two days here so we decided to give the kids a break from the walking and churches :-)

I should have known the day would go south when we had issues with our visa's in passport control. I was asked point blank if my visa was a fake. The agent could not grasp that an American would willingly be in Yuzhno I guess. He kept asking why I was there and what I was doing. Meanwhile, Will is in the booth on the other side going through the same hassle. Except, his agent didn't like the "I work there" story because she basically claimed he was lying stating he looked Military so he must be. Talk about sweating bullets.... Good thing we didn't have the kids with us because that would have added so much more stress after a few different people coming and checking the Visa over and over again we got through. Apparently our Visa for Yuzhno is not an open visa and only allows us to be there. Not sure how much I believe that because you can only have one Russian Visa at a time. We are on a work visa and therefore can not obtain a tourist visa. I could be wrong but I thought a work visa held more weight than a tourist visa?

Oh well, we got in. Time to explore before they say we can be here!!! First stop was the Hermitage Museum / Winter Palace. The weather was horrible as well so that also added to the miserable state of being. The architecture was beautiful but all the buildings looked the same. Random buildings were just as elaborate looking as the palace. Everything was painted in different hues of pastel greens, blues, yellows, and pinks.

Don't get me wrong it is a gorgeous building and its not everyday anyone can say they have been to the Czar's Winter Palace - They were setting up for some strange rollerblading race and celebration of some sort so Alexander Square was packed with trucks setting up stages and fences. Really put a damper on my grand picture taking....