mixed bag!

This guy caught us off guard. We had just walked through Alexander's palace and saw these "priceless" pictures hanging on a wall. As we left the same palace, we saw this fella (forever known as Skippy), taking them out and loading them into this vehicle. No guards, no bubble wrap, no machine guns. Just Skippy in his 1995 who knows what brand of van. (We knew he worked for the museum, so at least nothing was getting stolen.) Makes me wonder if they will find the Fabrege egg I found in coat room?

The happy travelers in front of Catherine's palace. Wonder if Hill picked the scarf to match the place?

One stop we wanted to make was to find the exact Apt building where Maria (Jordan's Fiance, not our tour guide!) lived before she and her folks moved from St Petersburg to the U.S. As it turned out, the place was no more than 10 minutes off the beaten path from our road trip to the palace. We were able to take a lot photos for Maria and her family and it was so remarkable that we found it with so much ease. Karma!

This is one of the most photographed sites in all of St. Petersburg. As such, we have 754 pictures of it. It's the Church of Spilled Blood, (formal name might be Church of the Resurrection). It was built to honor one of the fallen Tsars. It is absolutely one of the most unusual and beautiful buildings we have ever seen. Hillary had been dreaming about seeing this church for years. The colored tops are actually made from tile. And the person who created the tile tops, was eventually commissioned to do similar work in new subway stops in Moscow after the revolution. He did so, but was paid little, moved back to St. Petersburg and died of starvation during the infamous Seige of St Petersburg (the city was shut off from the "world" for almost 900 days by Germans during WWII). What a tragic ending, given the beauty, skill and creativity this man left for us all to see. This will go down as one of the most fabulous buildings I will ever see in life.

Alexander's Palace.

On the same property as Catherine's Palace was Alexander's Palace. While the outside looks fancy, this was a VERY understated palace and one that for us held some "emotional" interest. This was the palace that the last Tsar of Russia and his family lived, before he abdicated the crown, was swept away to Siberia and all were executed. The Tsar, of course, was Nicolas II. Consensus was he didn't really want to be Tsar, was perceived as a weak leader, but was in line after his father died. He was more interested in his family, loved his 5 children, yet took over the crown during one of the most turbulent times in Russian history, the Russian Revolution during the early 1900"s. Rather than living in St Petersburg, he moved his family to this "palace" in 1905, and ruled from it.


The palace was so interesting in that we could tour the rooms where they actually lived from 1905-1917 before they were kidnapped. As mentioned, the rooms were very understated. Each showed actual photos of the room, then featured much of their actual furniture. This picture shows a sitting room and how they had it set up.

Yes, its authentic. Not sure who or where it was killed, but it belonged to the Tsar's family in one of their sitting rooms. Frankly, I was kind of creeped out by it. Fear that I would trip over it's head in the middle of the night. Or it might leap onto my bed. And it needed its teeth brushed.

If you look closely, you will see part of a picture of Tsar Nicolas II's family. It's a famous photo that shows them all, to include Alexi, their son, who was the hemopheliac, and Anastasia, the daughter who rumor had it had actually survived the family execution. (Not true...her bones were found). Anyway, these outfits where the originals from the picture. Very interesting moment to see the picture AND the clothes. Wanted to leave this exhibit quickly, though.

Catherine's Palace Continued

Earlier I mentioned that we had the best tour guide in life. Well, meet Maria. She is from St. Petersburg and not only was she kind of adorable to be around, she knew more about Russian History that we ever could have imagined. And every decade, revolution, change, etc. This picture is Lori, Hillary, Maria outside of Catherine's Palace. There's a really great story about that small Turkish mosque behind us, but for the life of me, I do not remember it. At all.

This was an amazing display right in the palace. It was Peter the Great's Chess Set. Yep. Right here, in bold red and white. Don't know what it's made of but if you can zoom in on the pieces, they are all patterned after Chinese figures.

I only put this picture in for one reason. It looks like a mirror reflecting back an image of doorways. And kind of ad infinatum. Actually, we are looking through a door to other doors. And more doors. And then a few more doors. All guilded. This is along just one hall of the palace. Remember, too. This place was used about 2-3 nights per year.

Remember how I mentioned previously that the palace had been virtually destroyed during WWII? In the basement of the palace they had lots of pictures that showed before and after shots of rooms destroyed. The room to the left which held this bomb has already been restored. Remarkable. Of note, for those Dr. Strangelove fans, I did not see Slim Pickens anywhere in the room:)

Catherine the Great's Palace

This was a GREAT day! Father's Day spent with one of finest Russian Tour Guides in one of the more remarkable places in the world, a village called Tsarko Selo. This is where Catherine the Great's palace is located, as well as Alexander's Palace. More on Alexandar's Palace later. These gates are at one of the formal entries into Catherine's Palace. It's a beautiful blue color with Terra Cotta accents. (It used to be gold guilded accents on the outside of the building, but stories suggest that one time, Catherine was entering the palace and thought it was on fire. It was actually the sun setting and reflecting off the gold. It scared her so much that she had the gold changed to terra cotta. The real story....she was running out of money to continue to replace gold. I like the sun story better:)

This is the view as we walked through the gates. What's stunning about this place is this view is only about 1/3 of the palace. If you look carefully, you can see the terra cotta accents (they look brown) on the outside. Again, just like home...

This was the ball room in the palace. If my memory is correct, Empress Elizabeth, who was actually the catalyst in the first creation of the place, wanted this to be the most grand palace in the world. She actually went to Versaille and after seeing their stunning ball room, decided her's should be the same, only 2x's as large. This room is fully guilded, the floor has at least 9 types of wood. What's also interesting is that is was destroyed by the Nazi's in WWII. They took this palace as one of their HQ and were having a Christmas party in the ball room. The allies didn't like it so they attacked. We saw pictures of this room after the bombing. There was no ceiling and few walls. You can also see a HUGE piano at the back. It belongs to Elton John...a 10 ft Steinway. He plays concerts for charity every 3-4 months in this very room. No, I didn't try out the piano, but geez, did I want to.

At first, we weren't going to show this picture, but again, it's the story that makes it relevant. You see 6 plates. I can't remember how old they are, but surely before the Russian Revolution. The average set of dishes for the Palace numbered over 5000. And they obviously had several sets. These 6 are all that's left. Most were broken or stolen either during the revolution or when the Nazi's took over the Palace.

Peterhof Continued

This is a shot of Lori and Hillary in front of what looks like a tree. And a very tall rose bud. Note the woman walking across what appears to be large rocks underneath a tree. The rose bush and tree are actually these gravity fed fountains that shoot out water. As for the woman, who the heck knows what she is doing. Apparently, looking for her socks. Or wait....

Ok, now the story about what they call the trick fountains. The architects (from way back when), designed trick fountains. Here's how they work. When a person steps on a certain rock or series of rocks, water shoots from unexpected places and gets people who least expect it very wet. Imagine the surprise of guests who don't expect the soaking. That obviously wouldn't apply to these youngsters, however, who not only want to get wet, but obviously have read the operating instructions on which rocks to push:) I am thinking grandma in the forefront is not too happy about this situation (and she was trying to pull them out).

...and when you least expect it....as we were walking back toward the boat ticket booth, we came upon this group of "elders" who clearly came out to party at the Peterhof. What is hard to see in this picture is the 3/4 empty bottle of vodka in the hands of the woman in the black shirt. Some groups have tour guides. This one obviously had a drinking guide. I raised my glass to them, however, because they were all laughing and having a great time.

You have got to be kidding. 40 miles from St Petersburg and the wedding party is still following us around? As for the boat ride, we got into line with about 400 of our favorite friends and waited and waited and waited. A sign came up that said the last boat would be leaving at 5:30. It was 5:15. But magically, another ticket window opened up and I ran to it for tickets. I felt like a refugee trying to flee the dictator who had just taken over the country. "Let me out!". But we all made it back in good shape....on another speed boat...with curtains.

Off to the Peterhof

Today we are headed to the Peterhof Palace. Do you get the idea that there are lots of palaces in Russia? We found out that one aristocrat had 56 of them?! The Peterhof is located on the Gulf of Finland on land from Peter the Great. I'll dispense with the history for now. It's more important to know how we got there. By speed boat. This picture is from inside the speed boat. Have you ever been in a speed boat with curtains? Us either. We got a late start this day and had to expedite our travel time. So we took the 30 minute boat vs very confusing lines of trains and taxis. Only downside was that they couldn't guarantee us a way back. This was almost 40 miles from SP?! I'll hold you in suspense for the ending....

The Peterhof is beautiful. A huge palace of course, but the real artistry of this property is the fountains and outdoor gardens. 1500 acres of them! This shot is looking toward the mansion from one of the bazillion fountains.

This may be one of our favorite pictures from St Petersburg. It accurately captures the beauty and scale of this scene from real life. This is looking down toward the Gulf from the mansion. It also resembles my view of our backyard when the sprinklers are running. What's fascinating about these fountains is they are all gravitationally fed. No pumps. Can you imagine the water pressure needed to reach these heights!?



And let's not forget the back of this small place. I am at least 2 football fields back from this palace during this shot. We didn't go inside the Peterhof since we had to get to the "we can't guarantee you a boat ride back" ticket stands.

Before we move to our next tourist location, here are a set of pics that speak to I don't know what. This first one we found very ironic. Note the Christ-like figure the guy is standing in front of. Now note the bottle next to his right foot. I watched him for a bit. He would pray. Then he would look at Christ. Then take a drink. Then start the process again. I believe at this point, he is either waiting for some holy reaction or thinking of his next request...

Across the street from the church above is this HUGE souvenir bazaar. They sell everything one would ever hope to buy in Russia. And they are dutifully aggressive about wanting you to buy. One thing you see everywhere in St Petersburg are matryoshka's (stacking dolls). About a million of them. But one thing we didn't think we would see were stacking dolls painted like Big Ten Mascots. Kind of freaked us out. And of course they sell fur hats. I told Hillary that if she would don one, I would start singing Somewhere My Love from Dr Zhivago. (While she removed it before I could warm up my vocal cords, truth is she's been talking about getting one of these since the start of our trip. We fully expect to be bringing one back on the plane. In summer. To Chicago.)












The second night we ate at this wonderful outdoor cafe. Rather than walk, we opted for a cab. We were warned that taxis in SP can be questionable. So our hotel flagged one down. Scooter (hotel guy) stopped what appeared to be a random car (no taxi sign, no meter, some windows missing) to take us. He ensured us skippy (cab driver) would get us to the restaurant. We flew off with radio blasting. Good news. We made it. Bad news. Skippy let us off about a mile from the restaurant. Took me 3 minutes to order vodka. Shared it with Hillary who also informed me that sipping vodka was a bit foreign to her. (vs what....?)

St Isaacs and the BIG Bronze Statue

Welcome to St Petersburg's version of any great city park. This is located not far from the Winter Palace. It was a beautiful day and there were loads of couples just hanging out enjoying the sun. My suspicion is that with the harsh cold winters, the locals flock outdoors to enjoy every ounce of sun they can grab.

Here are two references to great leaders and a guy from Chicago. This is a Statue called the Bronze Horseman, located in the park I referenced to above. It took 12 years to create and was commissioned by Catherine the Great in honor of Peter the Great. With Jack the not so great right up front. The stone base alone is one piece of granite that weighs more than 1600 tons. What I liked about this was the simplicity of the engraving. "To Peter I from Catherine II". It's also known that newlyweds pose in front of this statue for good luck. That is a concept that I cannot understand.

This is St. Isaac's Cathedral. About 2 blocks south of the Bronze Horseman. Note the size of this church vs the bus you can see in the lower right corner. It was built on the site where Peter the Great was married. Maybe that explains the reason the newlyweds get pictures taken in front of the Horseman....




Ok, here's proof that we are not lying about the newlyweds. If we saw 2, we saw a hundred of them. And they were walking through the streets of downtown St Petersburg, the grounds at the Peteroff Palace...it was the invasion of the newlyweds. We eventually found out that it's very common for them to come to these locations with their entire wedding parties for pictures and partying. They do this sometimes a week(s) after the wedding. I have to hand it to them, what a great place to parade and get pictures taken. Point of reference, I think the two on the right are party crashers...

Hermitage

We don't have that many pictures inside the Hermitage. They wanted an extra 200 rubles to take pictures (about $6 that I could better invest in pastries). But I did sneak this room in. It's remarkable...all walls are guilded and the floor is hand carved with several different types of woods. Just like home

And speaking of Tsars and Tsarina's, here are two of my favorites! Taken next to a huge fountain in the courtyard of the Hermitage.

Across from the Winter Palace in Palace Square there is this huge semi-circle building called the General Staff Building that was the center for the Russian Army at one point. Frankly, it looks larger and more overwhelming than the Winter Palace that is located across from it. This picture does not due justice to the statue located over the arch. Obviously, it's a chariot with driver. I took this shot from over 100 yards away and it's still massive. Across from this is Alexander's Column, dedicated to Alexander I who helped defeat Napolean. This Square is also the site where troops stormed the Winter Palace in both 1904, and 1917 that effectively started the revolution.

St Petersburg!

A brief departure from Russia. Hillary found every Irish or English pub in every city we visited. And there are a lot of both...in every city. They all look the same. We have all seen them. They are no different in Stockholm than Champaign. They do draw you in...












Ok, here we are in Russia for the first time. This is quite a great feeling. We flew through customs and immigration. We had a driver from the hotel set to meet us with a sign that said, "Buller Jack Nevsky Hotel". There he was. And then he was gone. Appears there was an economic forum in SP same time we visited. "Roman" went to get his car to pick us up and he wasn't allowed back in the airport. No fear. With Blackberry in hand, we got united with driver #2 through our hotel office mgr. "He is with 2 blonds and wears a blue baseball cap." We were all relieved to find each other. And he got us "home"!



On our first full day, we learned the hard way that using St Petersburg's bus system is not as easy as I imagined, since I can't read Russia. So we walked. And walked. And walked. about 75 miles. Here Hillary and I are WAY in front of one of St Petersburg's most famous churches. More on that later! We are on our way to the Hermitage.
















Everyone needs to view this building and the grounds. It is the Hermitage located at the heart of St Petersburg across from where Peter the Great built the city from a swamp. If I have my facts straight, Peter the Great created the first palace, but the expansion happened mostly under Catherine the Great. She collected so much art and wares and needed a place to hold them, thus the Hermitage. More pictures on it as we move forward. We walked around a corner and this is exactly what we saw. Stunning.

Stockholm Day Two

Lori and Hillary are standing in front of what was a water well with pump. This is located in the town square of Gamla Stan. We think people would raise and lower the steel arm with the ball on the end of it and the water would flow from the pipe out of the "lion's" mouth. Where the water came from...we don't know. Nor asked.

We met up with one of Hillary's good friends, Annelae. She is from Stockholm, but attended the University of Illinois last year. We met Annelae at a Christmas party at our home and made plans to reconnect in Stockholm. As you can tell, she is a VERY fun person. We spent the day with her and learned the real truth about Stockholm. We can't wait to see her again:)

One great idea Annelae suggested was to walk up 3000 stairs to the top of this lookout to see the "top" of Stockholm. It was so worth it. The 360 degree view was amazing as you can see behind us. Very windy though. Note their hair blowing around, but mine perfectly in tact. Must have been the "tourist" hat I wore almost everyday.

Speaking of views and our previous reference to architecture, this picture says it all! We loved Stockholm. Our biggest mistake was not having enough time to see it all. But we had great, great food every night, great snacks (Hot chocolate in bowls vs cups), met some of the friendliest and most helpful people. And the "colors" of this city are remarkable. I think it's linked to the personality of the Swedes. Colorful, able to cope with wild swings of daylight, and always upbeat about life.