St. Petersburg, Russia

As soon as the Temple closed for cleaning on September 1, we left by ship to St. Petersburg.  It was an overnight cruise on a ferry, named the Princess Maria.  We arrived Sunday morning at 9:30 and made it to church by 11:00 a.m. courtesy of Boris Leostrin, our tour guide.  Attending church was one of the highlights.  We enjoyed seeing many of our friends who have come to the temple often.   The chapel was beautiful and large, and is soon to become a stake center, as of Sept. 9th.  Elder Nielsen of the Quorum of the Twelve will be there to organize St. Petersburg's first stake.  The 2nd in Russia. 

St. Petersburg is the home to over 5 million people.  It is a bustling, busy city with lots of traffic and traffic jams.  There are palaces and churches everywhere.  Some are restored and are museums, others are schools, hospitals and other public buildings.  Often it is difficult to differentiate what the buildings are now and what they originally were intended to be. 

There are canals and rivers everywhere.  Peter the Great wanted St. Petersburg to be the Venice of the north. 

This is the site of the original harbor of St. Petersburg, as built by Peter the Great.

This is the Winter Palace located in central St. Petersburg.  Hundreds of rooms, and is currently home to the Hermitage Art Museum, one of the greatest in the world. 

Above is one of the great ornate hallways in the Winter Palace.  I wonder who walked these halls?

This is the formal marble staircase used for aristocrats and rich patrons to the emperor.   And of course we posed for a 'shoot' here! 

Peterhof Palace

Referred to as the 'Russian Versailles'

The Great Palace was built between 1709 and 1724.

The tsars and tsarinas that followed each wanted to make their own

mark so they added palaces or fountains.  There are 147 fountains on the grounds.

 

Standing by one of the lakes and many fountains.  All the grounds and gardens were

planned and designed by Peter the Great.   They were totally destroyed by the

Nazis during World War II.  They have all been restored to their original beauty.

 

This is truly spectacular, a cascading fountain leading down from the palace

GOLD, everything in glittery gold.  From there the park spreads out to the left and

right along the coastline.  Even trick fountains!

Looking out from the grand fountains to the Gulf of Finland.

 

Looking back at the grand fountains and palace.

 

One of  hundreds of mosaics in the Church of the Saviour on the Spilt  Blood.

the Church of the Saviour on the Spilt Blood

We also visited the Museum of Leningrad Defence and the Siege.  A tribute to the million who
 died of starvation and the many townspeople and soldiers who defended their city, 1941-1945.

We had a wonderful time in St. Petersburg, Russia!   Wayne enjoyed practicing reading
the signs!!