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The following morning there were only five of us leaving the ship. Poor Jim's back was still a problem and he decided to stay aboard. Going through 'passport control' was easy this time and our guide and driver met us outside the terminal. We were on our way to Tsars Village and Catherine's Palace.

 

   


We passed St. Isaac Cathedral (we would come and visit the inside later in the day), a library and a few statues including one of Lenin. Then we arrived at the gate to Pushkin, a town with numerous fancy homes and the gardens and palace of Catherine the Great. We parked the van and walked through the park, by the statue of Pushkin and around some pale blue buildings, the perimeter of the palace grounds. And there was the 'Golden Gate' of Russia, the entrance to the famous palace with its Amber Room and other splendors.


   

 

Irena zipped us through the short line waiting to get onto the grounds. Then we crossed the extensive lawn as we gazed at the huge blue structures around us.




 



There was another line of people waiting at the door.
This time, however, we rightfully had to wait our turn to get inside.
Let me just show you some pictures of what we saw there without any further comments. They are close to the order in which we visited these various rooms, starting with the entry hall. You will notice a picture of the Amber Room. Since we were not allowed to take photos there, I used a postcard (the only one in this series).

 



 

 



   



   


 

  As always, you are not allowed to leave before you have gone through the souvenir shop.

 

 

We picked up a couple items and then exited the building through the back for a brief walk around the beautiful park and a few pictures.



 

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Then it was off to have some lunch at a log cabin, a Russian restaurant where Irena suggested the special. It included a variety of local dishes that we shared, a bit like tappas in Spain. We also had tea, wine and, of course, vodka, with a few toasts to go with it.
PS. I am glad we did not have lunch at the palace. See the crowds in the picture above.

 

 

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Our next stop was the Pavlovsk museum. Whereas the Palace had been majestic and opulent, the museum and its interior were simply beautiful. I almost enjoyed this tour more; certainly the art works were more extensive and less glitzy.


 

 


   


   


   

 

 

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On our way back to St. Petersburg we disappeared into a black hole. Our bus had stopped and we followed Irena into a Metro station where she bought train tokens for all of us. We were not allowed to bring cameras into the station. The subway system is still under the control of the military. In fact some tourist had been sited earlier for taking pictures inside. Interesting enough, a recent issue of National Geographic showed the picture below. This was actually in Moscow but it looked just like what we saw in St. Petersburg. We rode the train for three stops at very high speed, got off and ascended the very long escalator to the street where Oleg met us again with his van.

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We made one more stop at the St. Isaac Cathedral and visited the inside. Although the entire cathedral is extremely impressive, the part that totally threw me for a loop was the extensive mosaic tile works of most of these 'paintings'. In the main sanctuary is a large stained-glass window by Heinrich Maria von Hess depicting the Resurrection. Notice the tall pillars covered with green malachite and the smaller blue lazurite columns. These are the largest composites ever created for one place using these semi-precious minerals.


   

 


 


   

Above is a bust of the architect, Auguste Montferrand. It stands in front of the huge oak door with bronze relief panels sculpted by I. Vitali. One of the panels depicts St Paul before King Agrippa and Queen Bernice. The 'painting' below is called 'Nativity of the Virgin' and (according to the historian, G. Butikov, who authored a book about the cathedral) this is an oil painting by T.A. Neff. Curiously, however, a closer look shows that it is actually a mosaic. Notice the hand next to where Sharon is standing. Now it is my understanding that this mosaic was created as a copy of Neff's original painting. In fact, all or most original oil paintings were replaced with mosaic copies because the climate conditions inside the cathedral would ruin these precious pieces of art in time.

 

That evening we attended a ballet, Swan Lake, at the Alexandrinsky theatre. We are not ballet fans (have seen The Nutcracker a couple times with the kids), but this was a special occasion. Although it was in France where the dance/ballet was first created, it was in St. Petersburg where it was developed and perfected. So it meant a lot and to see this presentation one evening. Our seats were fantastic (thanks to Alla). We were second row orchestra, middle of the theatre. Couldn't have been better.
I was sitting next to a young lady from Italy who was recording some of the show with a small video camera (knowing this was not kosher). During the intermission I asked her to send me a copy. She smiled and gave me her email address.
Then she told me, "My mother was a ballerina before I was born. She became pregnant with me and had to give up her career. Afterwards I always felt sorry about that."
Smiling, and yet with dry tears in her eyes, she continued, "I know my mom would dearly love to be here in St Petersburg and see the ballet, but maybe this recording of Swan Lake will be the next best thing."

It had been a very full day, and we still had not seen the Hermitage nor the Fortress Island. We would have to wait until Day 3.

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