Old St. Pete July 26, 2006
Julia is our guide here in St. Pete and she seems to be a pretty normal person. She speaks at a normal speed and stops to breathe after every couple of sentences. After introductions we walk toward the center of the town about 15 minutes away.
The atmosphere here is much more laid back than Moscow. This is not to say it’s a lazy little town because it certainly has energy and with 5 million people it’s not small. This is a port city with a much more international feel than Moscow. It was planned to be an international city by its founder Peter the Great. That Peter chose a port city for his new capital was indicative that he wanted to open Russia to the world and the new ideas of a new century. That he chose to build a new capital is indicative that he wanted serious reform for Russia.
Architects and city planners from Europe were brought in to help plan the city and its buildings. People from different parts of the world were also invited to live here. Peter had traveled extensively in Europe, disguised as a commoner, for ten years prior to taking control of his country. He worked as a common laborer during this time in occupations such as carpentry and ship building. These experiences helped mold his vision of what St. Petersburg and Russia was to be.
St. Pete was built in the Neva River delta, the original center of town being built on an island where the river enters the bay in the early 18th century. Ship building is still a major industry here and this is also one of the busiest ports in Europe.
We walked and watched as the morning rush hour traffic crawled by. We strolled by the Summer Garden made famous in Tolstoy novels in route to St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s Fortress. This is on a small island and is the home of a cathedral of the same name. Julia promised me that this was not just another Moscow type cathedral and she was right. The interior of the cathedral is decorated with bright colors and with fewer murals and icons. It was a pleasant change. The big man, Peter the Great and several of his descendants are buried here. In the late 1990s the remains Nicholas II and family were found and positively identified and then laid to rest here at which time Nicholas was elevated to sainthood.
We moved on through the city center admiring the river front vistas of palaces, museums, monuments and cathedrals. St. Pete is sometime called the Venice of the north because of the network of canals and rivers that run through town and you will not walk far without crossing another bridge. This breaks up the town a little at the expense of smooth traffic flow, but it adds a lot of charm to old St. Pete.
Julia led us to a quaint little café which specializes in pies. Holly came up with the phrase “meat and sweet” after we had a chicken pie followed by a small slab of blueberry pie. A great lunch and a much needed break as we had been walking for 5 hours when we stopped.
We continued our tour on the way to the Russian State Museum. The museum is dedicated to Russian artist and is intended as an appetizer to our trip to the Hermitage that is planned for tomorrow. That was the end of our tour today so we walked back to the hotel and settled in for the evening.
The atmosphere here is much more laid back than Moscow. This is not to say it’s a lazy little town because it certainly has energy and with 5 million people it’s not small. This is a port city with a much more international feel than Moscow. It was planned to be an international city by its founder Peter the Great. That Peter chose a port city for his new capital was indicative that he wanted to open Russia to the world and the new ideas of a new century. That he chose to build a new capital is indicative that he wanted serious reform for Russia.
Architects and city planners from Europe were brought in to help plan the city and its buildings. People from different parts of the world were also invited to live here. Peter had traveled extensively in Europe, disguised as a commoner, for ten years prior to taking control of his country. He worked as a common laborer during this time in occupations such as carpentry and ship building. These experiences helped mold his vision of what St. Petersburg and Russia was to be.
St. Pete was built in the Neva River delta, the original center of town being built on an island where the river enters the bay in the early 18th century. Ship building is still a major industry here and this is also one of the busiest ports in Europe.
We walked and watched as the morning rush hour traffic crawled by. We strolled by the Summer Garden made famous in Tolstoy novels in route to St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s Fortress. This is on a small island and is the home of a cathedral of the same name. Julia promised me that this was not just another Moscow type cathedral and she was right. The interior of the cathedral is decorated with bright colors and with fewer murals and icons. It was a pleasant change. The big man, Peter the Great and several of his descendants are buried here. In the late 1990s the remains Nicholas II and family were found and positively identified and then laid to rest here at which time Nicholas was elevated to sainthood.
We moved on through the city center admiring the river front vistas of palaces, museums, monuments and cathedrals. St. Pete is sometime called the Venice of the north because of the network of canals and rivers that run through town and you will not walk far without crossing another bridge. This breaks up the town a little at the expense of smooth traffic flow, but it adds a lot of charm to old St. Pete.
Julia led us to a quaint little café which specializes in pies. Holly came up with the phrase “meat and sweet” after we had a chicken pie followed by a small slab of blueberry pie. A great lunch and a much needed break as we had been walking for 5 hours when we stopped.
We continued our tour on the way to the Russian State Museum. The museum is dedicated to Russian artist and is intended as an appetizer to our trip to the Hermitage that is planned for tomorrow. That was the end of our tour today so we walked back to the hotel and settled in for the evening.
posted by Gary and Holly Davis @ 6:56 AM
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