FUN-travel: Saint Petersburg – Day 10 – Uniworld River Cruise
July 15, 2014 by Susan Clarke
Day 12 – Saturday, July 12 – St. Petersburg – blue skies w/high, thin wispy clouds – 70’s
What I LIKE
- 6:30 – cappuccino
- 8:00 – City Tour departure
- 8:30 – 1st stop – Smolny – 10 min
- – Baroque cathedral & convent
- – name means tar
- No traffic!
- 9:00 – 2nd stop – island across from old city – 15 min
- 9:30 – 3rd stop – market – 30 min
- – basically souvenir mall
- 10:15 – 4th stop – canal boat ride – 1 hr
- 11:30 – photo op – Peter the Great on horseback
- 12:00 – 5th stop – Square of Arts
- – Pushkin monument & park
- Free time on own
- 12:20 – lunch Mama Roma – pepperoni pizza + 2 beers = $18 – not the best but pizza none the less
- 1:20 – Church on the Spilled Blood – w/onion domes typical of orthodox churches
- 1:45 – Starbucks cappuccino extra shot = $7.60
- 2:05 – Kazan Cathedral
- – looks like mini Vatican
- 2:30 – depart back to ship
- 3:00 – room R & R
- 5:30 – dinner buffet
- 6:45 – depart for Hermitage theatre – 40 min
- – Swan Lake ballet in small theatre
Church on the Spilled Blood
- – only 250 seats
- – was private theatre of Catherine the Great
- – may not be best performance in town
- – but they say “any Russian ballet is better than none”
- 7:20 – arrive
- 8:00 – starts
- 2 intermissions
- 10:30 – bus back to ship
- See full moon coming up!
- 11:00 – snack buffet & wine
- 12:45 – finally go to sleep
What I DON’T LIKE
- 3:40 – 1st wake up
- 5:30 – 2nd wake up
- 8:00 – excursion departure – too early
- More hurry up & wait on bus
- Days too packed w/activities in Moscow & St. Petersburg
- Have to get to theatre early as there are no assigned seats
- Theatre is really hot!
FUN-fact – Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg in 1703 to take it out of the dark ages and to be part of Europe.
More FF – They call it the “Venice of the North” because it was built on 42 Islands and boasts over 80 canals.
More FF – We saw the ship, Le Boreal, that we are sailing on in the Arctic next month docked near downtown.
Kazan Cathedral