FUN-travel: Saint Petersburg – Day 12 – Uniworld River Cruise
July 17, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Saint Petersburg – Day 12 – Uniworld River Cruise
Day 14 – Monday, July 14 – St. Petersburg – blue skies w/big puffy, white clouds – high 70’s
Catherine’s Palace
Inside the Palace
What I LIKE
- 6:45 – wake up
- 8:00 – depart for Catherine Palace in Pushkin Park
- 8:30 – arrive
- 10:00 – enter Catherine’s Palace
- – designed by Rastrelli
- – a Baroque masterpiece
- – summer residence of czars
- – features Amber Room
- – covered from floor to ceiling
- – original moved during WW2
- – have never found it
- – recreation cost $6 million & took 20 yrs
- Amber is petrified tar
- See dining rooms, dressing room, sleeping rooms
- 10:30 – walk in palace gardens
- – park & monuments surrounding
- – includes pond, lake, pavilions
- 11:15 – bus back
- 11:45 – arrive ship
- Start packing big suitcase
- 12:30 – nice salad – pasta w/mushrooms
- – ham & cheese Panini for room snack
- Finish packing
- 4:00 – try to sleep
- 5:30 – work on travel log
- 7:00 – farewell dinner w/Norga & Chris
- – lovely couple from South Africa
- – start w/ Castelnau Rose before dinner
- – like the Taittinger its real Champagne from Reims, France
- – special thanks to our BA flight attendants!
- 7:30 – starts raining!
- 10:00 – room phone call
- – front desk wants us to come pay
- – get down there & 6 people all trying to pay
- – holds credit card terminal over her head
- – in hopes of getting connection
- – too funny!
- – lucky me – good to go on 1st swipe!
What I DON’T LIKE
- More hurry up & wait in line
- Every tour arrives at the same time
- AC in room never worked!
FUN-fact – St. Petersburg is the 2nd largest city with 5 million people and the entire city center is a UNESCO world heritage site. It is 34 kilometers from east to west.
More FF – We have been so lucky to have sun everyday and no rain during our tours. St. Petersburg has 60 days of sunshine on average each year.
Not so FF – There has been a lecturer on board but due to her heavy accent we just can’t stay engaged.
The Amber Room
FUN-travel: Saint Petersburg – Day 11 – Uniworld River Cruise
July 17, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Saint Petersburg – Day 11 – Uniworld River Cruise
Day 13 – Sunday, July 13 – St. Petersburg – blue skies w/high, wispy clouds – low 80’s
Inside the Hermitage
Inside the Hermitage
What I LIKE
- 6:45 – cappuccino
- 8:30 – bus departs
- 9:00 – 1st stop – St. Isaak’s Cathedral
- – adorned w/112 granite columns
- – 400 reliefs & bronze sculptures
- 9:20 – 2nd stop – The Hermitage – originally the winter palace
- – contains one of the world’s largest collections of art
- – 5 buildings w/3 million works
- – from Stone Age to contemporary
- – all paintings removed & hidden during WW2
- – was told it would take 6 yrs to see everything if you spent 1 min @ ea
- 9:50 – ticket entrance time
- Line wraps around building
- 10:30 – finally get inside
- 11:30 – go outside to take pictures
- 7:00 – Captains Farewell Reception
- 7:30 – dinner once again better than average
- Tenderloin & tasty dough w/meat inside & cream sauce
What I DON’T LIKE
- More hurry up & wait in line
- Hermitage is packed like sardines w/tour groups!
- Every ship in port has multiple groups
- Can’t even begin to really see the art
- Totally miss seeing the Impressionists
- Total waste of time & big disappointment!
- Sunday & Tuesday are busiest days
- – so why did this not get scheduled on Saturday?
St. Isaak’s
FUN-fact – St. Petersburg is located just 500 miles south of the Arctic Circle and for a few weeks each summer they celebrate the “white nights.”
Not so FF – That means essentially the sun never sets and is brutal if you want to sleep in darkness.
The Operahouse
FUN-travel: Saint Petersburg – Day 10 – Uniworld River Cruise
July 15, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Saint Petersburg – Day 10 – Uniworld River Cruise
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
FUN-travel: Mandrogi – Day 9 – Uniworld River Cruise
July 13, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Mandrogi – Day 9 – Uniworld River Cruise
Day 11 – Friday, July 11 – Mandrogi – blue skies – high 70’s
Morning Mist
What I LIKE
- Morning mist clings to the river
- Water is like glass w/incredible reflections
- Scenery much like yesterday
- – thick forested pines on edge of rocky jagged coast line
- – only more houses
- 11:00 – arrive Mandrogi – traditional Russian settlement
- – burned down in WW2
- – rebuilt 1997
- – original inhabitants best ship builders
- – local forests good pine trees
- Nice walk thru village
- Local craftsmen & artisans creating beautiful
- – carving, pottery, jewelry, lace & paintings
FUN-food – Pirozhki = small hot pastry w/fillings
– can be anything from meat, egg, cheese to fruitMore FF – Shashlyk = BBQ lunch
– in village across from ship pier
– grilled chicken, fish, pork & veggies
- Continue walk around village
- – find horse stables
- – windmills
- – Russian gingerbread houses
- 2:30 – set sail for St. Petersburg
- 3:00 – nap time
- 6:45 – excursion briefing
- 7:00 – dinner w/Indian couple
- – get travel agent info for trip to India
- Russian Vodka to go w/typical Russian meal – Beef Stroganoff & borscht
- 11:00 – night night for early morning
Russian Fairytale Architecture
What I DON’T LIKE
- Vodka Museum – have to pay $6
- (they have more than 2500 different labels)
- – they give you tasting
- – even if you don’t want it
- There is no sunrise & sunset!
- It’s light all the time now!
- Keep waking up @ 4 am!
- Sleep is fitful
FUN-fact – We went through a total of 18 locks since leaving Moscow.
Not so FF – 10:30 pm and the sun is pouring in our window. How can this happen when we have had the sunrise every day?
FUN-travel: Cruising Lake Onega & Kizhi Island – Day 8 – Uniworld River Cruise
July 12, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Cruising Lake Onega & Kizhi Island – Day 8 – Uniworld River Cruise
Day 10 – Thursday, July 10 – Cruising Lake Onega, Kizhi Island – overcast morning turns to sunny – high 60’s
Church of Transfiguration – Winter Church
What I LIKE
- 7:30 – wake up
- Slept good!
- 9:30 – breakfast
- Caviar & champagne @ breakfast
- Nice lox too
- Clearly read survey!
- 12:00 – go shopping in boutique
- use up all ship board credits
- Beautiful miniature Russian lacquer box – winter scene w/mother of pearl on lid
- Teeny, tiny one inside too
- 1:00 – lunch – more survey responses
- Pasta station w/Puttanesca fish sauce
- 2:00 – room R&R
- Work on catching up on these travel logs
- Don’t need a nap!
- No rain as predicted!
- Bright sun glistens on the water
- Very remote region w/few structures
- 4:20 – breathtaking view of Church of Transfiguration
- 4:30 – arrive Kizhi Island
- – UNESCO site
- Small, narrow treeless island is 6 km long by 1 km wide
- Walking tour to open air museum
- Specializing in wooden architecture
- 1st stop – Church of Transfiguration – erected 1714
- – called Russian fairytale architecture
- – has 22 different sized shimmering domes
- – covered with 30,000 carved aspen shingles
- – built w/o nails
Small Chapel
- 2nd stop – large farm house
- – housed 15 people on upper floor
- – bottom floor was barn
- – housed animals & farm equipment
Church of Transfiguration – Summer Church on left
- – heat from bodies of animals helped heat home in winter
- 3rd stop – windmill that could be turned to direction of wind
- 4th stop – chapel w/bells that chime a tune
- – local man plays the bells
- – strings attached & manipulated by his hands
- – pretty amazing!
- 6:30 – back on board
- 7:15 – excursion update for tomorrow stop Mandrogi
- 7:45 – dining w/Chris & Norga – lovely couple from South Africa
- Start w/ “Taittinger Toast” before dinner
- – special thanks to our BA flight attendants!
- 10:30 – back to room
- Midnight night-night
What I DON’T LIKE
- Dinner just so-so again
- There is no sunrise & sunset!
- It’s light all the time now!
- 4 am wake up is getting a bit old
Flooded Krochino Church
FUN-fact – Lake Onega is 3861 square miles and the 2nd largest lake in Europe. Its sister lake Ladoga is twice the size.
More FF – Today’s scenery is thick forested pines on the edge of the rocky jagged coast line with loads of islands all in varying shapes and sizes that mirror the terrain.
More FF – The lake is fed by 58 rivers and has a total of 1369 islands.