Trips

        Our border crossing went smoothly and took less than an hour.  When leaving Estonia our passports were collected and checked.  We crossed the river and were checked three times on the Russian side.  First, someone came onto the bus to see that we all had passports.  Then we had to get off the bus and pass through passport control.  They checked our identity, visa, and our arrival/departure papers.  They stamped the page next to our visas and we got back on our bus that had been checked but obviously they did not go through anything.  Back on the bus, the third stop was to check that our visas were stamped. On the Russian side of the border, semi trucks were lined up for a mile.  Our bus driver told us that it could take three or four days for the trucks to cross into Estonia.

Russian flag
Border crossing	On the road to St. Petersburg
Apartment complex in St. Petersburg	Trinity Cathedral
Hammer and sickle	Unintelligible sign
Monument to Ncholas I	Mariinsky Palace on St. Isaac’s Square
Since we arrived early in St. Petersburg, Migle arranged for us to take a boat ride on the Moyka and Neva Rivers.  On the Moyka we passed rows of four-story colorful buildings that were originally palaces with garden courtyards. We passed Stroganoff’s Palace just before going under Nevsky Prospekt Street.  Beef Stroganoff was made for him because he had no teeth to chew whole hunks of beef.  We went down the canal under some of the Hermitage buildings.  Out on the large Neva River we saw the walls of Peter and Paul Fortress and the Cathedral inside the walls before we turned around and headed back.
Stroganov Palace	On the Moyka River
Peter and Paul Fortress
Sun., 9/20/15 – St. Petersburg, Russia         We met our local guide, Catherine, this morning and began our tour of St. Petersburg.  The name of the city has changed over the 300 years from St. Petersburg to Petrograd to Leningrad and back to St. Petersburg.  We rode around the city while Catherine pointed the Alexandrinsky Drama Theater, the statue of Catherine the Great in a small park. We stopped to take pictures of the Church of Redemption or Church of our Savior on Spilt Blood that is now a museum.
Alexandrinsky Theatre	Alexandrinsky Theatre
The Russian National Library	Statue of Catherine the Great
Food vendor	Irish Pub
Next we crossed the Bolshaya Neva River to the island where many scientific buildings are located including the Natural History Museum, the Academy of Science, etc., and stopped for photos at the Rostral Columns or Lighthouses and a look across the water to the Fortress of Peter and Paul and the Cathedral within it.  We then crossed the Malaya branch of the Neva River and drove over to the fortress island and toured Peter and Paul Cathedral.  Most Russian Orthodox Churches do not have a pulpit but this one has an elaborate one with gold leaf statues of Sts. Peter and Paul and a dais for the tsar’s throne.  The elaborate iconostasis is carved Linden wood covered in gold leaf.  Many of the Russian tsars are buried in the church including Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Alexander II and his wife, Nicholas II and his family, etc.  Alexander II is buried under a solid jasper sarcophagus and his wife under a solid block of rhodenite.  The remains of Nicholas II and his family are interred in a separate chapel.  DNA testing has been completed on the bones of the two youngest children and they will be interred in the chapel this year.
Rostral Column	Rostral Column
The Hermitage	St. Petersburg Mint
Peter and Paul Cathedral	Peter and Paul Cathedral
Peter and Paul Cathedral	General Staff Building behind the Hermitage
We went to lunch near the Hermitage and what do you think we ate? Yes, borscht and Stroganoff!  Thus fortified, we visited the Hermitage.  Catherine did a very knowledgeable tour for us.  She pointed out everything we have seen at least twice before.  It was a good visit with not too many people and she moved us along ahead of the cruise ship tourists.  The Hermitage is overwhelming, and very beautiful.	Hermitage Museum - St. George Hall
Hermitage Museum - Peacock Clock in Pavilion Hall	Hermitage Museum - della Robbia - The Nativity
Hermitage Museum - Leonardo - Madonna and Child with Flowers (Benois Madonna)	Hermitage Museum - Leonardo - Madonna and Child (the Litta Madonna)
Hermitage Museum - Michelangelo - The Crouching Boy	Hermitage Museum - Poor floors!

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