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Links: to Copenhagen Baltic cruising :Day 1 - Copenhagen to Oslo Day 2 - Oslo Finale: Copenhagen encore
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St Petersburg, Russia, 9 June 2014, Monday Dave was almost refused entry to Russia today. It wasn't quite an international incident, but it came close. There would have been ructions that would have been heard to Canberra if he had been blocked from his booked tour of St Peterburg. Russia is a bit complicated for tourists. Unless you go through the time consuming process of applying for a visa, you are restricted to entry only with an approved tour group. For cruise passengers, who are staying only a day or two, this is the simple way to go. So we signed up for a two-day tour of St Petersburg, but didn't check our tickets. At 6.45 this morning, when we were lined up with a few thousand other tourists keen to get started on the old capital of Russia, we found only one ticket in our envelope. Mine. A frantic search of our cabin followed, then a phone call to Guest Services, who confirmed Dave should have been issued with a ticket. So, they wrote one out for him. This handwritten ticket, on shipping company letterhead, didn't satisfy the Russian immigrant official, He couldn't understand why I had one form of ticket, and Dave another and wasn't prepared to let him in.. While our immigration queue came to a complete halt, the matter was escalated further up the authority scale - and some time later, the word came back....the cruise ship vouched for him, and he was allowed to cross the barrier, and the queue moved on. Dave now has a proper, computer-printed ticket for tomorrow's excursion! |
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The stress was all worth it. Once we actually made it through the barriers, the day had a pleasant enough start, with a cruise of the rivers and canals of St Petersburg... |
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Of course, as anyone who has been to St Petersburg will say, the highlight was the Hermitage museum. In the days of Russian royalty, the Hermitage housed the palaces of the Tsars. Now, its the home of wonderful world of art. Where other galleries and museums are lucky to sport a few examples of the work of the classic masters, the Hermitage has dozens of Rembrandts, Renoirs, Matisses - and the list goes on. |
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A (mature) art student at work copying an Old Master... The students are allowed to work in the Hermitage on days the museum is closed to the general public, |
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We were fortunate in that today (Monday), the Hermitage was a day normally closed, but they opened it for tour groups from the cruise ships in port, so we didn't have to contend with the thousands of others keen to see the fabled Hermitage. Many of the areas in the Hermitage were almost deserted, without the hordes who normally cram its galleries. Some of the rooms were completely deserted until we arrived. Dave had the Throne Room to himself (above right) |
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The Hermitage has about 20 Picassos....
left: This gallery had been commissioned by the Tsar of the time to emulate those at the Vatican. |
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Our one complaint is that after lunch, we were taken on a 45 minute shopping expedition to a souvenir/gift shop, time which could have been more profitably spent at the Hermitage. Weeks, or months, or even years, could be used to be immersed in the art works that are on display here in St Petersburg instead of shopping for tawdry tourist junk. |
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After lunch, at which we were served a salad (including caviar), and entertained by Russian folk dancers (above right), we had time for a visit to a couple of churches now reconstituted as museums - one which houses the graves of Peter the Great and other assorted Russian Royalty, such as the assassinated Romanovs, and the gorily-named "Church of Spilt Blood" - the church was built on the site of another, earlier Royal assassination in St Petersburg (right).
We saw so much of riches and privilege today that Dave reckons he now understands more easily the conditions which led to the Russian Revolution! |
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left and above: the Church of Sts Peter and Paul, now a museum, housing the graves of many of Russia's rulers, including Peter the Great |
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The Church of Spilt Blood is noted for its murals, composed of millions of tiny tiles use to build the mosaics of religious murals (see close-up below). |
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Back tracking to this morning…. The cruise line was offering a dozen different excursions to places of interest in St Petersburg, and this was one day when everyone had signed up for one. The problems started early (in addition to our ticketing snafu). All tours had been scheduled to start at the same time, and all passengers were required to assemble in the ship’s theatre, to get allocated to a bus. This meant 3000+ passengers all crammed into the theatre vestibule and access stairways. Pandemonium ensued. If there’s an emergency at sea, we are all supposed to gather in the same theatre, presumably to be allocated to life boats etc. If it’s not better organized that today’s chaotic procedure, there will be a real panic, ii f not a disaster. |
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