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After almost missing everything on Wednesday morning we scrambled to get going.  We had enough time to run to get some pastries and coffee for Matt.  Our checkout was seamless at customs and immigration this time and met Elena and Vladimir at our 8:00 AM departure time.   

Day two didn’t have as much planned.  I had predicted that we might have lost a couple of our new Tennessee friends but they were all there, bright eyed and bushy tailed.  We found out it was Bill Moser’s, our professor from MIT, birthday.  He got a really funny version of Happy Birthday sung to a Russian tune that was familiar but I’d never know its name.   

One monument we passed on the way was the Moscow Triumphant Gate.  It was iron and had been painted green.  It had been disassembled at least once because Stalin thought it resembled Brandenburger Gate in Berlin too much.  We also passed another monument to the victory of the allies in WWII.  

On the way to Pushkin we passed a bunch of statues on the side of the road.  I told Matt it reminded me a little of driving around Gettysburg.  There was one monument of a couple of cannons that were a final point of defense of the Soviet Army. 

We arrived at Catherine’s Palace and again it’s just a massive structure.  This one had been painted blue with the golden onion domes atop.  Matt finally asked how they keep them so shiny.  The city has gone enormous renovations over the past years that led up to the cities 300^th anniversary in 2003.  We were still impressed that the shine still lasted two years later.   

We were given a new toy that we also were given at the Spilled Blood Cathedral and later at the Peter and Paul Cathedral.  We were given little blue cloth booties to put over our shoes.  They weren’t as fancy as the ones in Potsdam but they did the job.  These are a real good idea as they save the floors and since the weather is so bad keeps mud out of the churches and palaces.  

Catherine’s palace had some huge football sized rooms that were all decorated in gold all over the walls and paintings on the ceiling.  This was in the main building in about 90% of the rooms.  The throne room was one of the first we entered and it was the biggest of the palace. 

The main attraction of Catherine’s Palace was the Amber room.  The entire room was made of amber mosaics.  Matt said later he thought it was a bit over the top like something Elvis would build.  I asked what the difference was between the room of amber and the room of gold.  One funny room was made with tin foil lining.  Elena explained that when it came out originally it was probably more expensive than amber.   

As usual when we were about to leave the skies looked like they were going to open up.  We made a real quick jaunt through the gardens.  They didn’t have the fountains that the Peterhof had mostly because Catherine the Great was afraid of water travel.  One thing they did have were two ponds for swans.  Elena told us one pond was for black swans and one for white swans.  Matt had a bunch of tasteless jokes he was ready to crank off but didn’t due to our new friends from Tennessee.  One of them said back home they would all just swim together.  Another was wandering how you kept the white swans from the black swans. 

We exited the palace and made a real quick stop at Alexander’s Palace that was still undergoing renovation.  This was where Nicholas and Alexandra and their children were held after they were taken prisoners.  It was interesting to see the difference between what had been renovated and what had not been renovated. 

We went back to the city to take a boat ride through the canals and into the Neva River.  On the way we stopped at was planned to be a town hall.  It still had a huge statue of Lenin in front so we stopped for a 1-2 minute stop.  Down the road some we ran into a major traffic jam due to some work on the drainage canal.  Vladimir was at his best again.  He turned off the main road and seemed like he was in the middle of nowhere when all of a sudden he was back on the main road past the back up point of the traffic jam.  

We reached the city and Elena had us stop at the Peter the Great statue for another bathroom pit stop.  I hung on the bus with Tom Newsom and Myers Parsons.  They are huge college football fans.  Myers son played for Tennessee.  I gave them a little bit of a hard time about the Peach Bowl that Maryland beat Tennessee three years ago.  Murfreesboro is the home to Middle Tennessee State and apparently they play at Maryland in a couple of years.  I told them we’ll have to stay in touch and we’d go to the game.   

When everyone finished the pit stop we went around the corner and boarded our canal boat.  When we got on board we were given our lunch of one sandwich and one bottle of soda water.  Big Tommy and I were the stubborn one’s who wanted to be on the outside to take pictures.  Elena really didn’t want us on the outside deck thinking we weren’t bright enough to duck or come inside to avoid getting hit by the low bridges.   

Once we got on the river all the men from Tennessee were on the outside back deck.  Elena was so worried going out of the canals into the river that she was making announcements over the loud speaker for Wally to be careful.  She was saying this as I was inside the boat at this time.  She was really nice but she definitely didn’t trust that I could take care of myself for some reason.   

We were on the water for about an hour before heading back to see Vladimir and have him take us to the Peter and Paul Cathedral.  Elena tried to worry us again that some people she knew had been pick pocketed.   We went over the to the island and went in the church.  The cathedral was painted bright yellow with the golden onion domes. Another beautiful church which had the graves inside of former Russian royalty.  This included Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, her niece Anna and Nicholas and Alexandra.  Nicholas and Alexandra had their own room and the room had six feet tall memorial plaques for all the children including Alexi.  Alexi was the youngest child who suffered from hemophilia and was soothed by Rasputin.   

I don’t know if I mentioned before but paranoid Elena had set up a code for us to know if a pickpocket was near us.  It was just some saying like “and the interesting thing about this” with her giving us the eye.  Well at the Romanov’s tomb she gave me the signal.  I laughed but acknowledged her.  First, I’ve traveled all over the world and can tell for myself when someone is looking to rob me.  It’s never happened but I’ve always been vigilant. 
Second, I always take the precautions before hand of putting all my belongings in my front pockets or my camera bag.  This time it was in my front pockets, which went down to my elbows when I reached in for my money.  

This concluded our tour of St. Petersburg.  It’s a neat city and after the two-day’s of touring we were positive we could’ve never done this on our own.  It’s a big depressing city, mostly because of the weather but also because they have only finished about half the renovations they are planning.  When we were at Catherine’s Palace we were on a hill overlooking the city and couldn’t believe how large it is.  It is home to 4.5 million people. 

We had to stop at the Red October store to pay for the trip.  That was another nice option.  We put the deposit down and paid the final invoice at the end.  That was another reason we could cancel the folklore show.  Everyone bought lots of Russian souvenirs.  I got some matruska dolls, books, vodka and my usual knick-knacks.  

Elena came to me and asked a question about ship procedures.  She had champagne for everyone that she wanted us to drink as we were leaving port.  I explained they take all the liquor when you go through the ship embarkation.  She decided we would just drink the champagne before going back through customs and immigration.  We were on the ship when she noticed me finishing one of the bottles of water I had purchased before leaving the ship.  She asked for the bottle and I offered the second.  When she came back she gave me two full bottles of the free vodka that was at the Red October store upon our arrival.   

We left the store and headed back for the port.  Elena told us stories until the end.  She was very happy when one of her stories as we left the port came to fruition.  There was a security guard at the port who looked like President Putin.  We all waved and he walked back.   

She was a very nice girl who cares very much for Russia.  She might be a little bitter towards men.  She’s a divorced teacher with a 15 year old.  She claimed her husband drank.  Even with all her freedoms now due to what we thought were the works of Gorbachev she couldn’t stand him.  He called him trash and definitely didn’t like his wife Raisa.  She’s also not a fan of Putin claiming he is corrupt, but liked Yeltsin despite her problems with his drinking antics that would embarrass Mother Russia.  Matt said she’s probably a good teacher but he’d hate to be in her class.  She definitely hated the corruption that is in the country.  She said even teacher extort presents and she’s had teachers upset with what her daughter has given as tokens of her appreciation. 

She had some good stories that led you to believe she had problems with Russian men.  There is a time during the night when all the draw bridges go up and the “tomcats”, as she called them, the men who were out cheating on their wives would make sure they would get caught across the river and then call home explaining that the drawbridges have kept them from coming home. 

Another funny story was how she explained her feelings about the Russian government.  Someone asked if the problem with the Russian mafia was bad in Russia.  Elena explained that we have the Russian mafia in the United States.  The Russian mafia was called the government in Russia. 

Vladimir didn’t say much but you could tell he liked to have a good time.  He laughed at Big Tommy and I every time we exited the bus.  We’d have to dip our head under the door way real awkwardly.  I hit my head and shoulder walking down the front of the bus, which I knew made him laugh.  I got a picture with him before we left. 

Elena had her last crazy plan when we arrived.  We parked the bus 50 feet from the custom and immigration booth and all got out of the bus to toast with her champagne.  Then we had to get back on the bus and Vladimir drove us the last 50 feet of the tour to the front booth.  We all tipped Vladimir and Elena and sad our good byes. 

This tour by Red October is worth every cent.  The adjusted rate for everything was $281.00 per person we paid for the tour, dinner and Hermitage Gold Room.  I paid an extra $14.00 for photo rights at all the locations.  I tipped Elena $25 and Vladimir 20 Euro.  This ended up being way less than the boat, we had 16 people in a bus for about 30, and we got preferential treatment for front of the line entrances. 

We gave Tom one of the bottles of vodka after we boarded the ship.  To my surprise when I boarded the boat they didn’t take my bottle of vodka that I bought for dad as a replacement for the one he blamed me for breaking upon his return home from Moscow.   

We came back to the room and I downloaded the pictures for the day and went up to get something to eat at the Lido Dining Room.  I had a prosciuto and mozzarella panini with pizza and fries we ate at the Lido Bar at the pool.  We went back to the room where I downloaded pictures and wrote half of this two-day journal entry. 

We went right back upstairs where they were having a barbeque at the pool.  The barbeque was with grills and everything.  I had some salmon, Salisbury steak and some fries.  We met Wil again at the pool who sat down with us for a while.  Matt bought us a round of drinks.  He had seen Tom earlier downstairs with the Tennessee people having a martini party.  He was still drinking a martini with about six olives.  Matt approved heartily.  Tom is really a nice guy.  He worked for State Farm for 41 years and retired to travel and golf.  He is the splitting image of Arnold Palmer. 

The next part of my night and most of the rest of the night was trying to hook up on the Internet with dad.  I got Craig first who could see me and then hooked up a microphone so we could talk to each other.  It’s amazing to me that I was on a ship on the Baltic Sea and was talking through my computer to Craig in Maryland.  As soon as I finished with Craig everything crashed.  Apparently we passed a naval base in Finland that cut down communications.  Matt in the meantime went to dinner with the English.  I finally hooked up with dad and talked for about a half hour.  This was at about 11:00 PM and I was outside the Internet center and I could pan the camera for them to see the ocean outside the window behind my back. 

The White Nights are weird. We got an hour back over night, which was nice.  I went to the room and went to sleep and set the alarm for 6:00 AM.  This time it went off and I ignored it.  There wasn’t a lot in Helsinki I wanted to see.  I did want to catch up with this typing but I enjoyed sleeping for 2 more hours too. 

It’s 9:45 PM August 4 as I write this and we gain another hour back tonight.  I’ll write up Helsinki a little later.

Return To St. Petersburg, Russia August 2, 2005

Continue To Helsinki, Finland August 4, 2005