Saint Petersburg, Russia

Continued

This photo shows the Smolny Cathedral and it's surrounding monastery. A Convent at Smolny was first founded by the Czarina (Empress) Elizabeth I, who decided to take the veil at the end of her life. Construction began in 1748, ans was interrupted by Catherine II, who turned it into a school for young ladies in the Convent.

This is the battleship Aurora. The Aurora was built in St. Petersburg as a part of the Baltic Fleet, and launched in 1903. It becam a cadet training vessel after the war with Japan and then became a cadet training vessel in 1907. During the Revolution, the crew cadets played an important role in helping the Bolsheviks.

This photo shows a typical tram in St. Petersburg. The trams here look very rickety and like a hole may appear in them any moment from all the rust! This photo does not do justice to the true condition of this tram! Russians who live in St. Petersburg rely heavily on public transportation because of the large amount of traffic and poor roads. Most citizens prefer the metro or subways to the tram. Check out my Russian Metros page and find out why!

This photo shows a bride, groom, and small wedding party. It must be a tradition for wedding parties to go out on the day of the wedding and take photos of the bride and groom at various sites in the cities because we must have seen a hundred wedding parties doing this very thing during our short time in Russia!

This photo shows some cannons at the Peter and Paul Fortress. The crowd is gathered here to watch the cannons go off, which happens every day at noon. This fortress was the beginning of what is know the great city of Saint Petersburg. Peter the Great began building this fortress in 1703 on this island in the Neva River just after he conquered this land from the Swedes. He wanted the fortress to protect the land from possible recapture by the Swedes.

Peterhof or Peterghof, as a more correct alphabetical translation, is the Summer Palace of the Czars which sits on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. Peterhof literally means "Peter's Court". Peter the Great built the beginning residence her in 1710 and then he and other Czars continued to make elaborate additions. The palace reminds me very much of the Palace of Versailles in France in its architecture and huge gardens. Be sure to check out the inside rooms of Peterhof.

This picture shows me in front of one of the many fountains that sit in the gardens of Peterhof Palace. The Peterhof website displays some wonderful photos and videos of these fountains.

Russians love to come to Peterhof in the summer and enjoy picnicing in the gardens and playing in the fountains too, as can be seen from this photo! Most tourists get to Peterhof by taking a boat from the center of Saint Petersburg. However, we decided we were going to get there the "Russian way". We used a number of modes of transportation, including a metro, a train, and a bus. You should definately read about our adventures in getting to Peterhof in my journal. It's really quite amazing we even ended up in Peterhof!

Catherine's Palace is shown in this photo. Catherine's palace lies outside of St. Petersburg in a city called Pushkin, named after the famous Russian poet Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin. Pushkin is most famous for his tragic death-- he dies in a dual with another man wha wanted his wife!
Catherine's Palace was originally built for Catherine I, the second wife of Peter the Great. The palace was meagre then, but was embelleshed by her daughter Elizabeth I and then by Catherine the Great (Catherine II).

Catherine's Palace is very well-known for its beautiful gardens. But, the inside of the palace is beautiful too. The palace was badly damaged by war and the Revolution, and it has taken many years to restore portions of it back to it's original state. One restored room is shown here in this picture. You can visit the Catherine's Palace website to visit other rooms of the palace. Some of my favorite rooms are the Chinese Blue Drawing Room and the Formal White Dining Room.
Why do we all have blue things on our feet? Everyone who enters many of the palaces in Russia are required to put these blue-cloth shoe-covers over their feet in order to protect the perfectly restored and exquisite wooden floors.

While in Pushkin, we also visited the Alexander Palace. Please check out the website for this palace!
The Alexander Palace has some unbelievable stories behind it! It all starts back with Catherine the Great, who was of German royalty, and married the Czar Peter III. Catherine was a very powerful woman and didn't like her husband. As she gained popularity, it became very easy for her to plot the murder of Peter III. Upon his death, she became Czarina until her son Paul I was old enough to become Czar. But, there was much hatred between Catherine and Paul (afterall, she did kill his father!) and so Catherine eventually plotted for the murder of Paul as well. However, she did favor her grandson, Alexander, and wanted him to become Czar (another reason why she killed her son, Paul). Alexander became Alexander I of the Czars. Catherine had this palace built for Alexander in his name next to her favorite palace.
Alexander palace is also the permanent home of the last Czar, Nicholas II, and his family following the 1905 Russian Revolution. It was here that he and his family were kidnapped by Communist Revolutionaries in 1917. They left the palace and were sent to a number of places throughout Russia before they were all executed.

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