St. Petersburg: Past Glories, Faberge Eggs and Stroganoff

The first thing that comes to mind when hearing about St Petersburg is the Hermitage. The amount of art in the former Romanov palace is truly mind boggling! Knowing there are over 1500 rooms filled with art is truly overwhelming, once you get passed the hordes of Chinese tourists (get a guide to queue jump everywhere). Unless you want to bypass the rest of cultural attractions the city has to offer, you need to focus on the artists you want to see for a birds eye view.

The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood is also unmissable for the intricate mosaics that constitute the whole interior and it has been painstakingly restored over decades. It is a true Russian Romanov religious memorial.

The Faberge exhibit

If there was any a time you wanted to marry a Russian oligarch, it's after you see the private collection of Faberge eggs, snuff boxes and other trinkets. Truly fabulous but you cannot take photos. Those Romanov gifts were labours of love, both in craftsmanship and in the givers intent. 

Mariinsky Theater and Ballet

Formerly known as the Kirov, the Mariinsky ballet is world famous. We saw Giselle, classically produced, in the new modern Theater which has good layout and acoustics;  it's modern and beautiful. Again, an unmissable part of the st Petersburg experience. Besides, what's not to like about a man in purple tights?!!!

One thing about the city, you need to check your coats in everywhere! We nearly went into a panic at the ballet when we tried to get to our seats when the starting warning bells went off and they wouldn't let us in because we didn't check in our coats! A mad dash in high heels was very stressful.

Also, you need to put on these plastic shoe covers in all the palaces to protect their floors. Not a good look!

We went to the numerous Romanov palaces. All very baroque and very gold since it seems the tsars suffered from Louis XIV envy.

Amazingly, the Soviets spent time and money restoring all these palaces to former glory in spite of the fact they represented everything they fought against. 

Peterhof Palace

Catherine Palace

Elisabeth, Peter the great's daughter, commissioned many of these palaces and was known as the extravagant princess. She had 4000 pairs of shoes, the Imelda of her day!

Theater at Usupov Palace

Finally, we saw the burial place of the Tsars, the Russian museum (more icons) and st Isaacs. Phew. Hectic and bloody freezing. Beautiful but just a bit austere. 

Romanov burial place

Russian Museum

Saint Isaac Cathedral

The second part of this Russian blog will be about cuisine and nightlife. Will post tomorrow.