Another smooth overnight sail had us docked at the new Seaport in St Petersburg. It was a rush this morning as we had to get through passport control and meet our tour by 8am.  We’d been told to allow up to 40 minutes for the bureaucratic process; it took five.  We duly boarded our 16 seater minibus and joined our guide Katya and the rest of our small group.

We began with a drive along the Neva River as Katya pointed out the main sights, of which there were many.  Our first stop was beside the river to see two Sphinx statues from Egypt (the Egyptians leave their stuff everywhere it seems).  Already we were seeing gleaming golden spires and domes in the near distance.

After a couple more brief photo stops where we bravely crossed roads in Russian traffic, we headed for the Metro.  Underground stations in St Petersburg are lavishly decorated, and we took a short ride to see three of these (no doubt annoying the regular commuters). We travelled for three stations before alighting at a station that was decorated in bronze – chandeliers lined the platforms, and the columns had carvings depicting people in everyday occupations.  The next station featured real silver, and had a bust of Lenin, and silver carvings depicting industry.  The final, and most elaborate stop, was of course gold – ornately carved columns and a large mosaic were the centrepieces.  The whole experience was a lot of fun and made us feel just a little bit like locals, even if we were under Katya’s watchful eye the whole time.  The metro is very clean and safe as there are security guards and cameras everywhere.

We drove through leafy suburbs to the Peterhof Palace and Gardens, passing President Putin’s St Petersburg residence en route.  The Palace was beautiful from the outside, but it was the gardens and fountains we had come to see.  Some of the fountains were simply aesthetic; others were symbols of power; and some were just fun, or “trick” fountains.  There was a statue of Peter the Great; you are supposed to toss a coin into the top of his boot, which is quite high up.  Ian managed it on his second attempt.  We finished our lovely garden walk at the main fountains, an extravaganza of golden statues and water sprays.

I had a quick lunch of Russian savoury pastry, then it was back on the bus for another longish drive to Pushkin village.  These drives gave us a good look at the suburbs and countryside (not to mention a rest for weary feet).  Along the way Katya told us about Russian history, everyday life today, and taught us a few words of Russian.

Most of the afternoon was spent at St Catherine’s Palace.  Admission took about an hour as we had to line up several times and the place was packed, but we knew to expect this.  Luckily for Ian and I, the last two weeks of visiting castles and churches has been excellent training.  We had a good look at the stunning blue, gold and white exterior, before donning our “slippers” for the interior tour.  We moved through a number of rooms, each one more ostentatious than the last.   It was beautiful, but as often happens, you just think “why could they not see the Revolution coming?”  They clearly learned nothing from the French.  The Palace of course was largely destroyed by the Germans in WW2 when they had St Petersburg under siege for almost 3 years; during this time half the population of 3 million died from starvation.  Today you see restoration which has taken decades, and is ongoing. When you see all the gold leaf, it’s understandable why it has taken so long – the work is painstaking, not to mention very expensive.

Our final stop was on Nevsky Prospekt, the “main drag”.  We joined the throngs and strolled for a couple of blocks, stopping beside one of the canals which give the city its name of “Venice of the North”.  There’s actually not much resemblance, and if you thought the Venetian canals were somewhere you didn’t want to swim, then these ones were many times worse.  The water was thick brown sludge.  Best to gaze up at the golden domes and spires.

Dinner: crispy snapper in sweet and sour sauce, followed by key lime pie.  Our evening entertainment back on board was a Russian folklore show.  I’m not sure how authentic it was, but all the singing was in Russian.  There were colourful costumes, a lot of thigh and boot slapping, twirling of skirts and tossing of hair.  The singers had wonderful voices and the dancers were energetic – a great way to cap off the day.