Saturday, January 13, 2007

St. P in brief - now with photos!

Looking across the Neva to the Peter Paul Fortress

A view of the Winter Palace through strings of lights on one of the bridges

The Winter Palace from the river





A bridge across the Neva



The Winter Palace at night


Nevsky Prospekt by night



Youths drinking by the eternal flame - a memorial to Revolutionary fighters - show some respect, lads! Note that there are still flowers.

Odd statue of Peter the Great at the Peter & Paul Fortress


The grave of Peter I - interestingly, it already says 'velikii' - 'the great' - I wonder if that's a later addition, or if he was already termed 'the great' by the time of his death?


The final resting place of Tsar Nicholas II and his family


The rather lurid interior of the Peter/Paul Cathedral


The Peter & Paul Cathedral on the most gorgeous winter's day in St P

Amongst the many interesting things forbidden in the St. Peter & Paul Fortress, please note the fourth one on the top line - committing suicide. Also no pushing over weedy saplings (bottom right)


It's always Leningrad in the sewers

Looking across to the Sts Peter & Paul fortress. S Novim Godom (on the pink banner) = Happy New Year!


This was taken at 12.45 pm - look how low the sun is on the horizon! You can see the Admiralty & St. Isaac's outlined


The Winter Palace, river side




Looking across the Neva to the Kunstkammer (at least I think that's what it's called) and some other building the name of which I've forgotten


The Bronze Horseman rearing up against the sky - very beautiful

The Bronze Horseman from behind

Snegurochka (Snow Maiden) and Ded Moros (Father Frost) - the Russian Yuletide pair, with Nicholas I memorial & St. Isaac's in background

Memorial to Nicholas I, with St Isaac's in the background


St Isaac's Cathedral

The Admiralty Building

The Alexander Column in Palace Square

The Winter Palace

Archway into Palace Square


The Church of the Saviour on the Spilled Blood - built on the site of the assassination of Alexander III and a bit of an anachronism in ultra-classical Petersburg


Gotta be super quick, on the net at the Hermitage (yeah, that's a good use of my time here). As you may have guessed, arrived in St. P. safely, train ride was no problems. Spent yesterday (gorgeous day, blue skies, I would say sunny but the sun barely makes it off the horizon here, cold) wandering all over the city and in the Sts. Peter & Paul Fortress. Today have been in the Hermitage for 3 hours & I'm not done yet - it's huge! Seriously think I've broken my foot in some mysterious fashion it's killing me. Thanks for kind emails from many people, I promise I'll get back to you personally soon. xx

No comments:

Post a Comment

Feed the Comment Monster! Rawrrrr

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.