Canals, Carmen, Quartet, and Rasputin.

July 18-20, 2012
St. Petersburg, Russia

How lucky am I to keep having the opportunity to revisit St. Petersburg for three days at a time?  The real answer to that question depends on whether or not I had the opportunity to get off the ship, and since Russia likes to pretend its curtain is still made of iron, that can only happen if I escort a tour.

This time, I got to escort some pretty awesome shore excursions.

First up was a tour through the canals of St. Petersburg.  We later took to the Nevski River and sailed by the Peter and Paul fortress and cathedral, and then ended up at the amazing Church of the Resurrection (also know as the Church of the Spilled Blood).
 

No gondoliers, but still nice.

On the Nevski River

Peter and Paul Fortress and Cathedral

Watch your head!

Church of the Spilled Blood (Church of Tetris)

aka Church of the Resurrection on Spilled Blood

I know, it's kind of a graphic name.  But here's my quick version of the story.  There was a Czar that was good to the people, and some guy didn't like it, so he set up a bomb to explode when the czar's carriage was going by.  The explosion was unsuccessful, however when the czar got out to tend to his driver, the assassin run up and shot him at point blank range.  The son of the czar, to memorialize his father, commissioned this church to be built on the spot of the assassination.  Hence, the church on Spilled Blood.

If have more stories about this church and the architecture in particular, but you'll have to catch that in a future article!  But feel free to do your own homework here: A Website!


Probably the best thing about our overnights in Russia was the plethora of freaking amazing night time excursions.  Tonight, I had a ticket to the opera.  And check out my date!

Sasha, my shore concierge friend.

Suddenly, I want to go to Ukraine.

I think I go well with opera houses.

Here, have a look in side the Michailovski Theater!

Sasha, my shore concierge was awesome to me and hooked me up with a ticket to see a concert performance of Bizet's Carmen performed by Israeli mezzo-soprano Rinat Shaham, who was nothing short of amazing.

And now I find myself wanting to go to Israel.

 And I have to share this video with you because I love how Europeans clap!

  This photo is for all of those who thought my entire trip was nothing but sunshine and beaches.

Thanks for the rain, Russia.

By now, the white nights at this latitude are over.  It's now dark in St. Petersburg, but it won't stay this way for very long. 

A funny thing about this city, if you don't cross the bridge before a certain time at night, you're stuck on the island part until morning.

Bridge going up.  Hope you're on the right side!

On the 20th, I took a tour where I visited two palaces.  The first one was Vladimir's palace.  And honestly, at this point, I'm starting to get burned out of palaces.  Don't get me wrong, they're amazing.  They're ALL amazing.  But they're starting to look the same, so here are just two pictures of Vladimir's Palace.

Yes, I would love having stairways like this.

 I think the palace belonged to this guy.  I think it's Vladimir.

Grim grinning ghosts anyone?

Anyway, on to Yusupov's Palace!  This is the reason why I took this tour.  Yusupov's Palace is the place where the many attempts on Rasputin's life took place.  In the basement, he was poisoned, then stabbed, then shot while he escaped.  His body was found three days later in the Neva river.  But that's a serious example of never giving up!

Rasputin was not a scary wizard like some hollywood movies may have suggested, but he was an interesting character.  He was a peasant that rose to be close and respected by the royal family.  You see, young Nicholas, the son of the Czar had hemophilia, and Rasputin was the only person that could be found who could stop the bleeding.  It was this closeness to the royal family that cost him his life however, as the military leaders of the time did not like the amount of influence Rasputin had over the decisions of the Czar.

In the rooms where everything went down, they have recreated the historic scenes with wax figures.

The plotting upstairs

The poisoning attempt

I wish I had a theater in my house.

I will conclude this blog with a performance by a Russian quartet.  I love how Russia is proud of their music.  It's a real blessing to be able to experience the wonderful acoustics of so many of the churches and ballrooms.  You see, when you take a tour of these places, you're not just looking at history, they give you a demonstration.  I really appreciate that.  And I hope you do as well.  Enjoy.

Feel free to comment and ask questions.