Having survived my rather nippy trip to Rovaniemi my bearer had decided to take me on a further adventure. However this one was to a place which up until 20 years ago would have been off limits to anyone non-Soviet – St Petersberg.
After an “Interesting” boat ride across the Gulf of Finland (we bears don’t get Seasick, unlike the bearers) I took refuge in my case while my bearers crossed through Russian passport control, but in no time at all our intrepid group was heading off to the first stop on our action packed trip.
Our first stop was the Winter Palace and The Hermitage Museum in the centre of St Petersburg. It was once said that if you spent 5 minutes looking at each item in the Hermitage it would take you six years to go around the place!
My bearer informed me that Students from all around the world get free entry to the museum upon showing of a student card (A handy tip!). Needless to say I was smuggled in under a jacket and I spent two hours wandering around the exhibits and being in constant awe.
I have never seen so much Gold in my life and we all had very sore necks after about 30 minutes in. Every room had one or two old women who knew the exhibits like the back of their hands and were very informative despite speaking No English. They asked lots of questions about me and were very interested to hear about the British Forces and a number of cards and stickers were handed over. Perhaps the most amusing fact about the Winter Palace was explained in the guidebook. In 1917 following the February uprising the Palace was looted. At that time the Russian Tsars had one of the largest collections of wines in the world. This all went walkies and led to what was termed as the “Greatest Hangover in History”!
Our next stop was the Church of Our Saviour of Spilled Blood. The Church is one of the most famous sites in Russia and seems to appear on every postcard! It was built on the site of the assassination of Tsar Alexander ii in March 1891 and it was constructed in 1893. It’s a truly awe inspiring building and is well worth a visit if you ever find yourself in Russia.
The next stop was the Battleship Aurora (Аврора). It is said that this battleship started off the Russian Revolution in 1918 when the crew of the vessel refused to take to sea, committed the act of Mutiny and fired a blank shell!
Unfortunately it was closed due to a wedding but we took some pictures anyway.
Across the road from the Aurora was the Naval Academy of St Petersburg. A wonderfully ornate building complete with Sea Mines outside. A wet and rainy day was not the best conditions to see it.
Our next stop was The Leningrad Museum. This told the story of the siege of Leningrad by the Germans between 8 September 1941 and 18 January 1943. It was simply breath taking what the Russians went through. I’ll let the pictures try to tell the story of those terrible 872 days, although nothing could ever convey the awfulness of what the people suffered. There are many books on the subject, but there’s a good summary here.
Finally it was time to visit the Cold War Museum, but that is another story !
