Russia- Day 5

Day 5 June 4 with the same temperature and no internet

We are sailing down the Neva River about 40 miles. We pass little settlements, dachas owned by the more affluent, and onion -domed churches. We then cruise into Lake Ladoga which is the largest lake in Europe consisting of 7,000 sq miles. This lake is shallow and has plenty of salmon and sturgeon which is a source of Russia's caviar.

We then passed into Lake Onega which is the second largest lake in Europe covering an area of nearly 4,000 square miles. Fifty rivers enter this lake which empties into the Svir River. It contains 1650 islands and is the home of 1200 petroglyphs along its banks dating from the 4th to the 2nd BC.

                                                    Views along the river banks.

                                            There are many barges of wood being transported.

                           Coming into a lock and a very familiar sight sitting on the side.

Our next stop is a small village of Mandrogy on the Svir. This village was ruined during WWII.  In 1996 it was reconstructed and opened as a museum keeping the traditions of Russian villages alive.

                                           Terry and I are visiting a typical home back then.

                                                     The houses are brightly painted pine logs.

                                                                   The bakers house

Here the crafters were selling their wares. Some were carving and making many Russian dolls called Matryoshka dolls, tree ornaments, St Nicolas painted with beautiful scenes on them. These dolls were first designed here in 1890 with the first set of eight. Ten years later they were awarded the Bronze medal in the Paris World Expo.  This is where I got my set for Amanda. Each set tells a story like little Red Riding Hood.  Mine tells of the chicken and the egg. Each set can have as many as 15 eggs in one set. I took a session of painting my own. Fortunately it only has 3 dolls in it. (I am still working on it!)

                                                 The sign says that this is a private house.

Here in Mandrogy David took a banya.  This is a a common way of relaxing in Russia. Along the river you will see small houses that are banyas. The banyas have room that becomes a hot saunas. When David had his experience, he had an attendant that came into feed the fire with water to make the steam hotter The attendant then took birch branches that are wet and lightly hit you to stimulate the circulation. The next step is to either jump into the river or have cold water thrown on you.  The girls were brave to jump into the river while the guys had the buckets of water. It was repeated one more time.

We are on the move again.  You are seeing the inside of a lock. We have just come into it and now we wait till it fills with water before the gate will open and we can go on to the next adventure.
Bye :)

Day 4 St Petersburg by the water

Day 4 in the afternoon.
We took a tour of St Petersburg by the water and visited the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood.

Hermitage from the water

The Russian Museum.  We passed the Faberge museum which we were supposed to tour it, but it was closed this week.

      This young man ran from bridge to bridge to wave at us and then ran to where we docked.

                                       Summer home and gardens of  Peter the Great

This Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood was built to memorialize the spot that Alexander II was assassinated by a terrorist bomb. It took 24 years to complete. It has 70,000 square feet of mosaics and glass to give it color and shine.

There are 3 blocks in each column and the blocks are covered with 3000 sq meters of mosaics.   It takes 1 year to make 1 meter of mosaics.
This church was marked to be destroyed by the Soviets during their attempt to remove semblances of religion; but the day it was to be done on June 22, 1941, the city was invaded by the Nazis. As a result, it was spared.  During the war it was used as a morgue and also underwent a fire.
In 1970 it was decided that it would be restored. It was washed with soap and scrubbed with toothbrushes. The original crosses were found in the moat that surrounds the building and they too were refurbished and replaced to their original places on the domes. It took 27 years to complete the restoration.  During that time a bomb was discovered from the day it was to be destroyed. It was taken out and defused.

The doors are hand carved in marble.

The height of this is 81 meter in honor of the year Alexander II was killed.

Our last view as we exit.

Our carriage awaits us!

One last look at this magnificent building.  Because it is a dull day the mosaics aren't as brilliant as they can be.
Tomorrow we are off down the river.
Ciao :-)

Russia- day 4-Peterhoff Palace and Park

Day 4- June 3- temp 38 and cold  Off to Peterhoff  Palace and Park. - the Russian Versailles.   In the afternoon St. Petersburg from the water. 

A view taken from the internet because I couldn't get a picture to show the grandeur of the "summer place". 1700's

"Peter the Great first mentions the Peterhof site in his journal in 1705, during the Great Northern War, as a good place to construct a landing for use in travelling to and from the island fortress of Kronstadt. And in 1714, Peter began construction of the Monplaisir ("my pleasure") Palace based on his own sketches of the palace that he wanted close to the shoreline. This was Peter's Summer Palace that he would use on his way coming and going from Europe through the harbour at Kronstad."

The picture above shows the view of where I am standing as I turn and look down to the sea.  Peter had this long'water way all the way to the sea.  The Samson Fountain and its massive pedestal had not yet been installed in the Sea Channel.  The channel itself had been used as a grand marine entrance into the complex.

The fountains come on at 11:00 so they were turned on after this picture was taken. There are some 75 fountains in the front.

Looking over at the gardens, It is still very cold here so the gardens are not in bloom as they might be.

This is one on the corners to the palace. This leads us to the gardens and more out buildings.

                              The sea is in the direction behind me.  I believe this is a guest house.

                                                 One of the many fountains to be seen.

                                   My traveling buddies! a motley crew we are all bundled up!

                They are on!

I found it fascinating to see the before after effects of the war so I put them in my blog. The building below is this photo.

                  As we walked along from the building above we see the sea that stretches a mile.

Here is another example of the restoration that had to be done after the war. The building below is the now,

                                 Another picture showing the work that was done,

There were no pictures allowed to be taken in the palace so these are just a few of the many postcards that I bought. ( it took all day to get these few transferred!)

The Chesma Hall is decorated with twelve large paintings of the Battle of Chesma, a stunning naval victory of the Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774. These were painted between 1771 and 1773 by the German artist Jacob Philipp Hackert. His first renderings of the great battle scenes were criticised by witnesses as not showing realistically the effect of exploding ships — the flying timbers, great flames, smoke, and fireballs. Catherine II assisted the artist by exploding a frigate in the harbour of Livorno, Italy, for the benefit of Hackert, who had never seen a naval battle first-hand. Hackert also did not research the actual positions of the Russian and Turkish forces during the battle, so the scenes depicted are somewhat fanciful, but do effectively convey drama and destruction of naval warfare.

The Ball room

The Western Chinese Lobby

The Picture Room

I am going to do the afternoon session in a different blog as this already has several pictures.

ciao :)