Oh Saint Petersburg... the city of dreams in Russia. Honestly I had a great time in SP and I loved it so much that I went back and plan on going back again. The first time I went was with my group and it was the first time we went on a night train. It was fun and I can say that we didn't get much sleep and we kept getting shushed by the old ladies on the train. It was a great time.
Our bunk selfies.
We also had a tour bus that took us around. It was so convenient!
My beautiful classmates.
We drove far outside of the city to visit Catherine's Palace.
It also had a beautiful 400 acre garden.
The floors were so old they made us wear booties for our tour.
It was so grand and romantic.
The Tsars and Tsarinas of Russia loved showing off. They even had whole rooms plated in gold!
They had beautiful murals painted everywhere.
Golden Ballroom!
One of the sitting rooms where they would have tea before dinner.
My roommate and I inside of the golden ballroom.
Another ritzy room to drink tea and eat small cakes.
This was an original dress of Catherine the Great. Its HUGE! How did she go to the bathroom in that thing?
Yet another tea room.
Outside in the gardens.
Beautiful view of the frozen lake.
Those hedges were perfectly trimmed.
We also visited Peter and Pauls Fortress.
The two-headed Eagle was a symbol of the Romanov Empire.
Peter and Paul's Cathedral.
This was a statue of Peter the Great done by a famous artist who focuses on proportions. It was scary how little his head was and how long his fingers were.
The outside of the fortress. Reminded me a lot of Saint Augustine.
There were legit bullet holes in the walls of the fortress.
Another view of the cathedral.
There was also a jail inside the fortress that imprisoned many famous writers and activists. Even the group responsible for killing Tsar Alexander II.
This was the luxury cell of Lenin's brother.
Inside the cathedral. Isn't it beautiful?
I was always amazed at how beautiful the cathedrals were!
My tasty breakfast from a restaurant by our hostel. It was fairly expensive though.
The famous statue of The Bronze Horseman in Pushkin's poem. It depicts Peter the Great on top of a horse.
Saint Issac's Cathedral
Those doors were very heavy.
Inside the cathedral was very beautiful.
My selfie with Jesus.
Outside the Hermitage aka the Winter Palace.
The following photos are all from inside the Hermitage. Not all of them, but the highlights.
One throne room.
Another throne room.
So one of the coolest thing I saw was two of the most priceless pieces of art in the world. There are 5 original paintings in the world painted by Leonardo Da Vinci and I got to see 2 of them!
Another cool thing I saw was this beautiful replica of the hall in the Vatican painted by Raffaello and his students. It was stories of the bible from one side to other. It was definitely my favorite place.
There was a tomb in the basement with mummies older than Jesus!
This vase is the largest vase in the world... they had to build the room around it!
We also went to an opera. I left halfway through because I hated it and went to explore the city.
Beer comes in big girl sizes there!
Enjoying a brew with some friends.
One of the fun things was walking along the river after midnight watching the bridges open for the night.
Some random Ukrainian folks we met at our hostel.
Our hostel was called Friends.
Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. The story here is that this church was built on the site that Tsar Alexander II was assassinated.
Inside the beautiful church.
This is Kazan Cathedral.
I was craving a burger so I found an American Pub and got me a burger.
No comments:
Post a Comment