There’s
an all-night rave going on somewhere! We
can still hear and feel the beat vibrating through the boat the next morning! Krestovsky Marina is obviously a meeting
place for minor oligarchs and a seemingly unending supply of tall, leggy
blondes! You regularly see them teetering down the pontoons in 7-inch ‘killer
heels’ to board a massive motor boat – Charles claims he wouldn’t be keen to
have them on our teak decks! In the middle of the night – about 2am – there is
sometimes a fireworks display! It has to be that late as it’s light until at
least midnight here at this time of year! One of the oligarchs fires a cannon
from his boat each time he enters and leaves harbour! What a contrast to the
silent, almost deserted islands of the Finnish archipelago!
This
is a view of Krestovsky Marina – very modern and up-market, really not what we
were expecting a Russian Marina to be like at all …
Here’s
a parking lot for Personal Water Craft (PWCs) – everyone seems to have one! –
and there don’t seem to be many rules about how fast you can go or how close to
swimmers …
After
a rather disturbed night, I decided to do what the locals do on a hot, sunny Sunday
and spend a relaxing few hours at the beach, which is literally a stone’s throw
from the marina, where you can swim in the River Neva. It was lovely and the
water seemed pretty clean and clear, though I heeded warnings not to drink it!
The next day Charles chose to do some ‘boat maintenance’ while I set off to
enjoy more sights of St Petersburg. I started at the Church of St Nicholas, a
wonderful blue, white and gold Baroque confection. Inside it’s interesting
because there are two churches. The one
on the ground floor is for everyday use, and on the first floor there’s an even
more elaborate but lighter and brighter church for Sundays, weddings and
special occasions. However, I only took a photo outside as there were
ceremonies going on …
I then walked through the city along
the canals, past other impressive buildings …
…
to the Yusopov Palace, a bright yellow, columned building overlooking the Moyka
River, built by a wealthy aristocratic family to house their collection of
paintings and antiques …
The
interior is beautifully and tastefully decorated …
This
is the fabulous staircase …
…
and they even had their own private theatre, which still holds concerts today …
I continued
on my walk across the city along the canals. Just to show the contrast, not all
the buildings in St Petersburg are quite so attractive – but even this rather
grey block had a carved frieze along the roof …
…
and the building undergoing renovation work was nicely disguised.
This
is St Isaac’s Cathedral, one of the largest in the world – it was deconsecrated
during the Soviet era and became a museum of atheism. It is officially still a
museum today and contains many works of art …
This is the Church on Spilled
Blood, which was built on the spot where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in
1881 as a memorial to him. It is decorated, both inside and out, with colourful
mosaics …
Later I met Charles in the Summer
Garden, a formal park with a parterre and fountains, commissioned by Peter the
Great …
Together
we went to the Marble Palace, which was built by Catherine the Great for one of
her ‘favourites’, using 17 different types of marble. The Marble Hall is the
pièce de résistance, with marbled walls of grey, green, white, yellow, pink and
lapis lazuli …
By
the following day we had both summoned enough strength to do justice to The
Hermitage museum, one of the largest museums in the world. The Alexander Column in front of it, dedicated
to Tsar Alexander I, is the largest free-standing monument in the world. The
red granite pillar is balanced simply by its 600-tonne weight!
Part
of this grand collection of buildings is the Winter Palace, which is a superb
example of Russian Baroque architecture. Catherine the Great added the Small
Hermitage to this to accommodate her huge art collection. Gallery upon gallery filled
with art works from all over the world.
This
is the richly decorated entrance staircase …
This
is the Malachite Room – the columns, pilasters and mantelpieces are lined with
green malachite. On the night of 7th November 1917 the last meeting
of the counter-revolutionary Provisional Government took place here. Later the
ministers were arrested in the adjoining Private Dining Room …
We
were continually struck by the amazing ceilings and spent quite a lot of time looking
upwards! Most of the ceilings had elaborate and detailed decoration, often
highly gilded …
This
is the Throne Room in the Winter Palace …
This
is part of the large collection of ancient Greek and Roman statues …
Not
everything is ancient, though – the collections have been added to over the
years. This painting is ‘The Fagend’ by Nicole Eisenman (2008) …
…
and the item in the foreground here is actually a modern sculpture rather than
something being repaired!
Another
gallery with a beautiful ceiling …
…
another quite delicately painted ceiling …
This
one is a moulded plaster ceiling …
…
and this one both plastered and painted …
As
well as the ceilings, you need to remember to look down at the floors, also
very elaborate, many of them patterned with mosaics …
Then
up again at more richly decorated ceilings – paintings, plasterwork, gilding
and chandeliers …
Yet
another gilded ceiling …
…
and mosaic patterned floor - not to forget the columns and wall decoration too …
This
is the Hanging Garden in the Small Hermitage, created on the first-floor roof-space
over the royal stables. It was laid out by order of Catherine the Great with a
fountain and white marble statues in between the trees and shrubs. There’s an intricate irrigation system to
keep everything watered.
During
the Second World War, the Hermitage staff dug vegetable beds here to help feed
the starving citizens of St Petersburg …
Back
to more elaborate state rooms and galleries …
Of course, we were there with a
whole load of other people – I’m not sure there is ever an off-peak moment to
visit this huge museum and palace …
More
lovely ceilings and paintings …
…
and statues and columns and ceilings and paintings and floors!! We were
drowning in art!
This
is what Charles has been waiting for! A beer in an ‘English’ pub! The Hermitage
museum is definitely a ‘must’, it’s wonderful, but now we deserve some
well-earned refreshment!
St
Petersburg Episode 3 to follow …!
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