Russia

The last two days have been spent discovering the city of St. Petersburg, Russia. We landed here on Sunday and soon found out we were very fortunate to have booked a private tour online before we came on our trip. The tour agency arranged all our paperwork for us and were waiting for us with an English speaking guide, a comfy van and driver. It was great. They took us right to the door of the places we visited and our guide had all the tickets and entry fees prepaid and lead us through everything with great information and lots of opportunities to ask questions. There were two other couples, so our little group of 6 was perfect. We saw so many incredible sights and even got to ride the metro!
I have always dreamed of going to the famous Hermitage Art Museum which started out as a palace of course. It was very grand and dripping with guilded ornaments.








We did not even scratch the surface of the art they have here. Catherine the Great was an avid collector!


Royal reception hall below.


We saw two works by Da Vinci


Incredible mosaic everywhere, some so finely done you could not discern them from a painting.


Tulips dominated the gardens.


The most unusual thing I saw was this huge golden peacock which was given to Catherine as a present. It is actually an automated clock that moves when it is wound up.


They only wind it up on Wednesdays, but they have a video that gives you some idea of what it does.

Next we went to the church on the spilled blood where one the Czars was assassinated. The onion domes were quite shiny and impressive.


It was right on one of the many canals that crisscross the downtown.


The inside was an incredible array of mosaics and gold.







Of course the gift shop sold replicas of Fabrege eggs. So sparkly.


Here's me and our tour guide, Anna. It was great spending two days with her asking all kinds of questions about politics and life in Russia. She pays 13% income tax and everyone has free medical. You can pay for a supplemental policy if you want a higher standard of care. Unemployment is not a problem and climate change, I.e. Global warming is totally a non issue. Most Russians are not at all concerned about it. There is wide support of Putin. Education is free through university as long as you keep your grades up. The biggest concern of Russians right now has to do with pensions and what we would call "social security" payments to the retired. Apparently this was a factor in why some people in Crimea wanted to join Russia. Pensions would be higher and more secure. They have internet and American TV if you have satellite. Many people are very religious and the government is supportive of the church which is mostly Russian Orthodox.


Beautiful fence and park outside the church.


I have to say Russia was much more modern, well to do, and opulent than I had expected.