‘Magic’al Europe – Day 8

Today would be the eighth day of our European cruise trip, and our stop this time around would be St Petersburg, Russia. We chose this time, uncharacteristically, to go on a guided tour of Russia. However, this was due to various factors, the main one being that applying for a visa just to enter Russia would cost more than the tour itself, where other factors such as unfamiliarity and safety convinced us that we should go on a tour of one of a country that has one of the biggest mystique to a regular Singaporean.

 

The cruise docked at St Petersburg, Russia — better known to history and geography nerds as Leningrad. Being one of the biggest cities in Russia, it served as a crucial turning point during World War 2, where the city endured a three year long assault from the German forces, eventually ending in a Russian victory. Before that, and indeed after, the town is renowned for its arts heritage, and its cultural importance to the entire Russian state. We might know this city only from the stories that emerged from the second world war–but the city is almost a living historical monument of Russia’s entire history. We stopped near the river that runs through St Petersburg, to take some photos before moving off to one of my bucket list items, the St Petersburg Metro.

Upon arriving at the metro station, it was really as good as all the pictures depicted. Our tour guide told us that no one has ever requested to take a look at the metro before, which was a surprise for me because it was really one of the main reasons why I was so excited to visit St Petersburg in the first place. The metro was built under communist rule, for two main reasons, firstly being a nuclear bomb shelter in the event of a nuclear war during the Cold War, and secondly as a way of symbolising the shared wealth of the ideal of communism, the people getting to enjoy all the benefits of shared wealth.

Of course, communist rule in Russia ended in 1991, but most of the communist symbols still remain, a memory of the past ideals that ran the country. The first station was aesthetically pleasing, but not bonkers, however, we took the train for a few stations to Avtovo station, one where glass engraved pillars and chandeliers surrounded normal, everyday commuters. It was really an amazing sensation.

Next, we headed to Peterhof Palace, one of the grandest palaces in Russia, complete with its own park, filled with trick fountains, and impressive monuments. Another trip back into the monarchy system that once ruled Russia, and views of architecture complete from that era.

There, we were able to enjoy much of the scenery, and our tour guide actually let us into a bird exhibition, that is normally closed off to the public except on certain days, as she used to work there. Being not one that is very interested in birds, they looked interesting but looked like nothing too special.

Along the way, we also met the owner of the tour group during our tour of the Peterhof Palace, near the main palace, with gold-plated fountains and museums. A fun fact is that there is no electricity needed to run all of the fountains, all of them are powered independent of electricity.

Getting back to St Petersburg, we took the hydrofoil for a short 40 minute ride back, which provided a nice respite from all the walking we endured inside the Peterhof Palace.

Next, we arrived at the lunch place of our  choice, although my parents and Ashley did not enjoy their lunch, I really did, allowing myself to sample Russian food, which I heard about online, my favourite being the Pelmeni or Russian Dumplings, that Ashley promptly took instead.

Next, we were off to the famous Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg — a huge, sprawling collection of art and history collected by Russia over the many years of its existence, the museum was filled with famous paintings and exhibitions, and was insanely huge. We were also able to skip the huge queue at the entrance, due to us being on the tour.

We also headed to the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. One of the most iconic St Petersburg sights, the church  was open, and extremely crowded, and as such we did not spend much time inside it exploring. It was a small space anyways so we took photos of its interior and exterior and quickly moved on to one of the activities that Ashley was looking forward to all day.

Lastly on the tour, we headed to a matryoshka painting class, where I was predictably terrible in. However we had a lot of fun learning how to paint them by a real painter of matryoshka dolls, one of the staff who do all the dolls the sell in the house in-house.

After that , we headed back to the cruise ship before heading to the ABBA tribute band’s performance, where we ordered drinks and heading to dinner after that.

For dinner, we headed once again to Lumiere’s, one of the restaurants that we would end up repeating back-to-back. However, as stated before, the menu rotates everyday to incorporate food that is inspired from the port of call.  For appetizers, we had the Salted Duck Terrine, the Princess Tiana, the Wild Mushroom Soup, and a Cream of Potato Soup. For our main, we all had the New York Steak Fitzchbert, with potatoes. For dessert, we had >insert<

And before we headed back to the room, we took some photos yet again before calling it a day.