This was one port I was looking forward to visit and expected it to be the highlight of the cruise. It was! My cabin faced the port side and outside at the customs building was a band playing a variety of music. It was a dreary, cold day, but I was ready to see the riches of Saint Petersburg. Since this was an early wake up call, I ordered breakfast in my room. I specifically stated for ONE person, but received double of everything! I kept my balcony door open and listed to the band while I ate.

I had booked a 2-day tour in advance with Denrus for a group of 11 people (Jeff, Robin, Toni, Shaun, Deb, Robert, Elise, Ed, Simone, Ed, and me). Ilya, my point of contact at Denrus, was wonderful. He helped me with the itinerary for the two days and was very open to some of my suggestions, especially when it came to choosing places for lunch. The document I received for the tour stated to just walk off the ship; however, we were all told to meet at The Edge with a departure time at 8am. I told the woman at the desk our tour started at 8am. It would take 10 minutes to get off the ship. I know we could have just walked off the ship, but some in the party felt we should just wait to be called. Everyone had to go through customs with his or her passport along with a copy of the passport. We also received a red ticket, which we kept with the passport.

Outside we met our guide for the two days, Ludmila. Our driver was Nicholai. He didn’t speak a word of English. It was about a 10-minute ride to get from the ship to the port entry. The port is huge and ugly with its many cranes and ship containers. Our first stop of the day was to the Catherine Palace located at Pushkin (Tsarskoye Selo – Tsar’s village), about an hours drive from the city. The traffic was horrible. We waited outside for about 15 minutes for the palace to open. It was drizzling and quite cold (about 48 degrees). I met Ilya, who was giving a private tour to Marilyn and Bill. It was great to meet him in person after corresponding for a few months.

The palace was incredible! The rooms, décor and furniture in the palace were fabulous and quite opulent. The inlaid wood floors were beautiful. Everyone had to wear booties to protect the floors. We think it was to help polish the floors! Large chandeliers hung in many of the rooms. We visited the re-created Amber room, which the original was lost during WWII – stolen by the Germans. I read that they contributed money to reconstruct the room. The Amber panel walls were incredible. No photography was allowed, but I did sneak a few photos with my digital camera using the “museum” mode (no sound, no flash). I didn’t understand why no one could take any photos. In all the other places we were allowed to photograph paintings. We toured for about 1.5 hours, and then headed outside. I wanted to see some of the gardens, but it was raining, so we headed back to the city. Robin and I did purchase some of the nesting dolls, package of 5 for $10. Great deal.

As we were heading back to the center of the city, the traffic was just as bad as in the morning. Ludmila suggested we take the metro to save time. We didn’t have the chance to see some of the beautiful metro stops. No one was allowed to take any photos of the metro. I asked why not and Ludmila only stated, “It’s transportation.” Ludmila wanted to keep us on track so that we could remain on time for our tours. We had an excellent Russian buffet lunch ($16) at the Grand Hotel Europa located on the busy Grand Nevsky Prospekt Street. Some of the items on the buffet included: cream of mushroom soup, hard boiled eggs, halved and topped with mayonnaise and red caviar, marinated mushrooms, eggplant, herring, smoked salmon, a beef type stew, dumplings, and a nice variety of desserts including bliny’s.

It rained on and off as we continued our tour, first passing by the war ship cruiser Aurora on the Neva River, famous for its blank shot, which signaled in October 1917 to storm the winter palace, now the Hermitage museum. It was also used during the Russian-Japanese war. The Hermitage is a place where one really needs a week to visit all the rooms in the 6 buildings. The amount of paintings, sculptures, is mind boggling, over 3 million works of art.

One place that I really enjoyed visiting was the Peter and Paul Cathedral, located in the Peter and Paul Fortress. This is where the tsar’s are buried, including Peter the Great, Alexander III, Catherine the Great, and even Nicholas and Alexandra with three of their children. An interesting note about Nicholas and Alexandra: Their remains, along with two of their children, a few servants and their doctor, were given a proper burial in July 1998, 80 years to the day of their execution. The sad thing to learn was that the Russian Orthodox Church does not acknowledge them as the Imperial family, even though DNA tests resulted at a positive 99.5% match with living relatives. Ludmila said the Priest stated, “God knows who you are.” Their remains are actually located in a side chapel, rather than with the rest of the Romanov dynasty. Ludmila also told us that President Yeltsin was planning not to attend because of the controversy with the Church, but in the end he did attend the burial service.

We had the opportunity to listen to four monks singing in a small room. They even had CDs for sale.

Our last and short stop of the day was to the Church of the Resurrection. I had hoped for a sunny day to take photographs of this fabulous Church but it was still raining. Robin and I went across the street to the flea market and purchased a nesting doll. Only 2 stalls were open. Our tour ended and we were back on the ship around 5:30pm.

Our day started the same with an hours drive outside the city to the Grand Palace of Peterhof (the Russian Versailles). On the way, close to Peterhof, we stopped at a Russian Church. I didn’t get the name of the church. I went inside, which services were being held. Everyone stood during the service. I quietly walked around as I listened to the priest and looked at the various religious treasures in the room.

Peterhof Palace was just as beautiful and opulent as Catherine’s palace. Again we had to wear the booties to help polish the floors. The rooms were beautiful with chandeliers, dining tables with fine china (Deb was in heaven), and gold trim everywhere. Outside was the tiered fountain terrace, with statues all in gold. Gardeners were planting new flowers and bushes.

While driving back and forth to the palaces on both days, we all noticed the poverty in Russia. Huge apartment complexes abound and Ludmila told us that several families shared the small and expensive apartments. The scene is very depressing and even the people went around looking depressed. It was such a sharp contract to the riches we had seen. We also drove by a large statue of Lenin.

Back in the city, we were taken to a wonderful food hall. I was quite surprised at the quality of the food and the amount of food on display. There was packaged salmon, fruits and vegetables, fresh made cheese, and large containers of red caviar – bulk food! This is a great place for someone to pick up foods for a picnic. I sampled some pickled salmon, which was very good. I would recommend this place for any traveler to Saint Petersburg.

For lunch I selected restaurant Bliny Domik from the Fodor’s web site. It was excellent and very inexpensive! I enjoyed the chicken and mushroom bliny, along with a glass of red wine. The others enjoyed the salads, borscht, bliny with red caviar and sour cream, and croquettes. All of the portions were large and everyone walked away happy with their choices. Ludmila was quite surprised at my “find” and at how good the restaurant was. She said she would take future tourists there. Service was excellent and friendly and we were the only tourists in this small place. I was able to use my charge card since I didn’t have any rubles.

Following lunch, we visited Yusupov’s Palace (where Rasputin was poisoned, shot and later thrown into the Neva River where he died from drowning) with its fabulous two-story private theatre, and St. Isaac’s Cathedral. It is the third largest domed Cathedral. It is magnificent inside. There is a large stained glass of Christ, a dove painted at the very center of the dome and other wonderful religious artifacts. I wish we had time to climb the dome for city views. Jeff’s camera crapped out so I took a bunch of pictures with his ticket. This was one place were you had to pay to take any photos.

We had the chance to stop and shop for Russian souvenirs. I bought a lovely nesting doll, some pins, and Christmas ornaments. I also purchased a bottle of vodka at a liquor store for Tony. It was dirt-cheap and if I had the space in my carryon bag, I would have bought a few bottles.

It was time to head back to the ship and leave Saint Petersburg. We had a great time on our tours and would recommend Denrus in a heartbeat. The price for the two days (per person) came to $251 plus tips for Ludmila and Nicholai. After saying my goodbyes to Ludmila, I went through customs, had my passport stamped and got on the ship.