We start early on Sunday, as we have been warned it may take some time to progress through the Russian immigration. We have to meet our tour guide at 8 am so we head off to the ship meet ing point at 7.10. The ship is coordinating the immigration process, our number is 138. The first group of 50 are called and barely 15 mins later we are called. There are plenty of gates open and the lines have between 3 to 5 people lined up and we proceed through pretty quickly. The immigration officers are not very friendly. We find our tour and there are 15 of us with our guide Kate and driver Serg.
Kate gives us the rundown on what we will do and see today and warns us it will be a long day, she was not wrong. She is full of information and does not let up the whole day in telling us about the history of St Petersburg. Apart from the few Communist built buildings which are very bland, St Petersburg is a beautiful city with very large buildings and structures. It is very European in its outlook, and Kate informs us that Peter the great and the Romanoffs were inspired by the French style and wanted St Petersburg to follow suit. We drive to the city and our first stop is to view a cathedral/church. The churches/cathedrals are Russian orthodox. They are magnificent inside and outside. There are no pews inside as everyone stands during the service. There is so much to see and we really only have time to get an understanding of what is here.
The winter palace is incredible in size, architecture, interior and its contents. We are warned not to get lost and we are very obedient in keeping Up with Kate. We visit the Church of our Saviour of the spilled blood, another magnificent building. After lunch we go to the Yusupov Palace, which is a huge mansion that was owned by the Yusupovs. This is also the place where a plot to kill Rasputin was planned and carried out. We eventually get back to the ship at 6pm. I could go on and on about what we saw and heard, but I need to do other things.
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