St. Petersburg, Russia

St Petersburg was the second port of call on our Baltic cruise -- what a city! I really fell in love with it -- such grandeur and elegance. Other people differed and found it depressingly shabby. I can't argue the shabby part -- the glory is clearly somewhat faded. Nonetheless, I was enchanted.

                                                                    The Hermitage

The city has a real European feel to it -- the canals are all lined with HUGE neoclassical buildings, often brightly colored (ex: the Hermitage is green with white trim, Smolny Cathedral bright blue, Petershof bright yellow with white trim), the streets include many tree-lined boulevards bordering parks, and there are statues all over. I visited Catherine's Palace and Petershof -- both overwhelmingly large, wonderful examples of the Russian Baroque (characterized by gilt, gilt, and more gilt with paintings on whatever surfaces are not glittery gold). The latter was intended to emulate Versailles, and has a fantastic series of fountains. Both were heavily destroyed during WWII and have gone through an amazing reconstruction. I also got to the Hermitage, which has an incredible art collection -- everything from DaVinci to Monet.

There are many wonderful cathedrals >throughout the city -- many of them classic examples of Russian Orthodox architecture. It's heart-breaking to hear what uses the churches were put >to during the Soviet regime -- everything from ice-skating rinks to broom factories. We didn't get to talk to your basic Russian urbanite, but the tour guides assured us that the >populace is much happier now. It was hard to tell. I'd love to spend about 2 weeks here and really have time to explore.

Mimi Santini-Ritt 2003