St. Petersburg

Sept20, 2011. Day 1 St. Petersburg

Spent the morning seeing the highlights of historic St. Petersburg in the rain which managed to not dampen the spirits of a new adventure in a really beautiful city. The architecture is really striking. The photo here is not the typical style but certainly the most architecturally dramatic. This is the Church of the Savior of the Spilled Blood, named this because it was the site of the assassination of Czar Alexander 2. The photo can't possibly do justice to the amazing details of this structure. The city was built on swampland and has MANY, MANY canals. It kind of put us in mind of Amsterdam. Also saw St. Isaac's Cathedral, the 4th largest cathedral in the world and the Peter and Paul fortress which houses a cathedral where many former czars and their families are buried. The afternoon was free time and we spent it walking on Nevsky Prospekt, one of the main streets of the city. Showed total lack of imagination and had pizza for luch. A bit jet lagged and will have an early bedtime.