The Beauty of Saint Petersburg
12:00 PM
In my last post, I brought back the mere memories I had of Moscow after a month of craziness at work. From a quick peek to Moscow, and fast forwarding to my 4 hour train ride, I find myself standing at the one of the platforms in Saint Petersburg. And so the journey in Russia continues in this beautiful European-inspired city – welcome to Saint Petersburg.
Saint Petersburg, Russia
Unlike the impression I got in Moscow, Saint Petersburg felt like a typical European city to me. The architecture, the scenery, and the diversity truly felt like I was in Europe. For example, Nevsky Prospect feels like Champs-Élysées in Paris, Via del Croso in Rome, or Las Ramblas in Barcelona. The canals perpendicular to the Nevsky somewhat mimics those in Venice, but at a larger scale. Don’t believe me? See below for a day and night view.
There are also a lot more tourist out and about in Saint Petersburg everywhere we went than opposed to in Moscow. Perhaps that’s because my friends and I didn’t hung around the touristy places in Moscow, aside for the Kremlin itself. Nonetheless, my impression of Saint Petersburg was that it was more tourist-friendly and just a lot more things to see when travelling on foot.
In this post, I will recap all the beautiful things that I saw while in St. Petersburg, the delicious traditional Russia food we ate, and a side trip to Peterhof, one of the greatest summer palaces in Russia.
The State Hermitage Museum
The first stop and probably the most tiring stop we had was at The State Hermitage Museum. This museum is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg. It is the largest museum, founded in 1764 when Catherine the Great acquired an impressive collection of paintings from a Berlin merchant. Today, this museum houses over 3 million items, including the largest collection of paintings in the world occupying a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Square including: the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage, New Hermitage and the Hermitage Theater. And no, I did not miscount the number of buildings… the sixth would be the main museum itself.
The day which we visited this State Museum, there was also an Exhibition in the Palace Square which showcased various military items in Russia. This took us a while as there were like massive tanks we never saw in real life. We also took turns holding a gun which I found quite heavy, but it was probably empty. Imagine it being fully loaded, I think I might topple over because of its weight. Here are just a few of photos of the exhibit!
The State Museum itself was full of treasures from all around the world! Aside from artifacts from Russia, there were also items from around the world. The goal a friend of mine and I had was to go through the entire museum. We don’t need to see everything in detail, a quick glance will do… and we did it within 3 hours going through all exhibits! Yes, we are crazy, but our feet felt the pain thereafter. It was worth it though!
The exhibit pretty much brought me around the world in its historic age from Ancient Rome to Europe of some century ago, and along the way, there were some Middle Eastern and Chinese artifacts. Super interesting! For museum lovers, you can probably spend days here. For me, I must admit that I’m not much of a museum person, so a good three hour running around would give you a quick glimpse of the massive collection housed in the State Hermitage Museum.
Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood
Such bloody name for such a beautiful church. This is by far the prettiest cathedral I’ve seen in Russia. Apparently, all Russian cathedrals have the bubbly rooftop looks, which gives it its surreal look – and it looks so good on pictures (minus the wires in the sky of course). This church however is no longer in use – strictly a tourist attraction, sitting on the side of one of the canals in Saint Petersburg. Ahh… so dreamy, so surreal, so European.
And here are some interior shots of the cathedral.
Kazan Cathedral
Found another cathedral while walking on the Nevsky. This one is the 5th largest cathedral in the world. Unfortunately, we did not go inside this beast, but according to travel websites, you really only want to focus on the exterior anyways for their giant columns on the outside.
Peterhof Grand Palace
To get the full experience of Saint Petersburg, one must visit the Peterhof Grand Palace, often refer to as the Russian Versailles. Russians would say this palace is much better than the Versailles given the amount of fountains in the lower garden alone. You can be the better judge here, but before I go on with sharing you just snippets of the Grand Palace, let me introduce you to the coolest mode of transportation that took my friends and I to the Peterhof Grand Palace – the hydrofoil!
So, what’s so special about a hydrofoil. From the picture above, it looks like any ordinary boat. According to my research, the hydrofoil is like a boat / plane. At its full speed, it hovers over the water like an airplane. This is what I found on google for some perspective since I was on the hydrofoil myself and couldn’t take a picture of it lifted off from the river.
The ride on the hydrofoil took approximately 30 minutes comparing to the 4 hours on the road, which gave us early access to the Peterhof Grand Palace! We were there before 11AM so the grand fountain wasn’t running yet, but we got a chance to walk around the lower garden to see a few more of the various pretty fountains in Peterhof.
Lets start off walking through the Lower Garden passing by rows and rows of trees…
Here is the very first fountain we saw just shy of 11AM.
The next one is the Sun Fountain that rotates in the center and branches out like the sun’s rays.
Yes, this is also a fountain! This is one of the many trick fountains in the Peterhof Grand Palace. Tourists that don’t know will walk through this fountain and shots of water will come out from the ground. There’s actually a man sitting in one of the booths close by this fountain who will activate the switch to these trick fountains. Man, I would LOVE that job.
Here’s a view of another fountain on the west side of the lower garden.
Love this fountain so much! It’s called the Checker Fountain.
And before heading to the Palace and the Grand fountain, here’s one with Triton and the sea monster.
Heading off to the Grand Palace now finally! It’s past 11AM, and the grand fountain is running! Behind the grand fountain is Peter the Great’s Grand Palace. Sorry no pictures allowed in the Grand Palace!
More views of this beautiful fountain at all angles!
And finally, a picture of me with "Peter the Great" and "Catherine the Great".
And before we leave the Peterhof Grand Palace, let me just turn around and take a one last look at this stunning palace and its canal leading up to this BEAUTIFUL place. Sigh. Take me back.
Bridge Openings
One of the key attractions of Saint Petersburg are the numerous bridges along the Neva River. The navigation season in Saint Petersburg starts in April and ends in November. During this period, drawbridges of Saint Petersburg are opened for a few hours during the night. This meant, for tourists, a great idea to hop on a cruise boat to see this unforgettable sight at night. Opening of the drawbridge starts at around 1:25AM beginning with the Palace Bridge following by the Blagoveshchensky Bridge. Here are a few snapshots of the first 2 bridges.
If you don’t want to do a river cruise, understanding this is not for everyone, there are also spectators on both side of the road standing close to the bridge as it goes up. My Russian coworker told me that watching the bridge go up in front of her was epic too. Just make sure you are on the right side of the bridge so you can head home after it is up, and not stranded on the other side.
Aside from the raising of bridges, there of course other things, such as the night view of Saint Petersburg. One thing I love about Saint Petersburg at night is that all the buildings are lit up and it’s just beautiful; it brings out the uniqueness of each building and who can say no to extra lighting to the streets? Below is a picture of the St. Isaac Cathedral at night by the river.
Another one snap of some ordinary building as we were heading out to the Neva River. Doesn’t this remind you of Venice?
Aside from the Saint Petersburg river cruise, we also walked along the Nevsky at night. Here are some more pretty church, beautiful buildings and a quick peek on the outside of the Faberge Museum!
Faberge Museum
This was my last day in Saint Petersburg. On this evening, I will be heading back on the train to Moscow to get to Warsaw, so I can head home. Yes, no direct flight from Moscow to home. But before I leave this wonderful place, we got to see more wonderful things and absolutely beautiful things at the Faberge Museum. Who knew eggs could be such wondrous items to be displayed? I swear, Russians got it right with their version of Kinder Surprises.
Other trinkets can also be found in this little museum, here are some that I really liked!
And while this is only a museum, the rooms were well furnished as if it was a residence once upon a time!
St. Isaac’s Cathedral
Last tourist attraction of my trip was the St. Isaac’s Cathedral. Passed by this many nights but didn’t get to see it. And on the last night in Saint Petersburg, I went! This place was beautiful! The outside looks sort of like any other cathedrals, but the inside was just stunning.
Here are just a few pictures I took from the cathedral itself. Each picture on the cathedral depicts a biblical story. Isn’t it amazing, the artwork and the combination of materials they use in this cathedral?
St. Isaac Cathedral is also known for its views in the towers. If you are afraid of heights, this may not be the best place to be heading to. It’s windy and the stairs do look sketchy.
But if you do decide to go up here, you will see everything of Saint Petersburg. All the attractions, and all the gardens. It’s beautiful 
Russian Iconic Items
Who can say they’ve been to Russia without bringing back these iconic Russian items? Can you guess what they are? Please take me back to the land of Faberge and Matryoshka!
Until my next post! Thanks for reading!
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