Seeking a life less ordinary: And then they died, everyone dies in Russia ;)

So the time has came to continue the story but, first a quick note. I don't write this blog for anyone in particular, it's mainly for prosperity and so that I can remember what I did in the future. However I am curious if anyone reads this (other than the two people who had told me they do - you know who you are). So if you want, don't be shy, leave a comment at the bottom, regardless I hope this is interesting and/or useful to you :).

Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul

So day 2 in St Petersburg beckoned and began with a visit to the Fortress of St Peter and St Paul which is as old as the city itself and was originally a fortification. First a note as to the name of this post. Our amazing/lovely/crazy tour guide Anna told us many excellent and interesting stories (I wish I could remember them all!). But her stock phrase at the end of most stories was 'and then they died, everyone dies in Russia'. Today's adventures cover more of Imperial Russia and indeed, they did die :) Anyway, back to the story . . . on the way there we also got to experience our first bribe! We had to cross over a wooden bridge that was prohibited for vehicles over a certain weight (we were way over). Solution? Wait til there are no police around and slip the guard a few Roubles, love it!

The bridge: Rules? What rules!

Tombs, including that of
Catherine the Great

Tomb of Nicholas II

Within the fortress is the Cathedral of St Peter and Paul, this is where most of the Russian emperors and empresses are buried, and the place is full of tomb like sarcophagus's (which actually only date to the 19th Century I think). Something interesting I also learned is that Orthodox churches do not have pews or organised seating like you would see in a Catholic/Protestant church, however the Tsar had his own special little seat of course ;). Interestingly, the remains of the last of the Romanov's have recently been moved to the church and now are housed in a chapel just outside the main part of the church. There is also a small exhibition about the Romanov's including pictures of the last family - it was really sad as the children were so young when they were murdered.

Inside the cathedral

Next it was time to head to the world famous museum, The Hermitage. It is one of the largest museums in the world and was originally founded by Catherine the Great - but in the beginning it was only for the personal use of the family and not opened to the public until nearly 100 years later.

The museum is housed in 6 different buildings and is MASSIVE. I cannot state that enough. It is also full of tourists (and annoying ones at that - St P was full of cruise ship tourists who pushed and pushed! So I started pushing back and being very rude and I found that a successful strategy to get to see what I wanted). The museum has an extensive collection that covers many periods of art and antiquity and we only got to see a tiny bit. You can also tour the apartments of Nicholas II which have been left pretty much as when they last inhabited them almost 100 years ago. So, here are some photos for a taster of what it was like, you weren't technically supposed to take photos without permission, but it's Russia baby and I learned in a way anything goes:

Hall containing portraits of famous army generals from the war with Napolean

One of the 2 Da Vinci Madonna's on display

The Raphael Loggias - an exact copy of a gallery from the Vatican. So perfect that when the original was destroyed they came and copied this one!

Apartments of Nicholas II and his family

After the Hermitage we had some free time to explore. First we had lunch - found a small Russian chicken kebab place where we had to practice our communication skills, thankfully 'kebab' and 'coke' seem to translate into any language ;). Next we headed to the Museum of Anthropology, otherwise known as 'the museum of the deformed babies'. The museum houses lots of little exhibitions with displays about mankinds development (and they are clearly quite old) and all the labels are in Russian, except when you get to one gallery. Yes, it is a gallery full of deformed, pickled babies (or babies body parts and the odd animal too). The fact that this was the only gallery with English labels says a lot ;). It was pretty gross and also really sad - there were a lot of babies who seemed fine apart from a hare lip. Funny how something quite easily fixed now would have been so devastating in the past. Again, you weren't supposed to take pictures but my friend managed to sneak a few and I stole this from her:

You've seen one, you've seen them all.

That night we had a (baddddd) included dinner at the hotel, where they gave us sweet potato and chilli flavoured vodka. Yeah, thanks for that! Then most of headed to the ballet to see Swan Lake. I'll be honest, I'm not a ballet fan, and for the vast majority of the time I had no idea what was going on. But I can say I have done it now! We were not at the best ballet either (you could tell - they were out of sync quite a lot!), just a tourist one full of cruise ship cronies. The 'proper' ballet would have cost twice as much, but to be honest I would have paid it was it cost 60 Euro for the not so great one. But, more champanski was on hand so that helps (and for those who care/know they did the 'happy' ending, so in this case, no one did die).

That evening some of us took the chance to see more of St Petersburg at night and watch the bridges come up (fueled by vodka and champanski of course!). It was something of a 'ghost tour' too - we saw the places of many deaths, including where Rasputin was killed! We then headed onto the right side of the river and watched the beautifully lit up bridges rise in sequence. St Petersburg is a beautiful and incredibly romantic city which I think rivals the best anywhere has to offer, I hope I get to go back and watch those bridges rise again ;).