Sightseeing!

Since being in Russia, we have had the chance to go sightseeing.  Every weekend, well, the past two, we have gone and seen the city with our very own personal tour guide.  Her name is Svete.  She is amazing.  According to the other girls, she is the best thing that has happen to Russia.  Haha, she makes me laugh.  Svete is super fun, and really nice, and super energetic.  We will be at sight, and she’ll say something like, “In 5 steps, you will say oooooooohhhhhhh”!  It is a true story when she says that.  Oh Svete, we would be a little lost without her.

St. Isaac Cathedral

 The first excursion, as she calls them, we went downtown St. Petersburg.  We were gone from noon to about 5.  It was a lot of walking.  We saw a lot though.  The first thing we saw was St. Isaac Cathedral.  (Thanks Andrew for the picture).  One day, we are going to go inside, and see the museum.  Also we are going to go outside, and see the view.  According to Svete, when the leaves change colors, it looks amazing!

Mariinsky Palace

We also saw, Mariinsky Palace.  It was the Palace for Marie, one of the noble's family members.  

Peter the Great

We walked more, and saw a statue dedicated to Peter the Great.  On the statue, Peter the Great is on a horse, and the horse is standing on a snake.  The snake represents his enemies.

Neva River with Cruise Ships

Continuing on our walk we saw the Neva River.  Which is a huge river in the middle of St. Petersburg.  I believe it is the biggest in St. Petersburg.  It flows from the Gulf of Finland/Baltic Sea inland to a Lake farther west than St. Petersburg.  You can even have cruise ships on this river.  It is that big.  I think Svete said that it is as deep as 8 or more stories.  That is a deep river.   The Metro even goes under it.  So the Metro is super deep too.

Winter Palace

We also saw the Winter Palace, which belonged to Peter the Great.  The Winter Palace is part of the famously huge museum named the Hermitage.  The Winter Palace is HUGE!  It has over 1000 rooms, doors, windows, and I don't remember what else about it.  It is so ornate, and classy, and green.  A lot of the building here are different colors.  

Alexsandrisky Pillar

Right by the Winter Palace, there is a huge open area.  In the middle of it is a pillar called the Alexsandrisky Pillar.  It is I think the second biggest pillar free standing.  Svete said that it took under two hours to raise it.  That pillar is real tall.  In this area we also met a group of Sailors, or whatever they are.  We got our picture taken with them.  It was funny.  We didn't speak each other's language, and when Svete asked if we could take a picture, they were way too happy about it.  While the picture was being taken, Andrew heard one of them say in English, "Russia, Forever!"  It made all of us laugh.

Concert Hall

We walked past a Concert Hall.  I can't remember what it was called.  Something like Mailisky Kapella.  I'm not entirely sure what it was called.  I do remember it was a concert hall.

Church of Spilled Blood

After walking a little more Svete stopped us and said the "In five steps, one, two, three, four, five, you will say ooooooohhhhhhh."  Well we did.  We turned a corner and saw the Church of the Spilled Blood.  It is built on the site of the assassination of Tsar Alexander the Second.  This building is so beautiful.  There was so much details, and colors, and I believe Svete said that the pictures are all mosaics.  We took quite a few pictures here.  It was just so beautiful.  

Alexander Pushkin

Continuing our journey, we saw a statue of a famous poet to the Russians.  His name was Alexander Pushkin.  All the kids know his fairy tales, and poems.  Jessica's host sister, Kateh, went with us, and she knew who he was.  

Kazan Cathedral

I faintly remember this cathedral.  It is called the Kazan Cathedral.  I don't know much about it.

We finished the trip off with eating blini.  It was soooo delicious.  I got a ham and cheese blin, and a strawberry blin.  Oh so good.  We thought that we were done, but nope.  Svete had one more trick up her sleeve.  She showed us this place called Miracle Island.  We thought that it was a park, with swings, and slides.  False.  It is basically an amusement park.  You can get in for free, but the rides cost.  It was pretty fabulous.  We took pictures of the rides, and random statues that they had.  The girls all said that they are going to come back to ride these rides.  I don't know if this is going to happen.  Haha.

We finally went home and our legs were so tired.  We had such a good time.