St. Petersburg, by the numbers (in honor of Ms. Hutchinson who always writes the best blogs):
(We don't talk about this church, St. Nicholas, but we liked the photo)
2 - the number of times it took us to try to get to Tsarskye Selo in Puskhin. After the trains were down and our problematic map reading (who knew Moscovsky and Moscovskaya Stations weren't the same!?!), we abandoned this day trip and opted for a relaxing day in St. Petersburg and decided to try again the next day to find the metro station and bus out to this quint town. The Tsarskye Selo, or Tsar's grand palace, was built for Catherine the Great as a summer home. It's over a half mile long and was restored recently so the facade and indoor rooms are just as stunning as they were 200 years ago. The Great Hall was our favorite - 9000 sq. foot room lined on each side with gold mirrors and tall windows overlooking the majestic gardens, this would be quite the ballroom. Also, I forgot to mention the amazing amber room - floor to ceiling of mosaic amber panels that words cannot describe (and we weren't allowed to take photos).
4 - number of golden-winged griffons, sculpted by Pavel Sokolov, on the famous Bank Bridge. We stumbled upon this small pedestrian bridge over the Griboedov (Catherine's) Canal on our way home from Nevsky Prospkt one afternoon.
5 - number of pink limousines we saw on Nevsky Prospkt, the main shopping street. Many of the hummer-type limos were filled with teenagers and we saw one pull up to the McDonald's even with a photographer in tow! Weird.
29 - number of years to restore the unbelievable mosaics in the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. From floor to ceiling, 1cm x 1cm tiles were replaced after the Soviet's neglected this amazing and colorful church.
40 - the number of years it took to build St. Isaac's Cathedral (from 1818-48). It was fully restored after a period of neglect during the Soviet era and is quite impressive not only inside, but when you climb up along the dome and get a panoramic view of the whole city on a sunny, although quite chilly, day.
47 - the street address to the Nabakov Museum (which was across from our hotel), where Vladimir Nabakov (author of "Lolita" and other excellent literary works) grew up in St. Petersburg before fleeing to Europe at the beginning of the revolution.
60 - miles per hour the taxi driver drove in the middle of the city. Despite not having any freeways in town, the drivers here often reach blazing fast speeds when the light turns green, as if there is a race to get to the next light.
96 - the number of columns in the Kazan Cathedral. This Cathedral resembles the Vatican's St. Peter's on the outside but it awkwardly situated in the middle of fashion and shopping area on Nevsky Prospkt.
2.5 million - the number of annual visitors to the Hermitage Museum. With nearly 3 million items in the collection, this is definitely a place that we'll need to visit again! Despite spending an entire 8 hour day wandering the rooms and going on two guided tours of the Diamond and Gold rooms, the Hermitage's six buildings (four of which we were allowed to visit - Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage and New Hermitage) comprise about 120 rooms that were filled with archeological artifacts, art work from the 13th-20th centuries, and many gifts to the Russian tsars (or looted during the war from the Germans). In part, because this museum was the Winter Palace of the tsars, the ornate decorations made it the most impressive museum I have ever been to. It was the equivalent of the Vatican Museum, British Museum, and more in one! I was overwhelmed and extremely impressed to say the least. Next week we are headed to the Musee D'Orsay and Louvre which will be impressive as well but I doubt they will surpass the Hermitage.
A foreigner invited to one extravagant event in the Winter Palace in 1778 wrote: "The wealth and opulence of the Russian court exceed the most fanciful description… The sumptuous brilliance of the court apparel and the abundance of precious stones leave the magnificence of other European courts behind".
2 - the number of times it took us to try to get to Tsarskye Selo in Puskhin. After the trains were down and our problematic map reading (who knew Moscovsky and Moscovskaya Stations weren't the same!?!), we abandoned this day trip and opted for a relaxing day in St. Petersburg and decided to try again the next day to find the metro station and bus out to this quint town. The Tsarskye Selo, or Tsar's grand palace, was built for Catherine the Great as a summer home. It's over a half mile long and was restored recently so the facade and indoor rooms are just as stunning as they were 200 years ago. The Great Hall was our favorite - 9000 sq. foot room lined on each side with gold mirrors and tall windows overlooking the majestic gardens, this would be quite the ballroom. Also, I forgot to mention the amazing amber room - floor to ceiling of mosaic amber panels that words cannot describe (and we weren't allowed to take photos).
4 - number of golden-winged griffons, sculpted by Pavel Sokolov, on the famous Bank Bridge. We stumbled upon this small pedestrian bridge over the Griboedov (Catherine's) Canal on our way home from Nevsky Prospkt one afternoon.
5 - number of pink limousines we saw on Nevsky Prospkt, the main shopping street. Many of the hummer-type limos were filled with teenagers and we saw one pull up to the McDonald's even with a photographer in tow! Weird.
29 - number of years to restore the unbelievable mosaics in the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. From floor to ceiling, 1cm x 1cm tiles were replaced after the Soviet's neglected this amazing and colorful church.
40 - the number of years it took to build St. Isaac's Cathedral (from 1818-48). It was fully restored after a period of neglect during the Soviet era and is quite impressive not only inside, but when you climb up along the dome and get a panoramic view of the whole city on a sunny, although quite chilly, day.
47 - the street address to the Nabakov Museum (which was across from our hotel), where Vladimir Nabakov (author of "Lolita" and other excellent literary works) grew up in St. Petersburg before fleeing to Europe at the beginning of the revolution.
60 - miles per hour the taxi driver drove in the middle of the city. Despite not having any freeways in town, the drivers here often reach blazing fast speeds when the light turns green, as if there is a race to get to the next light.
96 - the number of columns in the Kazan Cathedral. This Cathedral resembles the Vatican's St. Peter's on the outside but it awkwardly situated in the middle of fashion and shopping area on Nevsky Prospkt.
2.5 million - the number of annual visitors to the Hermitage Museum. With nearly 3 million items in the collection, this is definitely a place that we'll need to visit again! Despite spending an entire 8 hour day wandering the rooms and going on two guided tours of the Diamond and Gold rooms, the Hermitage's six buildings (four of which we were allowed to visit - Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage and New Hermitage) comprise about 120 rooms that were filled with archeological artifacts, art work from the 13th-20th centuries, and many gifts to the Russian tsars (or looted during the war from the Germans). In part, because this museum was the Winter Palace of the tsars, the ornate decorations made it the most impressive museum I have ever been to. It was the equivalent of the Vatican Museum, British Museum, and more in one! I was overwhelmed and extremely impressed to say the least. Next week we are headed to the Musee D'Orsay and Louvre which will be impressive as well but I doubt they will surpass the Hermitage.
A foreigner invited to one extravagant event in the Winter Palace in 1778 wrote: "The wealth and opulence of the Russian court exceed the most fanciful description… The sumptuous brilliance of the court apparel and the abundance of precious stones leave the magnificence of other European courts behind".
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