FROM ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

Leaving Warsaw for St. Petersburg

SAINT PETERSBURG, May 24, 2006 - Our ride to the Warsaw airport this morning was pretty harrowing.  At times, our driver even drove on the wrong side of the road so as to get ahead of the horrendously backed up traffic.  It was all the Pope's fault.  

The Pope's fault?

Yep.  The billboards all over Warsaw were heralding a three-day papal visit starting tomorrow (May 25).  So the traffic toward the airport was already a nightmare today, as the police started to barricade the streets off in preparation for the visit.

Luckily, God intervened and helped us make our flight despite the papal interference.  He took on the image of the Marriott hotel's limo driver, a skilled professional who was determined to get us to the airport on time, no matter what, papal visits or not.  He got a big thank you and a nice tip and at the end.

The situation at the Warsaw airport mimicked the city traffic: it was a madhouse.  It seemed as if everybody was trying to leave town before the Pope arrived.  J

When I finally made it to the tarmac after all the airport security checkpoints, I found out that our airplane was no bigger than your average corporate jet (above).  Considering how strong the wind was, I figured we'd be in for a bumpy ride.  We were, but not right away.

Our take off in Warsaw was nice and smooth.  Here's an aerial view of Warsaw as we took off from the airport enroute to St. Petersburg.  The downtown area is visible in the distance in the middle of the picture.

St. Petersburg - Day 1 (May 24)

"Venice of the North"

Later on, however, things got pretty bumpy.  Our little plane was buffeted by strong westerly winds on our approach to the Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg.

Looking at the heavy clouds (above), it was evident that some sort of a (weather) front was moving in from the Gulf of Finland.

As the aircraft swayed left to right and up and down, it was quite a contrast to observe this peaceful pastoral scene below.  The black and white dots in the lower left corner of the picture are the cows grazing in a field not far from the airport. Some of them were having a nap (or were knocked down by the strong wind?). J

Anyway, we landed in one piece.  Finally down safely on terra firma, we taxied for several miles past the above domestic terminal to the St. Petersburg international building.  

The ride from the airport to my hotel was an encore of what I had just experienced in Warsaw - massive traffic jams.  Only this time, it was the rebuilding of major St. Petersburg streets, not the Pope, that was to blame.  "It will be all done by the end of the summer," a nice young driver explained.

I felt right at home.  That's just like Scottsdale.  It seems that our city fathers always do most of the digging of the streets during the busiest tourist season (the winter, in our case in Arizona).  But at least here, in St. Petersburg, they were actually restoring the "Venice of the North" to its former grandeur and beauty.

How grand?  Take a look...

Here's the Winter Palace, for example, today known as the Hermitage, an art gallery/museum that contains one of the world's richest art treasures. On Nov 7, 1917, this is where the Bolshevik Revolution started.

The gigantic square in front of the Winter Palace through which the revolutionaries charged the imperial guards on their way to taking the palace.  The monument in the middle of the square was built to celebrate the Russian victory over Napoleon.  As I walked around this beautiful city, I could not help but feel that every inch of it is soaked with history.  Make that blood-soaked in history...

A view of the imperial Winter Palace from the bridge across one of the many Baltic Sea (Gulf of Finland) inlets and canals.

Across the water, gleaming in bright sunlight, was the Peter and Paul Fortress.  That's where the remains of the Russian imperial family were interred after being given a proper memorial service at a time Boris Yeltsin was president (1998).  This is also the birthplace of St. Petersburg [click here to read more about the city's rich history].

At the other end of the bridge was the Russian naval command.  This is the view of the Winter Palace from that site.

And turning to the left at the same spot, once again one can see the gleaming steeple of the Peter and Paul Fortress in the distance.

Approaching the fortress on the other side of the bay, one can see several old tall ships moored at the dock.  This one has now been converted into a large restaurant and a night club.  

And this is the view of St. Petersburg from that ship, with Winter Palace in the middle, and the Russian naval headquarters on the right of the picture.

Getting closer to the Peter & Paul fortress, I took this shot, still standing outside its walls...

...and two close-ups right in front of the church.

As I was taking these pictures, the church bells were making wonderful music.  It turns out that the "carillons" - the bells used as percussion instruments - were first imported from Western Europe in the 15th century.  They were restored thanks to the help from the European Union which this plaque marks and explains.

From there, I decided to talk all around the fortress right at the water's edge.  The wind was still blowing with gale force from the west, and the water was as frigid as it looked dark and foreboding in this picture.  By the way, the shiny golden dome visible in the distance protruding above the Winter Palace, is the famous Isaac's Cathedral.

And then, after walking for about a mile across another bridge back into St. Petersburg, I came across what has become my favorite Russian church...

...the Church of the Spilled Blood.  With a name like that, there is, of course, a story to back it up.  At this very site, the Russian Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881 by a suicide bomber who belonged to a group of terrorists who opposed the Russian monarchy in general, and this tsar in particular. They hated this tsar because he was rather popular.  Alexander II had abolished serfdom (as it were, shortly after the U.S. Civil War that ended slavery). So they kept trying to kill him.

According to the Russian lore, a Gypsy fortune-teller had predicted that the tsar would be assassinated on the seventh attempt.  He had just survived the sixth attempt when a bomb exploded near his carriage.  But then a lone terrorist was able to get close to him and detonate the bomb that killed them both.  Guess this was the 19th century version of Al Qaeda or Palestinian suicide bombers.

Alexander II's son then ordered this church built on the very site of the murder, which now marks the center point of the church.  Here it is again, the Church of the Spilled Blood, as seen from all angles.  

I also selected one of these images for the header slide for my tomorrow's speech.

On my way back to the hotel, I walked past this building, one of thousands of beautiful old structures that grace this city's streets.  It is great that so many of them, like this French-style palace close to the Church of the Spilled Blood, are now being restored to their former glory.

You've already heard that St. Petersburg is sometimes called the "Venice of the North."  And now you can see why...

In fact, my driver, a native St. Petersburg resident, told me that the city has 300 bridges of various shapes and sizes.  Here's but one of them...

My Hotel... 

My hotel (above) is an example of one of those charming old building being restored and converted into a modern five-star hotel, while retaining the old world feel of the original dwelling.

Right next to it is this concert hall.  And across the street is the Winter Palace, the imperial residence.  Guess you could say I am not exactly in a bad neighborhood, am I? J

The hotel interior also has the old world feel to it...

...and the place is full of beautiful artifacts, such as this painting in the lobby...

...or this mirror in front of the windows that look out to the street and one of many St. Petersburg canals (Moika Canal)...

... or this lovely fireplace in the lobby bar.

And then, after a long walk it was time to relax and have a coffee and Perrier.

Afterward, I went up to the restaurant at the top floor of the hotel from where one can enjoy a panoramic view of the city.

And this is the view from my own hotel room that could be titled the "Rooftops of St. Petersburg."  Please note the time this picture was taken - 10PM!  Yes, these are also the "white nights" of St. Petersburg.  The city lies so far to the north that the sunset is now at 11PM.  But even then it never really gets quite dark.  The night, or what comes close to it around here, lasts only from 1AM till 4AM.

"Good night, and good luck!" from the Russian imperial capital.

Brief St. Petersburg History

The city of St. Petersburg is celebrating its 303 anniversary this year. Nowadays it is a megapolis with a population of more that 5 million people, a city with a fascinating history and culture.

However, if we could look at these lands back in the year 1703, we would find vast marshy lands and small villages scattered here and there. The foundation of the city dates to the time of the first construction at this place - Peter and Paul Fortress.

Peter and Paul Fortress was founded in May 1703. After the series of successful military actions against Sweden, Russian troops pushed the border far northwest, thus reconstructing the original boundaries of 1613 and gaining the outlet to the Baltic sea.

Peter the Great, then 31-year-old Russian emperor, had decided to protect the new conquered lands by constructing a fortress and by building a city - port, which very soon has become known as St. Petersburg.

The Fortress was named after St. Peter and St. Paul, two highly worshiped saints in Russia. The place that was chosen for the fortress was a small island in the delta of the Neva river called the "Hare" island. The construction works started on May 28, 1703 and this date is considered to be the birthday of St. Petersburg.

The hexagonal shape of the Fortress made it possible to build in the whole territory of the island. First constructions were made of earth and wood, but already by 1706 all wooden parts were replaced with stone. Although the Peter and Paul Fortress was built as a fortification construction, it was never used as such: never since the 1704 St. Petersburg lands were under the threat of Swedish invasion.

For almost two centuries it served as a main political prison of the country. One of the first convicts became Tsarevitch Alexey, the son of Peter I, who was against the politics of his father.

Among the famous prisoners of Peter and Paul Fortress were Dostoevsky, Gorky, Trotsky and Lenin's older brother Alexander.

The special place in the fortress ensemble belongs to the Cathedral of Peter and Paul. It was built in 1713-1733 by architect Tresini on the place of a wooden church, founded in honor of apostles Peter and Paul. The cathedral is decorated with gilded spire about 404 ft high, topped with the weather vane shaped as an Angel, who is said to watch over and protect the city. The Cathedral of Peter and Paul served as a royal burial-vault. The founder of the city, Peter the Great died, while this cathedral was still unfinished. His body was temporally placed in the specially constructed chapel and then reburied in the new cathedral.

The last burial ceremony in the Cathedral of Peter and Paul took place in the summer of 1998, on the eightieth anniversary of the execution of Nicolas II, his wife Alexandra Fedorovna, their children, and servants. The last Russian Emperor and his family are buried in the St. Catherine chapel of the cathedral.

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