Sunday the three of us arrived at the hotel around 8:30am and excitedly gathered and ate our breakfast. Once Annie and Tom showed up we finished and grabbed bottles of water for the road. In the lobby was a new tour guide (new to us, but she'd taken Annie and Tom around St. Petersburg on Friday) names Kasini. She provided a different perspective for the day with her Russian Orthodox heritage. She brought us Easter presents! Sally and I each received a fluffy egg creature on a stick, Tom and Annie got matching decorated eggs which they were supposed to hit against each other and "fight", and Todd also got a decorative egg. We loaded in the car and headed to church.
I should remember the name of the Cathedral we went to, but have forgotten. One interesting thing is that it was one of the few churches which was not closed down during the Soviet rule in Russia. I borrowed a scarf from Kasini because while not required, covering one's head is seen as a sign of respect.
We entered and could instantly tell that this church was more classically Russian Orthodox. There were minimal windows and many many decorative features. In the front of the lower level was a priest who was waving something dipped in water and chanting at people. I assume he was blessing them, but am not certain. Tom purchased candles and handed one to each of us as we went upstairs.
Russian Orthodox services typically last 4-5 hours without any seats. It was interesting to see part of a service in which people were coming and going continuously. A sermon is not part of their religious service, but it is more of a continual prayer service. The priest came out chanting and the congregation responded with "Christ is Risen" (in Russian). Individuals with candles chose a saint's image on the wall, light the candle, and place the candle in a hanging fixture in front of the picture. While this is probably sacrilegious, it felt a little like a popularity contest to an outsider. I wanted to know who the saints were and why they were chosen because I felt a little badly for those saints who did not have any candles.
The choir was beautiful. We were all surprised to find it only consisted of about 10 woman in their own clothes because it sounded like a team of 50 from behind the alter. If Julia was right on Saturday, there is no way that the woman could have been behind the alter. I am not certain if she was right, but she said that only the priests go behind the alter and men when they are baptized. She stated that according to the Russian Orthodox faith, women cannot go behind the alter because they do not have a soul. I should check into some basic tenants of their faith because that seems odd to me.
Next we got into the car and headed towards Peterhof...the drive was about an hour so most of us got a nap in along the way.
This church is not currently furnished. We found it interesting how tight security was at Peterhof. This "suburb" as Kasini kept calling it was the summer palace of the Czars. When the Germans occupied the area, Hitler planned to hold a party in the palace. Apparently, this upset Stalin so much that he bombed the building to keep Hitler from celebrating here. The Russian government has rebuilt the building in the last 50 years which is why we found it strange that photos were not allowed inside and we had to wear protective booties.
If you see a similarity to the winter palace, that's because the same architect designed this building. It's hard to see in the picture, but the far building (the actual palace) currently has a new copper roof. This is on the way to having new gold leaf placed as a finishing touch - the roof of the church was recently finished.
It would be fantastic to see these gardens when the fountains are running. I do not remember which Czar began construction of Peterhof, but I do know that his inspiration and goal was a Russian Versailles.
This is a statue of Samson breaking the jaw of an animal. I should remember the animal, but all I do remember is that it was a typical symbol of the Swedes...nothing like art to emphasize one's military power.
Scattered around the palace are an array of "cottages" where visiting members of the upper class would stay when coming to see the Czars.
Beautiful view
This particular estate is surrounded by a moat in the summer when the water starts running. Apparently the lower level was used for dining and housed the Czar and his mistress or the Czars wive and her callers whenever they scheduled rendezvous. The staff would facilitate with dinner and the one draw bridge could be raised. Seems very open and strange to me.
This fountain looked like it could easy be a water slide!
Yes, those are dragons on the fountain. Crazy, right?
Kasini planned on us driving for an hour to another palace, but all of us were ready to move on to a different kind of sight seeing. We had some trouble with our papers at Peterhof (apparently a stamp is a very important thing in certain Russian situations) and the massive crowds made for a very slow tour. Instead of another palace, we went to the Russian museum.
Here's everyone photographing the Russian museum. Inside only contains Russian art. The most captivating collection, in my opinion, centered on Lenin and Stalin. It was titled "heros and scoundrels of Russia" and included propaganda, statues, paintings, and videos. I do not enjoy reading about history, but the display made me hope for an engaging account of the rise of Communism in Russia.
After the museum it was time to get ready for the ballet! We returned to the apartment to change, met up at the hotel, and hopped in the car to go to the theatre. The show started at 7pm. It was the end of the season so the earlier ballets were packed and we were in the cheap seats at an "All Star Ballet". I was a little concerned about both of those factors, but it was fantastic! Sally had never been to the ballet before and one of the first things she did when we returned to Helsinki was check out when the ballet was showing in New York.
The theatre had many tiers, but that meant that all seats were relatively close to the stage. Todd had rented opera glasses so when I wanted to I could see the faces and costumes of the performers. The first act was a section from Carmen. Having never seen Carmen I was a little lost and would have liked the program to tell a little of the story, but it was a captivating performance. In addition to enjoying the dancing and theatricality, the music was fun for me. I have played a few collections of Carmen music in band and so recognized a few of the melodies.
We were all oo-ing and aa-ing during the break but did not know what was coming up next. The second act consisted of 8 scenes from an array of ballets. The music varied from Tchaikovsky, to contemporary, to Latin, and was really engaging. Performances were excellent and well ordered to keep being progressively more captivating. Annie was convinced that was the end because it was so spectacular. We learned that the third act was still to come but as it was already 10:15pm and we still needed to eat dinner, we found the driver and went to eat.
Kasini had made reservations for us without stating the place. We all laughed a little as we entered "Russian Vodka Number 1" for our Easter dinner. The food was good. We tried a traditional Russian Easter cake for dessert which was not quite as wonderful as I had hoped. I think I struggle with dried fruit in my food. We were the last people in the restaurant for our final half hour at least so, while very polite, it was clear the staff was glad to see us go. We hung out for awhile on the 9th floor of the hotel - this time recognizing and having stories to go along with many more of the sights.
Thanks to Todd's pushing, we cancelled the boat tour for Monday morning. Although I would have really enjoyed that method of sight-seeing, we all needed to pack out bags, turn in keys, and wanted to tour the Church on the Spilled Blood all before catching our 3:40pm train. Bedtime!
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