St Petersburg…..

Imperial city of the tsars with sweeping streetscapes, magnificent buildings, opulent palaces…..such as:

..Catherine Palace at Pushkin just out of the city….something like 10 kilos of gold was used for the gold leaf on the walls of this room alone  in the palace. The palace itself is huge and surrounded by glorious gardens.

..and Peterhof with its magnificent gold fountains…

The palaces are fantastic to visit – even among the heaving crowds – but the contrast between those who lived the palace life and the rest must have been  staggering……

City of museums and culture…

The huge Hermitage with its magnificent collections, but with space for students and their learning, again the crowds – see the queue outside the building, luckily we had group tickets…

of music and ballet..
City of memories of the terrible siege during the second world war when cold, hunger and indescribable hardships caused so much suffering ..

City of religious renewal.. many of the previously closed churches have reopened. The turreted Church of the Saviour of the Spilled Blood is not one of them – it’s a museum .. but not far away is Kazan Cathedral which was full of worshippers even though there was not a service going on ..

City of everyday life ..with its reminders of the Soviet era, many many apartments, trams, busses and just generally normal life of everyday people..