masogni, artisan village day tour

Visited this small artisan village. Sights included old houses, a hand cranked ferry and an animal reserve with fairy tale wooden carvings on it. Met a live moose and visited the vodka museum.

rasputin tour, yusopov palace

Went to the palace where Rasputin was killed.

peterhoff visit

Visited the peterhoff palace, the fountains were turned on as it was the 9th of May celebration for the WWII victory.

hermitage, storage facilities

Couldn't take pics, but toured a small part of the offsite storage facilities of the hermitage collection. It was fascinating and immense. They also store the carriages there which was so impressive to see.

hermitage.

Went in a tour of the hermitage today which included the main rooms, the Dutch masters, impressionists and a view of the gold rooms with the gold artifacts from around 5BC. We had the place almost to ourselves in the morning, which was so special to see.

church of the savior on blood

the inside of this church is completely tiled mosaic, no painting.

may 9th celebration

The city is planning for the countrywide celebration of the may 9th defeat of the Germans in WWII, so there were many flags all over the city.

city tour, st petersburg.

We went on a city tour of st petersburg today. These are some of the sites we saw

catherines palace, pushkin

Visited Catherine's palace this morning and saw the hall of lights (similar to hall of mirrors and the amazing amber room.