St. Petersburg, Russia July 2021

St. Petersburg, Russia

643 km's / 4 hours on the train brought us from Moscow to St. Petersburg. At times our speed was 218 kms/hr, but we also had to go through a lot of areas at a slower speed.

 Formerly known as Petrograd (1914 -1924) and later Leningrad  (1924 - 1991) it is the 2nd largest city in Russia. Situated on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea it has a population of approx. 5.4 million.  The city was founded by Tsar Peter the Great in 1703.

Internet photo of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood (currently serving as a secular museum) was constructed between 1883 - 1907. The "on spilled blood" refers to the assassinated Emperor Alexander II in 1881.

For Craig's work we went to St. Petersburg for Navy Days - a yearly celebration of the Russian naval fleet with over 50 warships on display. 2021 marked the 325th anniversary of the fleet with President Putin in attendance. Also in attendance, during a global pandemic were WAY too many people and most without masks. We kept our distance where possible and were wearing our masks, but the streets, sidewalks and all around the downtown core were flooded with people despite large gatherings being restricted. Hopefully this doesn't cause a super-spreading fallout.

These were the crowds we faced at the parade. Everyone trying to get a good spot to view the parade. Do you see any masks being worn??? 😷It was like this all along both sides of the river.

The event honors those who have served or are currently serving and it has taken place since 1939.

The Four Seasons Hotel with a Canadian flag out front. We don't see that very often in Russia!😍

St. Isaac's Cathedral

Us up in the observation level of St. Isaac's Cathedral. There were signs and tape to keep 1.5 metres apart, but it absolutely was not being followed. We only took our masks off long enough to take the photo and then immediately put them back on. They should have been controlling the # of people allowed up there!

See, absolutely no distancing and no masks. 👿

Craig loved this sweatshirt "Hold hands, not cellphones". Ironically, I believe she was on her cellphone when he took this photo!

It was our first, but won't the the last time we go to the restaurant "Tokyo City" (as there's one in Moscow). It was quite popular, but we had a nicely isolated table to enjoy our trio of drinks. Craig a Cuba Libre and me a blueberry vodka drink. 3 for R333 (equivalent of about $5.70 Cdn)! We didn't expect them to be very good or have much alcohol, but boy were we wrong! 😜 We were pleasantly tipsy after drinking those - with dinner too.

Sunday - parade day

Image taken from globaltimes.cn of President Putin starting the parade

And the bridge goes up for the parade!

This was a weird one with a miniature version of an old ship on it.

Nice one with the lovely church in the background

Afterwards there was a mini airshow too!

Selfie as we're waiting for the crowds to disperse after the parade

 A nice old car... this shot is for you Dad. I can hear you now as you read this saying out loud what kind of car it is! lol

A lovely Georgian restaurant we stopped at for lunch after the parade

St. Isaac's Cathedral again

The incredibly ornate and beautiful St. Petersburg Mosque (opened in 1913). In 1940, Soviet authorities banned services and turned the building into a medical equipment storehouse! In 1956 it was returned to the Muslim community.

After seeing the mosque we decided to rent electric scooters. The sidewalks were so crowded with pedestrians that it was difficult to maneuver. Then we reached a park and were able to zoom. That was very short-lived, however. What we didn't know is there are "zones" for the scooters. All of a sudden our scooters started slowing down. We didn't know what was happening, and then they just stopped working altogether. Since they stopped at the same time we knew something was up. We were in a "red zone" where scooters are not allowed (around the Hermitage). The worst part is we pushed them further into this red zone and couldn't even park them there as it is not allowed and you can't complete the ride until you park it. We had to walk them pretty far to get out of this zone and finish the ride. Needless to say Craig will never be renting another electric scooter because each time he has tried, something has gone wrong! lol🛴 I also dropped my phone during this time and cracked up my new screen protector.

The Church of the Resurrection (Savior on the Spilled Blood)

I apparently didn't take very good pictures on this trip! lol

Our ride back to Moscow

There's quite the gap between the platform and the train that one could easily fall into. I wonder how many people have? It's a good foot and a half wide. 😱