St Petersburg - Peterhof

Fri 28 May

Another early start to visit the Peterhof Palace, which was from the Dutch for "Peter's Court" it is actually a series of palaces and gardens, laid out on the orders of Peter the Great. These Palaces and gardens are sometimes referred as the "Russian Versailles". We arrived at the palace around 9:30 and had a special entry as the general public and tour groups are not admitted until 10:30, this meant we had each room to ourselves and were able to see all the exhibits.

Peter the Great first mentions the Peterhof site in his journal in 1705, as a good place to construct a landing for use in traveling to and from the island fortress of Kronstadt and in 1714, Peter began construction of the Monplaisir ("my pleasure") Palace based on his own sketches of the palace that he wanted close to the shoreline. This was Peter's Summer Palace that he would use on his way coming and going from Europe through the harbor at Kronstadt. Later, he expanded his plans to include a larger royal chateau of palaces and gardens further inland, on the model of Versailles. Each of the tsars after Peter expanded on the inland palaces and gardens of Peterhof, but the major contributions by Peter the Great were completed by 1725.

Peterhof, like Catherine Palace, was captured by German troops in 1941 and held until 1944. In the few months that elapsed between the outbreak of war in the west and the appearance of the German Army, employees were only able to save a portion of the treasures of the palaces and fountains. An attempt was made to dismantle and bury the fountain sculptures, but three-quarters, including all of the largest ones, remained in place. The occupying forces of the German Army largely destroyed^] Peterhof. Many of the fountains were destroyed, and the palace was partially exploded and left to burn. Restoration work began almost immediately after the end of the war and is still continuing.

The name was changed to 'Petrodvorets' ("Peter's Palace") in 1944 as a result of wartime anti-German sentiment and propaganda, but the original name was restored in 1997.

The first room we entered was the Grand Throne Room which was no where as elaborate as the in Catherine Palace, in fact the whole palace is some what subdued in comparison.

We then entered the Chesma Hall which is decorated with twelve large paintings of the Battle of Chesma during the Russo-Turkish War, these were painted around 1771 by a German artist but they were criticized for not realistically depicting scenes of exploding ships, so to assist the artist Catherine II arranged to blow up a Russian frigate so he could see first hand what it looked like.

The next rooms, the East and West Chinese Cabinets were decorated between 1766 and 1769 to exhibit objects of decorative art imported from the East. The walls were decorated with imitation Oriental patterns by Russian craftsmen, and hung with Chinese landscape paintings in yellow and black lacquer, because the secret of the Chinese lacquer has been lost we couldn’t linger in the rooms as the moisture from our breath could effect the lacqer used in the restoration.

Another room, positioned at the center of the palace, bears the name of the Picture Hall. Its walls are almost entirely covered by a series of 368 paintings, mostly of variously dressed women, differing in appearance and even age, yet most were drawn from a single model. On each side of the room there is one picture of a male and no-one knows why they were included.

Moving through the palace we passed through the Divan room where Catherine sometimes received visitors and some bedrooms, also quite subdued.

The most striking part of Peterhof is its gardens and fountains, the fountains are fed by gravity through pipes made of oak trees from many kilometers away and it is still the same system as installed by Peter the Great. Throughout the gardens fountains and ponds appear at every turn ranging from “oak trees” that spurt water, a giant mushroom that rains a circle of water when you go to sit under it. Others are the gold guilded Triton fountain, two fountains with marble statues representing Adam and Eve, a chess hill, a marble chute with black and white pattern and three dragons at the top and many others.

Probably the highlight is the gold Samson fountain which spurts water six metres into the air, this is surrounded by many other gold guided statues and a chanel runs from the pool to the Gulf of Finland about half a kilometre away. This fountain and the supporting fountains are turned on at 11:00 am every day to the accompanyment of the Symphony of St Petersburg, very impressive.

On our way to Peterhof and return we passed the Russian President’s St Petersburg Palace where he hosts important guests and hold discussions. In the morning we noticed many police along the way but on our return every road, lane, dirt track or entrance to a parking area had police stationed at the entrance to the small road we were driving along as the President was expected within the hour.

We returned to the boat for a free afternoon and a chance to pack as tomorrow we leave for Helsinki.

St Pertersburg

The Hermitage

Wed 26 May

Last night we lingered over dinner and then went out on deck to watch the sunset over Lake Lodoga which has an area of 18,000 sq km and a depth of 230m. It was 10:55 when the sun finally dipped below the horizon and when Ann looked out of the cabin window at 2:30 am it was already light. This northern part of Europe is rapidly approaching the period “White Nights” when it never gets dark. In winter they only have six hours of daylight a day.

We awoke this morning to find the boat was already moored the in St Petersburg and to be greeted with heavy rain. Saint Petersburg is located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city has also been known as Petrograd, 1914–1924 and Leningrad, 1924–1991. The city is sometimes referred to in Russia as the Northern Capital. Over its history it has also been referred to as "the Venice of the north, with 101 islands and 66 canals. All but the newest and highest bridge across the river are able to be opened and for at least two hours in the early morning they are opened to allow ships access to the Gulf of Finland.

Previously this area was owned by Sweden and on 1 May 1703, during the Great Northern War, Peter the Great (Tsar Peter I of Russia) captured the Swedish Fort on the Neva River. A few weeks later, on 27 May 1703, lower on the river, 5 km inland from the gulf, he laid the foundation stone for the Peter and Paul Fortress, which became the first brick and stone building of the new city. He named the city after his patron saint St Peter the apostle. The original name was meant to sound Dutch as a result of Peter's appreciation of Dutch Culture.

The city was built by conscripted serfs from all over Russia and also by Swedish prisoners of war. Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712. In 1725 Peter died and his near-lifelong autocratic push for modernisation of Russia had met with considerable opposition from the old-fashioned Russian nobility resulting in several attempts on his life and a treason case involving his own son, in 1728, Peter II of Russia moved his seat back to Moscow but four years later, in 1732, under Empress Anna of Russia, Saint Petersburg again became the capital of the Russian Empire and remained the seat of the government for 186 years until Lenin moved it back to Moscow.

The 1905 revolution began in Saint Petersburg and spread rapidly into the provinces. With the start of WW1, the name Saint Petersburg was perceived to be too German, so in 1914 the city was renamed Petrograd, a name under which it had already been known in other Slavic languages. In 1917 the February Revolution, which put an end to the Russian monarchy, and the October Revolution, which ultimately brought Lenin to power, broke out in Petrograd. The city's proximity to the border and anti-Soviet armies forced the Bolsheviks under Lenin to transfer the capital to Moscow on March 12, 1918.

During WW2, Leningrad was besieged by Germany; the siege lasted 872 days from September 1941 to January 1944 and was one of the longest, most destructive and most lethal of any major city in modern history. It isolated the city from most supplies except those provided through the Road of Life across the frozen Lake Ladoga and more than a million civilians died, mainly from starvation. Many others were eventually evacuated or escaped by themselves, so the city became largely depopulated and most buildings were badly damaged or destroyed.

Driving around the city it is difficult to believe that the city was so badly damaged as all the buildings many dating back to the 18^th Century have been restored as they were prior to the war. The authorities were able to find plans of many of the palaces as far away as Warsaw so were able use these plans for the restorations. Today the city has a law that prevents the alteration of the building façade if the interior is being modernised, if however the building has to be demolished it must be rebuilt in exactly the old style. Pity this law wasn’t applied to St Kilda Road and Collins Street in Melbourne.

We left the boat at 10:30 to drive to the Hermitage arriving there at 12:20. St Petersburg has one car for every three people and the average traffic speed is under four km/hr and it is expected that car ownership will soon be one in two and speed will drop to under two km/hr.

The Hermitage originally the The Winter Palace was from 1732 to 1917, the official residence of the Russian Tsars and was the fourth Winter Palace built and has been altered almost continuously between the late 1730s and 1837, when it was severely damaged by fire and immediately rebuilt. The storming of the palace in 1917 became an iconic symbol of the Russian Revolution.

The State Hermitage is one of the largest and oldest museums of the world; it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great who started her art collection in 1764 by purchasing paintings from a Berlin merchant, he had put together the collection for Frederick II of Prussia who ultimately refused to purchase it. The collection has been open to the public since 1852 and its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise nearly 3 million items, including the largest collection of paintings in the world.

The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings in the main museum complex, four, namely the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage and New Hermitage, are partially open to the public. The other two are Hermitage Theatre and the Reserve House.

Arriving at the Hermitage our guide informed us that we would only see a part of the collection on display and would cover about 2km but if we wanted to see all the displays we would have to walk 32km. Included in our tour were works by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt

Raphael Leonardo da Vinci

There were several rooms of Impressionist, far more than we saw at the recent exhibition in Canberra. The collection of paintings and painters were amazing, and for several artists the Hermitage has the only known surviving examples of their work. One of the highlights of the visit was to see the 18^th Century Golden Peacock clock operating, our guide had never seen is operate in all the years she has been visiting the Hermitage.

The fact that any of the collection survived the German siege is testament to the dedication and hard work of the members of staff who were able to pack and transport across the frozen river a large part of the collection, what was unable to be moved was stored in the 7 m. thick crypt of St Isaacs Church. This Church survived the war due to its prominence, as a Russian general surmised the Germans wouldn’t bomb it as it was too valuable to them as a bombing landmark, he was correct and the balance of the collection survived. The Hermitage although badly damaged survived due to the dedication of many staff members who lived in the cellars and patrolled it during the siege putting out many fires, however it was estimated the two hectares of glass in its window was destroyed.

All our party would have liked to spend the whole day at the museum and were disappointed that the tour only allowed us three hours for the visit.

Catherine Palace

Thur 27 May

Another early start but this time we travelled on the ring road which saved us from most of the congestion. We arrived at The Catherine Palace which was the Rococo summer residence of the Russian tsars, located in the town of Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin), 25 km south-east of St. Petersburg, Russia. The residence was built in 1717, when Catherine I of Russia engaged the German architect Johann-Friedrich Braunstein to construct a summer palace for her pleasure.

Probably the most famous room in the palace is the famed Amber Room which it totally lined with amber panels backed with gold leaf and mirrors, before it was lost in WW2, the original Amber Room represented a joint effort of German and Russian craftsmen. Construction of the Amber Room began in 1701 to 1709 in Prussia and was given to Peter the Great by the Prussian King. The amber panels covered more than 55 square meters and contained over six tons of amber. The Amber Room was looted during WW2 by the Germans but knowledge of its whereabouts was lost in the chaos at the end of the war.

When the German forces retreated after the seige, they had the residence intentionally destroyed, leaving only the hollow shell of the palace behind. Prior to the World War Two, the Russian archivists managed to document a fair amount of the contents, which proved of great importance in reconstructing the palace. In 1979 craftsmen began to rebuild the Amber room with amber donated by Russian citizens. Although the room was completed, and a large part of the palaace reconstruction was completed in time for the Tercentenary of St Petersburg in 2003, much work is still required to restore the palace to its former glory.

Walking through the palace to view the many rooms with gold encrusted decorations, it is hard to believe that after the war it was just a shell but it had a history of being destroyed. Peter the Great’s daughter, the Empress Elizabeth found her mother's residence outdated and incommodious and in May 1752 asked her court architect to demolish the old structure and replace it with a much grander edifice in a flamboyant Rococo style. The palace was famed for its obscenely lavish exterior. More than 100 kilograms of gold were used to gild the sophisticated stucco façade and numerous statues erected on the roof. It was even rumoured that the palace's roof was constructed entirely of gold.

Although the palace is popularly associated with Catherine the Great, she actually regarded its "whipped cream" architecture as old-fashioned. When she ascended the throne, a number of statues in the park were being covered with gold, in accordance with the last wish of Empress Elizabeth, yet the new monarch had all the works suspended upon being informed about the expense. In her memoirs she censured the reckless extravagance of her predecessor Elizabeth; who when she died left 15,000 dresses many encrusted with diamonds but only 6 Rubles in the State coffers.

Probably the most lavish room was the Reception room where visiting dignatories were greeted, all the decorations, candle holders and door frames were gold guilded, as were the three waiting rooms, though these varied in size and decoration and the visitors importance decided in which room they waited. These rooms also have stoves for heating the room, completely covered in Delft Blue tiles, which Peter the Great originally imported from Holland, most of these stoves were 5 - 6 m. high, Ann counted eighteen and wondered what it cost Peter the Great to import them. The many dining rooms were decorated in different styles and in Elizabeth’s time a dumb waiter system was developed that allowed the dining table to be raised from the lower floor, complete with food and the table setting.

It is interesting to consider that all the restorations of Moscow and St Petersburg particularly the palaces and churches were carried out in Soviet times when these establishlishments were not in keeping with Soviet philosophy.

In the afternoon we had a bus tour of the St Petersburg highlights, churches, palaces, parks and forts but it was disappointing that although we stopped to take photographs we didn’t have time to visit any of the venues.

Mandrogi Village

During WW2 the entire village of 29 homes was burned down and the people settled in other villages. In 1996 people started to rebuild the village and today it is a thriving tourist village of 150 occupants with an additional 200 who come into work each day. In 1999 the Russian Government passed a resolution to again place the village on the Russian map.

In the reproductions of the old village houses there are many studios where the handcrafts of old are produced and the skills are passed on to younger generations and the results sold to tourists, the money is used for training, salaries and the maintenance of the village school. The village is run as a collective and it has two rules which apply to all residents without exception; nobody drinks and nobody steals. The former must be difficult as the village has a large Vodka museum which provides tastings and sells Vodka to the visitors.

Walking around the village on the dirt or stone roads we were assailed by steroid enhanced mosquitos, some of the largest and most aggressive we have ever encountered. In the village there is a large pond/lake which we presume was for breeding the mosquitos to feed on the tourists and as the area is frozen for six months of the year they have to “get in quick”.

In one little work shop a girl was making lace and to watch her shuffling twelve bobbins in her hands while weaving the lace was amazing, her hands moved so quickly it was only the clicking of the bobbins that made you aware they were changing position in her hands, how she knew which to move and to where must be the result of many years training.

There were several handcraft classes provided for the passengers in village and several took the opportunity to try the Matrioshka doll painting, they were given a nest of three and the paints and with the guidance of the teacher were able to decorate them in an hour but watching the artist in the studios painting the dolls with so much detail I would think it would take days rather than hours to complete a large one.

After three hours ashore the boat set sail, next stop St Petersburg.

Kizhi

Kizhi

Last night we were aware of several bumps and strange noises and found that we had passed through six locks during the night. The waterway we have travelled through since leaving Moscow has been very varied, some rivers, some canals and many lakes, some of the lake have been so large that we can’t see land any where around the boat.

After lunch we arrived at Kizhi an island on Lake Onega which contains a number of old wooden churches and buildings, many of which were dismantled and reassembled on the island, however the two big churches were built on the island which is an UNESCO World Heritage site. Kizhi island is about 7 km long and 0.5 km wide. It is surrounded by about 5,000 other islands, most of which are very small.

The Kizhi Pogost, as it is known in Russian, is the area inside the perimeter wall or fence and includes two large wooden churches and a bell-tower. The entire island of Kizhi is a museum with many historically significant and beautiful wooden and log structures including windmills, chapels, boat- and fish-houses, saunas, barns and granaries, and homes.

The most impressive building is the 22-domed Transfiguration Church built in 1714, the massive Transfiguration Church, known as the "summer church" is about 37m tall, making it one of the tallest log structures in the world. The smaller, ten-domed Intercession Church, known as the "winter church" because is could be heated, was built in 1764. The third structure inside the Pogost is the belltower which was built in 1874. The belltower is also constructed with walls of horizontally-fitted logs, though they are covered by exterior wooden planks and cannot be seen. All structures are made of scribe-fitted horizontal logs, with interlocking corner joinery, either round notch or dovetail, cut by axes. The pine trees used for wall construction were brought to Kizhi from the mainland, quite a feat for the 18th century.

A museum of Russian wooden architecture was created in Kizhi by Soviet authorities in 1960. Wooden structures were transported to Kizhi from various parts of the Regiion, notably the 16th century St. Lazarus church from the Muromsky Monastery, which is one of the oldest wooden churches in Russia. Another reconstructed church was built in the 13^th Century and is the oldest wooden church in Russia.

Another old building was a double story peasant home, the bottom story the animal barn and upstairs the living area, workshop and dairy storage room. The workshop contained a boat, fishing nets, horse drawn sleighs and the ramp from outside allowed horses to drags the sleighs up to the second floor. From the house it was a short walk to the sauna on the lake edge but with -30C temperatures in winter; it would have been a chilly run back to the house.

On our way back to the boat we walked up a hill to the cemetery, which contained graves many from the 1800s, some with pictures of the grave’s occupants on the metal crosses.

Shortly after the boat sailed we were invited to the sun deck for mulled wine before dinner, the wine was heated in a samovar and as the day had been chilly it was a pleasant way to warm up.

Goritzy

Sunday, 23 May, 2010
Goritzy

Some time after leaving Yaroslavl we came to last of the locks on the Volga River but this time instead of going down in the lock to sail out water was flooded in and the boat rose around ten metres. Sailing out of the lock, on a point of land before entering a lake, was the statue of Mother Volga.

During the night we entered the Shekna River and arrived at Goritzy in the morning, a little later than our scheduled time which was unfortunate given the history of the area.

Goritzy is a small village with a population of around 1300, however, it is visited by many holiday cruise ships whose passengers make the 7km journey by bus to the Kirillov-Belozersky Russian Orthodox Monastery on the shore of the White Lake (Lake Siverskoye) and we were no exception. Leaving our ship a bus took us past some fascinating wooden houses, almost all of the buildings in this region were made of wood which was not surprising given the huge woods and the large national park nearby.

There are two religious establishments in the area, the Kirillov-Belozersky monastery and the Goritzy nunnery, both of which have powerful historical associations with Ivan the Terrible. The Kirillov-Belozersky monastery features at both the beginning and end of Ivan's life. Before he was born, his parents prayed here for God to give them an heir. Then when Ivan was an old sick man dying in agony he begged the monks here to pray for God to forgive him his bloody deeds. Apparently the monks believed that the terrible Tsar had changed and were even waiting for him to become a monk, but it never happened!

The Kirillov-Belozersky monastery dates back to 1397 when monk called the Kirill (Cyril) who came from a wealthy family, decided to leave the easy life in Moscow as a result of a vision and look for a remote place where he could become closer to God and he originally built a wooden church on the site of the monastery.

The new monastery prospered and in the 16th century, it was the largest monastery and the second richest landowner in Russia and became a refuge for many nobles during the Time of Troubles. The monastery walls, 732 meters long and 7 meters thick, were constructed in 1654-80. They incorporate parts of the earlier citadel, which helped to withstand the Polish siege in 1612. Unfortunately, it couldn't resist the Bolsheviks who ordered the monks to be shot or sent to labour camps, though it was one of few monasteries which were not turned into concentration camps. The monastery managed to preserve much of its historic treasures and under Soviet control it was turned into a museum and contains the oldest surviving icons in Russia. The museum has a large collection of treasures and icons which were saved from the Bolsheviks, including items of apparel and personal possessions belonging to the founder, St Cyril.

Peter the Great also visited the monastery but not for religious purposes, taking away its bells for the metal to make canons to fight the Swedes and also forcing the young Monks into the army and navy.

The nearby nunnery was founded in 1554 by Princess Efrosiniya, the wife of one of Ivan the Terrible's sons. Unfortunately, she became one of Ivan's numerous victims, when Ivan began to suspect her and her son of treason, and the tsar had her cruelly drowned in the river Shekna. Worse was to follow, when Ivan turned the monastery into his own personal harem, his first and fourth wives were also exiled here.

After a short visit to such an interesting place we returned to the ship which sailed at 1:00 pm. About three hours after sailing we passed a Church built in the 1700s which was a victim of the flooding caused by the canal construction.

Uglich & Yaroslavl

Friday, May 21, 2010

Uglich

According to the day’s programme we were to arrive at Uglich at 2:00 pm but we tied up at 11:00, the expected delays at the locks didn’t occur. Uglich is an historic town on the Volga River, local tradition dates the town's origins to 937, it was first documented in 1148 as Ugliche Pole (Corner Field), the town's name is thought to allude to the nearby turn in the Volga River.

During the reign of Ivan the Terrible the town passed to his only brother, Yuri. After Ivan's death, his youngest son Dimitry Ivanovich was banished to Uglich in 1584. The most famous event in the town's history took place on May 15, 1591 when the 10-year old boy was found dead with his throat cut in the palace courtyard. Suspicion immediately fell on the tsar's chief advisor, Boris Godunov . Official investigators concluded however that Dimitry's death was an accident. They cut a "tongue" from the cathedral bell that rung the news of Dimitry's death and "exiled" it to Siberia.

The Romanov tsars made it their priority to canonize the martyred tsarevitch and to turn Uglich into a place of Pilgrimage. On the spot where Dimitriy had been murdered the city in 1690 built the small Church of St Demetrios on the Blood, with its red walls and blue domes. This church is very prominent as we approached the town on the Volga.

After lunch we went on a walking tour of this small town, having to run the gauntlet of 150 m. of souvenir stalls. Our walk first took us to the Cathedral of Our Saviour’s Transfiguration and then on to St Demetrios Church. After these visits we were treated to a concert by five male singers, who sang a number of religious and traditional songs. Wandering back to the ship we sailed at 6:00 pm.

In the evening as the boat sailed through Rybinskoye Reservoir on the Volga River, we were treated to a lovely sunset at 10:30 pm.

The reservoir was created in the mid 1930s when Stalin constructed the canal to complete the system from Moscow to St Petersburg, it didn’t worry him that 700 villages were flooded and thousands of people displaced. The reservoir is so large that it takes seven hours to sail across it.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Yaroslavl

Like yesterday our boat arrived several hours before the expected time and when we looked out our window at 6:00 am we were already moored.

The city founded in 1010 is preparing to celebrate its 1000^th year in September and there are several major building projects under way. The most spectacular is the rebuilding of a major cathedral destroyed by Stalin in the 1930s. In this decade Stalin destroyed thousands of Churches all through Russia and in many cases used the materials to build apartment blocks on the site.

We left at 8:00 for a tour of the city, driving past many churches and old buildings and arriving at the confluence of the local river, Kotorosi and the Volga.

From there we were taken to a small art gallery where there was a display of lacquer ware from four villages, each with a different style. Only one colour is applied at a time and then a coat of lacquer and polished and then the next colour so there may be twenty layers before the picture is finished, many of the colours are applied by a single hair brush.

Prices for the boxes range from around $120 to $6,000

From the gallery we drove to one of the oldest churches in the city which dates back to the 17th Century and belongs to the so-called Yaroslavl type (built of red brick, with bright tiled exteriors). This was the Church of Elijah the Prophet which has some of the most impressive frescoes in this region and apart from cleaning the candle soot from them they haven’t needed any restoration even after over 300 years from when they were painted.

Returning to the boat we sailed at noon for our next port, Goritzy

Farewell to Moscow

Thursday, May 20, 2010

We awoke to sunshine for our last day in Moscow and half day bus tour. Again it took over an hour to reach the city centre, if the traffic wasn’t so dangerous I’m sure a cyclist could do the trip in half an hour.

On the bus we again drove past Red Square, the Kremlin and St Basil’s Cathedral before making our first stop for a panoramic view of the outside of the New Maiden’s Nunnery, this nunnery as well as accepting Novices was also used by Noble families to control troublesome members of their family. Peter the Great banished his sister there after she tried to over-throw him and assume the throne.

In a park across the lake from the Nunnery was a statue of a large mother duck followed by a number of ducklings, this was commissioned after a visit of Barbara Bush, when the normal population of ducks on the lake were absent, and she commented about the lack of ducks.

Our next stop was at Sparrow Hills one of the highest points in Moscow (220 m.) where an observation platform provided a view over the City, the 1980 Olympic Game’s Stadium and the Moscow River, the whole area was populated with souvenir sellers hoping to relieve the tourists of the Roubles, Dollars or Euros. Our guides advised us to avoid these and to wait till we arrived at the small towns along the river where we could obtain genuine hand made items, if we wanted a souvenir.

Driving on we stopped near "bow-down hill"; metaphorically "Worshipful Submission Hill"') is, at 171.5 metres, one of the highest spots in Moscow. Its two summits used to be separated by the Setun River until one of the summits was razed in 1987. Historically, the hill had great strategic importance, as it commanded the best view of the Russian capital. Its name is derived from the Russian for "to bow down", as everyone approaching the capital from the west was expected to do homage here. In 1812, it was the spot where Napoleon in vain expected the keys to the Kremlin to be brought to him by the Russians.

Victory Park, in the 1960s, the Soviet authorities decided to put the area to use as an open air museum; dedicated to the Russian victory over Napoleon. The Moscow triumphal arch, erected in wood in 1814 and in marble in 1827. At this location we descended ninety metres to board the Metro at Victory Park Station on the Red Line.

Like many underground systems all the lines are colour coded on the maps to make it easier to find your way around. The Metro has 12 lines and 173 stations with lines being extended and new stations being added every year. In peak hour trains run every 30 seconds and then every 2 minutes and in the quiet periods every 5 minutes. Melbourne commuters “eat your heart out”. Arriving at Arbatskaya station we walked for a while along the Arbat shopping mall before being picked up by our bus to return to the boat for our 2:30 pm departure from Moscow.

Tonight we have the Captain’s reception and Welcome Aboard dinner – strange timing as we have been onboard for four days, though I supposed this is the first day of sailing.

Copenhagen and on to Moscow

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Copenhagen

After breakfast we walked about 3km to the Anglican Church of St Albans to attend the morning service. The Church is very close to the Citadel which was bombarded by the English in 1807 and now in the same area the English have established their Church. We were informed by members of the congregation that when the Church was dedicated many of the Royal Families of Europe attended, including the Czar.

We then walked to the King’s Gardens which had a lovely display of spring bulbs though many are still to flower and many of the trees still don’t have any leaves, due to the cold Spring.

The grounds are part of Rosenborg Palace which was built by Christian IV in 1606 as a country summerhouse, a small two storied house with a tower but in 1624 it was enlarged to a multi storied building with several towers.

Today the palace isn’t used as a home for the Royal family and houses a collection of personal belonging of members of the Royal Family over the past 400 years. The highlight of the collection is in a basement vault where the Danish Crown Jewels are displayed. The earliest crown dating from the 1600s was magnificent, weighing 2 ½ kg. of gold with over 1000 diamonds, the open worked metal contains 100s of tiny enamelled figures as well as other decorations and unlike the later crown the inside is similarly decorated.

From the palace we walked to the Botanic Gardens and in spite of the cold weather many people were enjoying the spring display, although it is probably several weeks away from its peak.

On the way back to our hotel we visited the Round Tower, this was completed in 1642 and is 35 m. high, this building was used as the Danish Observatory from 1650 to 1861 and also housed the university library until it out grew the rooms. The highlight of the tower is the spiral ramp which is 200 m. long and spirals around the core 7 ½ times to the top. Many people have ridden horses or driven carriages to the top and in the early 1900s a tourist drove his car up the ramp. The outside platform provides an excellent view over the city but as it was raining again this view was restricted.

In the evening we went to the Tivoli Gardens which has been the favourite recreation park for Danes

for over 100 years, though now the early idea of gardens and amusements has become much commercialised. During our walk through the gardens Ann made a new friend, Rasmus Klump.

On our last visit 24 years ago there were many more gardens and only a few restaurants and small pubs, now there are dozens and an amusement park with about double the rides of Luna Park, many that we don’t have in Australia. Rides prices range between $5 and $15 and when the $20 entrance fee is added it can be an expensive day out. There is also a “sideshow alley” with various activities to win prizes, though winners are few and far between. Meals are also expensive, we had dinner at a carvery, the equivalent of two roast dinners and half a bottle of wine cost $100.

The gardens at this time of year had large displays of spring bulbs, some of the tulips and daffodils were so large the appeared to be on steroids. The lake at the Tivoli is still the centre point of the gardens, with many restaurants around the edge and on a rock in the lake is a copy of the Little Mermaid statue; this copy of the original is owned by the family of the sculptor and has been loaned by them while the original is in Shanghai.

Scattered through the gardens are several sound shells where various concerts are held during the day, we sat and listened to a performance of a stringed orchestra, very pleasant though a little chilly with the temperature around 8C.

A highlight of the night was the parade of the Tivoli’s Boys Guard, over 50 boys dressed in Scarlet Uniforms and Busbies, which included a brass band, a gold coach drawn by to white ponies and a boy on a white horse. At the rear of the parade a group of boys dressed in naval uniforms, all the guard were carrying small rifles and the officers drawn swords, a very impressive display.

Back to the hotel to try to squeeze everything back into our cases.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Off to Moscow

Up early and after a quick breakfast we walked to the station to catch the train to the airport, the line runs to Malmo and stops at a station beneath the airport, a quick 12 minute journey. Quick check in and we declined the offer to transfer to Aeroflot Airline, I think they were over booked. We waited for our flight in the SAS lounge and were able to connect by Skype to have a quick chat with our family at home.

The flight to Moscow took two hours and on arrival we had to move our watches forward by another two hours so it appeared that the flight took four hours.

There was a long delay to pass through immigration and in spite of the delay we still had to wait another half hour before our luggage appeared on the carousel but we went straight through customs. Outside we were met with a representative from the cruise company and also sunshine, the first we had seen since leaving home. The trip to the boat took about half an hour and there were about 15 cruise boats moored along the river at the edge of a large wooded park. The park and port were built by Stalin in the 1930s.

Before dinner those on board had a welcome talk by the cruise director, many passenger were still to arrive as several flights have been delayed by the volcanic ash, hopefully they will arrive before we depart on Thursday for St Petersburg.

Our first meal was nice buffet dinner, where we were looked after by a very friendly staff, many of them from the Philippines.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Moscow - Kremlin & Red Square

The morning was spent with safety lecture and familiarising ourselves with the boat and after lunch we left on our first tour.

The drive into Moscow centre was extremely slow as the traffic moved even slower than Beijing. During Soviet times there were only 10,000 vehicles in Moscow, by the turn of the Century 100,000 and now 4 million, with an additional 3 million commuting into Moscow each day so at times it took ten minutes to cover 100 metres.

Our first stop was at the Kremlin which is the old walled city of Moscow which was built in the late 1400s replacing the old wooden wall and buildings. Grand Prince Ivan III organised the reconstruction of the Kremlin, invited a number of skilled architects from Renaissance Italy, who designed the new Kremlin wall and its towers, and the new palace for the prince. It was during his reign that three extant cathedrals of the Kremlin, the Deposition Church, and the Palace of Facets were constructed. The highest building of the city and Muscovite Russia was the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, built in 1505–08 and augmented to its present height in 1600. The Kremlin walls as they now appear were built between 1485 and 1495. Spasskie gates of the wall still bear a dedication in Latin praising Petrus Antonius Solarius for the design. Kremlin Gate & aerial view

After construction of the new kremlin walls and churches was complete, the monarch decreed that no structures should be built in the immediate vicinity of the citadel. The Kremlin was separated from the walled merchant town by a 30-metre-wide moat, over which the Intercession Cathedral on the Moat was constructed during the reign of Ivan the Terrible . The same tsar also renovated some of his grandfather's palaces, added a new palace and cathedral for his sons, and endowed the Trinity metochion inside the Kremlin. The metochion was administrated by the Trinity Monastery and boasted the graceful tower church of St Sergius, which was described by foreigners as one of the finest in the country.

The new Kremlin still contains several cathedrals, churches and palaces, many of the old palace buildings are now used as offices including the one used by the President and apart from the Presidential Guard nobody lives in the Kremlin, people come in each day to work. I wonder what the old Soviet workers thought about being surrounded by so many beautiful religious buildings.

We left the Kremlin through the same gate as we entered and drove half way around the walls to arrive at Red Square which has a history going back to the 15^th Century when it was known as Market Place. Workman were busy repairing the damage to the cobble stone caused by the parade celebrating the 60^th anniversary of the ending of WW2 and after seeing on TV, all the parades through Red Square, we were surprised how small it is. Flanking Red Square at one end is the magnificent St Basil’s Cathedral commissioned by Ivan the Terrible, beside the wall of the Kremlin is the tomb of Lenin and against the wall are the graves and memorials of many Soviet “Heroes” including Stalin and Yuri Gargarin. On the other side of Red Square is the GUM department store, the home of modern day capitalism and decadence, Stalin must be spinning in his grave.

The Moscow of today is similar to what we are used to in the West, the displays, goods and advertising posters are the same, except they are in Russian, styles department Storeand fashions and the brands are the same as found in our stores. GUM Department Store

From Red Square we drove, again very slowly to one of Catherine the Great’s palaces, where we were treated to a wonderful concert of classical, modern and traditional music performed on the traditional Russian folk instruments, including balalaikas, bayans, domras and guslies as well as other wind and percussion instruments. The musicians were students and graduates from university music school and the group was conducted by their Professor.

After the concert we returned to the boat for a late, 9:30, dinner.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Moscow – Seigiev Posad

The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius is the most important Russiam monastery and the spiritual centre of theRussian Orthodox Church The monastery is situated in the town of Sergiev Posad, about 70 km to the north-east from Moscow by the road leading to Yaroslavl, and currently is home to over 300 monks. This town is the home of Troitse-Sergieva monastery which is considered to be the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church, it was once the home of the Patriarch but he now has his palace in Moscow. The walled area contains the monastery, the home of the monks, a seminary and education establishment, and several Cathedrals, one of which contains the remains of the founder St. Sergius.

The monastery was founded in 1345 by one of the most venerated Russian saints, Sergius of Radonesh, who built a wooden church in honour of the Holy Trinity on Makovets Hill. Early development of the monastic community is well documented in contemporary lives of Sergius and his disciples.

In 1355, Sergius introduced a charter which required the construction of auxiliary buildings, such as refrectory, kitchen, and bakery. This charter was a model for Sergius' numerous followers who founded more than 400 cloisters all over Russia, including the celebrated Solovetsky, Kirilov and Simonov monasteries.

St. Sergius supported Dimitri Donski in his struggle against the Tartars and sent two of his monks, Perresvet and Oslyabya, to participate in the Battle of Kulikovo (1380). At the outbreak of the battle Peresvet died in a single combat against a Tatar bogatyr. The monastery was devastated by fire, when a Tatar unit raided the area in 1408. St. Sergius was declared patron saint of the Russian state in 1422.

This monastery is venerated by Russians and is a place of Pilgrimage, it is estimated that in modern Russia, 50% of the population have a religious belief and the visitors today covered a full range of ages from the very young to the very old.

After lunch it took two hours to travel the 70 km to return to the boat, a similar time to the morning’s trip. The wonders of modern transport.