We arrived at St. Petersburg, Russia well before dawn, which the captain informed us the night before, would be at 3:45. That’s right—the sun hung like a golden globe and the sky was a true azure and cloudless. How do I know this? I set my alarm because until I really saw this with my own eyes, there was no way I’d believe it. So fricking weird.

Everyone had warned us of Russian immigration. Apparently the Russians who work in that department are known for their prolonged, tedious procedures, sour dispositions, and inability to crack a smile. They didn’t exaggerate. It took 3 hours for us to ‘legally’ enter Europe. The birthday group had arranged a two-day bus tour with a company called Alla Tours. Our guide, Alex, aka Sasha, met us, and he wasn’t pleased. We were now an hour and a half behind schedule on a packed day.

Alex hurried us onto the coach and we took off. St. Petersburg traffic rivals LA’s. The streets were snarled with every kind of vehicle imaginable, but since there were six cruise lines in town, huge buses like that were the culprits.

Our first stop was, The Hermitage Museum, founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great, and is comprised of six beautiful buildings. The architecture alone is worth the visit, but the art!!! According to Alex, the Hermitage houses a total of 24 original Rembrandts, while The Rembrandt museum in Holland displays a mere 14 of his paintings.

From there we went to the Church of the Blooded, which is built upon the spot where Czar Alexander the Second was assassinated. Again, the architecture is incredible, but I found the tombs of the Czars particularly fascinating.

  

After the church, we ate lunch—Chicken Kiev no less—at a charming restaurant set in a historic building.

Then we headed out of the city and into a more rural landscape to visit the palace of Peter the Great, the Czar who founded St. Petersburg on May 10, 1703. I’ll let the pictures we took paint the picture.

The obscene opulence and elegance astounds us. We begin to understand why the revolution occurred. I’ve visited many palaces in many countries, but this is mind-numbing.

While we’ve made up time, we’re now running late for our scheduled ballet performance. The Viking’s not too thrilled about ballet, but even he enjoyed the wonderful setting and the performance of Giselle.

                                                    

It’s now near ten at night, and we’re all exhausted. So, when we discover that you have to go through Russian immigration to get back to the boat, no one’s happy. Needless to say, a copious amount of wine, beer, and margaritas were consumed once we are back on board ship.