Photos St Petersburg Catherines Block

the Church 

views around the gardens

the fountains are turned on at 11

this was the botanic house

typical of many parts of the garden

this was meant to be one of the stand out wow factors - in reality it looked like it had fallen off the back of a lorry

my 'bootees'

there had been lots of damage done when the area bombed by the Nazis

views around Catherines mansion

this empress was known as 'Elizabeth the Chubby' a virgin queen who had 3 illegitimate children, so no heir.  Her nephew became Peter 1 who was later killed in a plot by his wife who later became Catherine the Great

the music room was my favorite

a stunning tapestry

the dining room - 1,000 pieces adorn the table

the sweets table

the Summer Palace

looking towards the Gulf of Finand

A Russian sea gull - they have black heads

the Church of the Spilt Blood - nothing biblical in the name and never been a church - it was built on the place were one of the emperors were assassinated 

views from the bus

On board the Scenic Tsar

It was a chance to sleep in this morning – we were picked up at 11am and with 11 others delivered to the Scenic Tsar. We are moored on the river Neva about a half hour drive from the centre of the city.  We unpacked and settled in and got to know where things were on the boat.

Sandy and Steve had flown in today.  What a magic moment to meet up again - a true friendship which is so special to us.

The passengers were all taken for a little walking tour, then a welcoming talk from the captain.  The staff and crew are all very friendly so already we are feeling quite at home.

Dinner was a delight, although we concentrated more on chatting with Sandy and Steve than we really worried about what we were eating.

There is a busy day planned for tomorrow, so off to bed.  

our cabin with a door onto our balcony - home for the next 14 nights.

Photos June 13 Oslo to St Petersburg

view of St Petersburg from the plane

this and the next two photos are the view from our hotel window

sights of the city

June 13th Oslo to St Petersburg

An early start to the day with a drive the 50k taxi ride to the airport.  We were glad we arrived with time to spare as it was rather confusing finding where to go.  In our travels we have found some airports just make sense and it is easy to work out what is happening but not so in Oslo.  We asked one of the Scandinavian Air employees (who looked about 12) and he was able to help us, but he also accidentally upgraded us on our second leg – Stockholm to St. Petersburg.

So brekkie at the airport, then bought a book to read, have just finished Richard Flanagan’s award winning book.  So have gone for something a bit more light hearted this time.  

So off to Stockholm we had a tail wind and so it only took about 50 minutes to get there.  Wandered around a bit, had some lunch, and whiled away the time till we could board our next flight.  With much confusion with changing departure gates etc. we were glad to be on the plane.  It was then we realised we had been upgraded – handed lunch, could have had a wine or anything else we desired but we didn’t push it and just had a tea.

We had great views coming into St Petersburg.  Everything went very smoothly, through pass port control and then collected our bags and then we were met by our transfer driver and off into the traffic – our driver was a complete lunatic – a frustrated racing car driver maybe.  He caused so many drivers to slam on their brakes as he cut in, sped off only to see someone else he could cut off – we were glad to arrive at our Hotel without an ambulance or a tow truck needed.  

Our Hotel ‘Corinthia’ is quite grand – orchids everywhere – huge old style staircase on the lobby – a doorman and a bell boy – not what I was expecting in Russia.

We unpacked a little and then headed out to see the sights.  It was 6pm by then and the streets were teeming with people.  We found a park – ‘Catherine’s Gardens’.  It was a lovely oasis.  We were met by two actors dressed up for photos – she introduced herself as Catherine the Great and Peter the Great – I said ‘Glad to meet you – I’m Vivienne the Fabulous and my husband Dennis the Marvellous’ – she looked confused but went off to harass someone else instead.   Outside the gates was a gathering point for artists doing portraits for tourists.  We wandered a bit more - had a little meal and then back to the peace of the Hotel.

Photos Voss to Oslo

10.30pm last night 

sunshine at last

views from the train

ahhhh.....coffee

Oslo has a mix of old and new buildings

Den doing a 'Mat' dance

Our Hotel

June 12th Voss to Oslo

We woke to sunshine – 5am so back to sleep – still sunshine at 7am.  Pack, Brekkie check out and then off to the station to catch the train to Oslo. 

The train trip to Oslo is a much admired trip – and rightly so.  It passes little villages, farms, snow covered mountains, half frozen lakes and then slowly you start to see suburbia.  We left Voss at 9am and arrived in Oslo at 3pm.   There was a funny (now but at the time embarrassing) moment – I managed to walk along the rocking train to the ‘wash room’ and struggled to open the door.  Once inside I wasn’t sure how to lock it.  In the carriage the WC sign was green if vacant and red if occupied so – I could see a red button and a green button so I pushed the red button thinking I was locking the door – I was actually pushing the ‘emergency call for train staff’ .  When the alarm bell started beeping I realised and pushed the green button to cancel it.  There was a vast array of buttons above the taps and hand dryer – that was scary as I wondered what problem I could get into there.  The conductor greeted me as I emerged from the wash room – he smiled as I apologised – from his reaction I don’t think I was the first person to make that mistake.  We arrived at Oslo without any other problems – phew.

Oslo station was an experience with so many people rushing here, there and everywhere else.  We had taken a photo of the google map of where our Hotel was so off we set – about a 20 minute walk and there was the Bristol Hotel.

We off loaded our bags and headed out to see the sights of Oslo as we fly out in the morning.

A Kaffe Frappe was a good way to start our tour – we wandered into one shop and we thought we recognised a man – he seemed to know us too – I said Hobart? He nodded – and added that he busks as a one man band in Salamanca- small world.  We wandered through the town and on toward the wharf area – then back to a really nice area near one of the big churches for a pizza for tea.  Yep – a Pizza a glass of red Italian wine and along came a South American band – a real Norwegian experience!

So back to our Hotel to recover from today and get ready for our journey to St Petersburg tomorrow.

  

June 11th Norway in a Nutshell

Today was our big tour day – bus/ferry/train and train day.  I had finished my scarf so seeing we were going to be out in the cold it seemed a good day to wear it.

The bus stop was right outside the front of the Hotel.  Two buses headed off on the “Norway in a Nutshell” tour.  Our bus took us towards Gudvangen, lovely sights along the way but the high light was the 18% gradient road down into the valley.  The views were fabulous – I cannot do them justice so just look at the photos – imagine everything two to ten times higher bigger and that is the best I can do.

From Gudvangen we boarded a ferry to cruise through the narrow Naeroyfjord.  This was absolutely magic.  Waterfalls everywhere, huge cliff faces that were snow topped and disappeared into the white of the overhead clouds.  Once again I’ll let the photos tell the story.

We arrived at Flam.  Time for a quick lunch – hmmm a reindeer hotdog.  It was delicious – the Americans near us ordered them too and she commented that she was sure it wouldn’t be one of the specially named ones.

So at Flam we boarded the train to take us further up the mountains to Myrdal.  It was great but the ferry ride was a hard act to follow.  The train made a quick stop at the biggest waterfall and we all dashed over took photos and then back onto the train.  This area was snow covered right down to the tracks.  Very unusual they were saying seeing it is their summer.  It was very Christmas card like.

So from Myrdal we crossed to the other side of the track and boarded a local train and arrived back in Voss.  We had met some other Aussies staying at our Hotel who went on the tour so it was nice to sit in the afternoon sunshine on the Hotel terrace and chat about each other’s trips.

Tomorrow we all head off to Oslo.