Leaving St. Petersburg (from Russia) with Love

Wednesday, May 8 marked our final day in St. Petersburg.  We spent the morning sleeping in (I made it until 8 a.m., darn near a record for me as I've always ascribed to Ben Franklin's "early to bed, early to rise ..." notion).   Consequently, we intentionally missed our group's trip to the Peterhof Palace but felt o.k. about it since we'd seen Catherine's magnificent digs a day earlier and weren't sure how anything could top it.   No regrets on that but turns out the Peterhof Palace has a spectacular "Samson Fountain" in the back to represent Russia's victory over (again) the dastardly Swedes.   Oh well, next trip.

The afternoon brought a couple optional trips.  The first of these (which we didn't do) was to visit a Kommunalka.   This is a typical housing complex thrown up by the Soviets who intentionally shifted the population from 20% urban to 80% urban to work in factories (e.g., St. Petersburg's population is 6 million).   Apartments were commandeered and rearranged to put several families together.   Each had their own private room, but shared a hallway, kitchen, and bathroom.   Someone at dinner went on this excursion and their report sounded a lot like my college dorm room in Stradley Hall at Ohio State, but not nearly so nice.  While the hosts accepted their lives in this cramped environment as normal, she said it was depressing but made her appreciate her American lifestyle even more.

Canal boats line up behind us

Instead, Cheryl and I went on a canal cruise which I was all for since I'd done one in Amsterdam in 1990.  While Amsterdam may be a prettier city than St. Petersburg, seeing the city from the waterways gave a whole new perspective of its magnificence.  And, with the city celebrating its VE Day, the traffic to and from was almost nonexistent.  But the revelers were out in great numbers, waving Russian flags, singing Russian songs, and dressing up their automobiles to reflect the big party underway.  Each bridge we passed under (and there were many in a city with 696 of them!) had people hanging on the edges, smiling and waving, and having a great time.   The weather had been crappy in the morning but turned bright and sunny once again for the afternoon (a real treat because
apparently they only have about 70 sunny days in St. Petersburg each year, and we had 3 in a row!)

Onlookers share the party atmosphere of May 9, VE Day in Russia

One of the sites we saw on the canal cruise was a museum whose contents were devoted to the people of Leningrad (St. Petersburg).  1 million of them died of starvation and freezing in the 900-day long siege by the Nazi army during World War II.   Another 1 million died at the front line but the city was never taken and caused the long retreat back to Germany for their defeated army.  And, the pride of this (as well as a party day for the young) was evident everywhere yesterday.  But, suffice it to say that Russian life has been hard . .  . two revolutions, 20 million deaths in World War II, the Soviet era and all in the last century. . . .as I often feel in foreign countries, God has smiled on me to be born in the USA.

A view of Schlusselberg, fourteenth century fortress

At 7 p.m., the boat got underway for the cruise off the Neva River and toward eventual destination Moscow.  About 10 p.m., we passed Schlusselburg (Petrokrepost), a fortress that sits at the head of the Neva River on Lake Ladoga.  Built in 1323, it was captured by (guess who) the Swedes in 1611 only to be recaptured by (guess who) Peter the Great in 1702.  It served as a prison for high-ranking persons and political prisoners until 1917.  Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The lake behind it - Lake Ladoga - is the largest natural lake in all of Europe.   We motor across it for a 2 p.m. arrival in Mandrogy ("Upper Falls"), an open air museum, essentially, with a Russian entrepreneur recreating this traditional Russian village wiped off the map in World War II. 

Our entire route from St. Petersburg to Moscow is shown below . . .  .hope you'll choose to follow our adventures with us.