May 30
Docked in downtown St. Petersburg this morning to spend 3 days of viewing the opulence of the Czars. Had our first of 5 tours on Wednesday morning and experienced our first day of clouds and rain. The tour gave us an overview of the many sights to see here by bus and canal boat (St. Petersburg is called the Venice of the north). Some of our travellers took private guides, some did the city on their own and we had a tour arranged by the ship that was very informative. We got our quote of the day from our tour guide, Catherine. Our tour took us past the ‘Aurora’ which is the gun boat used to start the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. As Catherine described it… the Aurora fired a blank shot which signaled the beginning of the attack on the Winter Palace and the start of the revolution and communism, which lasted for 60 plus years. She then added – ‘if only the gun had misfired we might have been better off’.
St Petersburg really does wow you. The lights of the city are turned on at 10:30pm each evening and with our ship docked along the Neva River in heart of everything it is a spectacular sight.