Enjoy

2 years, 4 months, 2 weeks and 5 days

 That's how long the Siege of Leningrad (now known as Saint Petersburg), lasted.

I've read about and seen movies describing the unbelievable conditions that local inhabitants endured, but NOTHING underscored the realness more than this one little, black & white picture I saw, stuck in a dusty corner of Saint Isaac's Cathedral yesterday. Those are cabbages growing on every square foot of the church's land.

I can't NOT remind everyone that nearly 4,000 people died of starvation on Christmas Day, 1941 -- and that more than 600,000 perished.

Sorry. Just needed to pay tribute.

Geri

Back Aboard the Explorer

We're sitting in the Observation Lounge waiting to cast off of the St Petersburg pier after 6 passes through Russian immigration in 2 days (I'm sure they'll see this post before you do).

I was looking at my stamped passport wondering why they skipped so many blank pages, but didn't use the last?

Hmmm, page 24 shows a bear eating a fish, while the next page shows the Statue of Liberty. 

Coincidence?

OMG - So Many Churches!

Well, we made it off the ship, thru Russian Customs and back on late this afternoon. If we can do it again one more time tomorrow, we'll see you all again someday.

It's nearly midnight, we.need to be up early  tomorrow and our waiter insisted on plying me with a great zinfandel tonight,  so this will be short on text and long on pictures  ...

We visited 3 St Petersburg cathedrals today, starting with St Issac.  Completed in 1858, it is one of the worlds largest cathedrals at 43000 sqft.

(stock photo, didn't bring my drone)

Our next stop was the Kazan Cathedral, completed in 1811 and inspired by St Peter's  in Rome, but with a Russian design aesthetic.

Our last stop, the Cathedral of Our Savior of Spilled Blood is named for the place Tsar Alexander II was killed in 1881. It was completed in 1907 and is currently under renovation. Unlike the others, it features 9 onion-domed cupolas, covered in gold, enamel and mosaics, and is what you likely  picture in your mind when imagining a Russian church.