Day three - our final day here in St. Petersburg - and we are off to see Catherine The Great's Palace.
Catherine the Great was not a Russian by birth but married into the royal family. Her husband [Peter III](Peter III of Russia) was a dimwit and she had him overthrown and ultimately killed. Peter III was a grandson of Peter the Great - founder of St. Petersburg.
Here we are again. It's a bit overcast and cool this morning but it'll improve soon.
Terri and Irine outside the palace waiting for our driver Yuri.
Next Irine took us on a subway ride. The subways of St. Petersburg are famous for their opulence.
Marble walls and columns, crystal chandeliers, tile floors.
A couple shots.
The columns in the shot below are covered with carved glass.
Our final stop of the day was the Peter and Paul Fortress. This is the original site of St. Petersburg. It's Peter the great's first construction site.
The fortress is in the background.
Testing my new camera's zoom abilities again.
The cathedral at the fortress.
All royals since Peter the Great are buried in this cathedral. They are buried toward the front as their belief was that the closer they were to the religious icons the better place they would get in heaven. What kooks!
And this is the burial place of the last Tzar and his family who were murdered by the bolsheviks in 1918. It is not close to the front - it is at the very back REASON: the Tzar seeing all the bad stuff that was about to happen had abdicated the throne before he and his family were taken by the bolsheviks. So, at the time of his death he was no longer royalty - hence - no room at the front for you pal.
This link will show you some of the other tombs.
That's it for day 3. Back to the ship for a few cocktails.