RECENT ADVENTURES IN NORTHERN EUROPE

by Anita Chapel Dienstfrey

     My husband Steve and I recently returned from a cruise of the Baltic Sea, Scandanavia, and St. Petersburg, Russia. (We were in St. Pete a week before the G-8 summit.) I thought it would be fun to share a few photos and a little bit about the trip.

 anita and steve beside a lake in stockholm
Stockholm, Sweden

     Most of my favorite photos are from St. Petersburg. We saw many amazing buildings   there. These photos are of one of the most striking ones we saw on the whole trip. It's a Greek Orthodox Church called the Church of Our Savior Of Spilled Blood.

church of our saviour of the spilled blood, st petersburg, russia
 onion domes of russian church
another view of the onion domes

     The church is on the spot where czar Alexander II was assassinated  in 1881.  It was built to honor him. The entire inside of the building is mosaic, as is most of the exterior.

interior mosaics of our saviour's blood church
mosaic dome (ceiling) of the church

     The construction was funded by the Imperial family and private donors. (Obviously the peasants couldn't afford to make a donation...no tax deductions in those days.)  My camera doesn't do the building justice.

The Hermitage

the hermitage, shown over the water on a grey day
The building across water — like an impressionist painting

     The photos in this section are of the world-famous Hermitage museum, formerly the  Winter Palace of the czars.  The building was formally built for Peter the Great's daughter. (I can't even afford to buy my daughter a condo.)  The wealth of the elite is overpowering, compared to the rest of the people in the country at that time . It's understandable why the people revolted.

inlaid table of precious stones

 malachite vase
The table at left is entirely inlaid with precious stones. The vase at right is made of malachite.

      Just to give you an idea of size and scale (see below): there are over 1700 doors and over 1000 rooms in the museum! 

view that shows how BIG the building is! external shot, the grand front

     Since we were on a guided tour, we were able to get in before it opened to the public at 10:00 am. Once the doors did open officially, the building was teeming with people. We were warned almost every 10 minutes to "watch your bags".

      St. Petersburg is definitely making money on the cruise lines. There were thousands of tourists in the city on cruises. Citizens are still poor, however, by our standards. The average person makes between $400-$500 a month. About 40% of the people live in apartments in which they have to share not only the bathroom, but the kitchen as well, with other families. Those apartments cost about $80 a month.
      Although we had 2 full days in St. Petersburg, it was clear that the tour guides were using various propaganda techniques and were limited in what they could say. As they spoke, the city ws making its own statement. All the grand palaces are kept up, but most of the other buildings are literally crumbling.  

A and S in front of the "Saviour" church

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