St. Petersburg, Russia – We decided to take the 2 day tour with lunch each day (at a local off-the-way restaurant included foods that are famous in Russia and a shot of Russian Vodka) – since we will probably never coming back again and wanted to see as most as we could in the 2 days. It is said an offense if you do not drink the Vodka – Mrs. Q couldn’t – too harsh for me.
2 day tour Was not cheap, but worth it. This two full day tour combination lets you enjoy the best of St. Petersburg: Catherine’s Palace, Hermitage Museum, Peterhof Grand Palace and a city tour. In the Castles they have to put on disposable paper shoes over your own shoes to keep the floors from scratching, ruining the floors. Always ask if you can take photos where ever you go into a museum, castle, etc.
paper boots to protect their floors – one size fits all
Q-tips say: Day 1 & 2 – The best tours.We went outside of the city to the town of Pushkin (former Tsar’s Village) where we visited Catherine II Palace. Peter the Great presented this estate to his wife Catherine in 1710. It was used as the summer residence of the Royal Family. Its grandiose, white-and-gold facade stretches 978 feet. Walked through a series of magnificent rooms, including the famous the Great Hall and the Amber Room. The town of Pushkin is famous for the man it was named after – Alexander Pushkin, the most celebrated poet in the country. Then drove to the Hermitage Museum, the largest art museum in Russia and the most prestigious museum in the world. The Hermitage Museum occupies the Winter Palace, the winter residence of the Russian Tsars, and four more buildings. Mrs. Q says: If you have been to The Palace of Versailles, Château de Versailles, or simply Versailles, is a royal chateau in Versailles, many of the Palaces of Russia were similar- Ornate and gold filled. Know one really knows what happened to the original amber during the Nazi Germany occupation, so it was rebuilt. Catherine II always had to have the best. Catherine’s Palace: Amber Room, The Ballroom, Chapel.
AMBER ROOM- no photos allowed – An internet photo.
Ballroom
Chapel
Outside view of Palace
The Hermitage Museum encompasses any buildings on the Palace Embankment and its neighborhoods. Apart from the Small Hermitage, the museum now also includes the ‘Old Hermitage’ (also called ‘Large Hermitage’), the ‘New Hermitage’, the “Hermitage Theater’, and the ‘Winter Palace, the former main residence of the Russian tsars. In recent years, the Hermitage has expanded to the General Staff Building on the Palace Square facing the Winter Palace, and the Menshikov Palace. There is no way you could see this massive Museum in a day – you need a week.
The Pavilion Hall
The Ruebens Room
The Raphael Loggias-This ceiling shows the entire painting of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City Rome – panel by panel. Mrs. Q says: Yes, it does with precise detail.
Interior of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg , Russia
A room in the Winter Palace
Three grand apartment houses in a row in Russia.
Peter & Paul Cathedral – 
Inside the cathedral are the extravagant tombs of almost all the Russian rulers since Peter the Great. People still leave fresh flowers on Peter’s grave. The last to be buried here was Nicholas II and his family, who were re-interred here on July 17, 1998.
PETERHOF PALACE: Palace of Peter the Great
Peterhof Palace –
There are 64 fountains. and 37 gold gilded statues. Their waters flow into a semicircular pool, the terminus of the fountain-lined Sea Channel.
French Style interior
Catherine II had to have the best of everything, but Mrs. Q thinks that Peter the Great beats her by a mile. What do you think?
The Samson Fountain and Sea Channel
The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood –
This church was built on the site where Emperor Alexander II was fatally wounded in March 1881.
