Saint Petersburg

Chris had to go to St. Petersburg for about 10 days for work.  There is a US Consulate building there and the Moscow guys come up and help sometimes.  It just so happens that it was our anniversary while he was there so, I farmed out the kids and went up for the weekend.  

Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood
This marvelous Russian style church was built on the spot where Emperor Alexander II was assassinated in 1881

Palace Square

Standing in the middle of the square, in one direction is the yellow building and in the other direction is the Winter Palace.  These of course were taken on different days.  We did not go into any of this on this trip but have on a previous trip.  

From the 1760s onwards the Winter Palace was the main residence of the Russian Tsars.  Magnificently located on the bank of the Neva River, this Baroque-style palace is perhaps St. Petersburg's most impressive attraction.  Many visitors also know it as the main building of the Hermitage Museum.  The green and white three story palace boasts of 1,786 doors, 1,945 windows and 1,057 elegantly and lavishly decorated halls and rooms, many of which are open to the public

Smolny Cathedral was built as a convent during 1700s.  Today the main center building is used as a concert hall and the outer buildings are used as government buildings and various offices.  We were able to clume up to the top of the right side of the center building.

EK Store 
This was the coolest store ever.  In the center of the store there is a big palm tree with tables and benches all around it, we sat there and ate cookies and drank tea.  You can buy cheese, desserts, caviar, meat, and candies.  It was super cool!

Gostiny Dvor

Cunstructed between 1757 and 1785, Gostiny Dvor has the reputation for being one of the world's first shopping malls and occupies a whole city block on Nevsky Prospekt.

 Lots of canals in St. Pete

Weird wax museum that Chris found down some alley...  It was one of those experiences that could have ended up on 48 Hours.

Misc shots

Chess board made entirely out of chocolate.  I might be willing to learn to play chess if I had this board.

The pink building in the middle-ish is the US Consolate.  They have gotten new land and are going to build a brand new building in the next couple of years.  

Chris dropping me off at the train station.  Good bye for 3 more days.