RUSSIA
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Window of Europe
After sailing 1½ days on the Baltic Sea, we arrived 7 a.m. at what I consider the highlight of my trip, which was a stop in Russia at the beautiful city of St. Petersburg. Known as Leningrad from 1924 to 1991 under the communist government, the city was not conveniently accessable to the common tourists like myself just a few years ago. St. Petersburg was created by the Russian Czar Peter I in 1703 and was called Petrograd from 1914 to 1924. Similar to other post-communist cities, such as East Berlin, Shanghai and Beijing, I found St. Petersburg in the same decrepit state. Buildings, houses, roads, churches were all in various degrees of disrepair. But there were signs of re-building and the grandness and grace of this city, for many years the capital of Russia since 1712 under Peter the Great (or Peter I), still shines through the crumbling walls and peeling paints. Its history, architecture and art treasures remain the city's pillars to be known as the "window of Europe". The attached picture shows me in front of the St. Issac's Catheral, built over a 40-year period from 1818 by the French architect Auguste de Monteferrand. Unfortunately the cathedral was closed for restoration and I could not visit it. |
HOME DOVER KIEL CANAL BERLIN BALTIC SEA ST. PETERSBURG • Hermitage 1 • Hermitage 2 • Peterhof HELSINKI STOCKHOLM COPENHAGEN • Tivoli Gardens OSLO
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