We booked two excursions through our travel agent in Chisinau. The first was a city tour, right when we landed.
We enjoyed learning more about the history of the Russian Empire. Peggy was fascinated by Elizabeth...the more she learned, the more questions she had....but we finally managed to get through a brief bio of each of the Tsars as we drove around, seeing the many palaces and points of interest.
Of course, when I read that it was possible to climb to the top of St. Isaac's Cathedral I immediately put this on our list of things to do. At some point on that narrow and crowded ascent, I wondered what I was thinking...but Peggy and I made it up to the top and back.
We usually opt to find our own way around when we travel, but this private tour was actually a nice way to get acquainted with the city and learn about Russian imperial history as soon as we hit the ground.
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| the oldest gate in St Petersburg |
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| Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood |
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| climbing to the top of St Isaac's Cathedral |
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| panoramic vistas of St Petersburg from the top of St Isaac's Cathedral |
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| Peter the Great....reminded me very much of similar sculpture in Tiraspol |
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| St Isaac's Cathedral |
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| St Isaac's Square, monument to Nicholas I |
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| one of several places we stopped for good luck -- in this case, to touch one of the griffins (we also touched the hand of a Peter the Great statue, threw coins at a hare and later at a bird...) |
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| the view of the River Neva from where we were sitting on the stairs, above photo |
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