Saint Petersburg- Day 1

We were in St Petersburg for 2 days. On Day 1 we visited the Hermitage. The Louvre in Paris is massive. The Hermitage is the Louvre on steroids. And it was packed full of tourists. Actually, everything we saw in SPB was packed full of tourists. This was the entrance to the museum...it was early in the morning. When we left the lines were much longer!

Basically, we navigated through crowds and tried to get photos without too many other tourists interfering...but we often failed.

Hey we managed to snap a photo without any other tourists...! I already can't remember who's throne this was. I asked Brian if it was Peter the Great...he said "it was one of the greats, maybe..."

Kaiya with a million other tourists crowded around the famous peacock clock...which was totally cool but honestly I never could figure out how exactly to tell the time. I probably should google it sometime.

More impressive architecture...more crowds too.

We had to take at least one family photo before leaving the Hermitage. Jupiter was our lucky backdrop.

Lunch time- we had beef stroganoff and learned that beef stroganoff isn't normally served over noodles...

Next it was a hydrofoil boat ride out to Peterhof. (We have no photos of the boat ride b/c we all fell asleep and napped for the 30 min ride.) Peterhof was by far our favorite in SPB. The palace is stunning...and the gardens are too cool. Peter the Great put in all of these trick water fountains. The kids had a fun time stepping all around the different cobblestones trying to set off the water. I was more worried about them getting soaked but luckily each time the water started the kids were able to run away in time.

Not a trick fountain but a good backdrop for a family photo.

Peterhof Palace:

Family photo (and a random tourist) with Peterhof Palace in the background.

The view from the front of the palace.

Last stop of the day was the Church of our Savior on Spilled Blood. Not a fan of the name...but definitely a unique church.

The inside is so impressive...the walls might look like paintings...but all that artwork on the walls & ceilings are mosaics. Super cool.