Seabourn Pride- St.Petersburg

[English Voyager]

We are looking forward to our July cruise,especially the extra long stop over in St.Petersburg.

We propose to visit the Hermitage,and the Peterhof palace,and were wondering if anyone has other "must see" recommendations.

Look forward to any suggestions.

[billteer]

We were on the Pride in St. Petersburg in July of 2001 and it was great. We docked a few blocks from the Hermitage whereas the monster ships were way out of town.

 

You should try to see the summer palace and Catherine's palace. I'm not sure if they are on the ship's tours, but we had a driver, so we could go where we wanted.

 

You probably know that you need a visa if you are going to go out on your own.

 

Have a great trip!

 

Bill

[bgood]

English Voyager,

 

One very unusual thing that I went to see in St. Petersburg was the infant wooly mammoth that is on display in the Natural History Museum, near the Peter and Paul Fortress. It was discovered thawing in the Russian arctic a long time ago ( I read about it when I was a boy) and it has a great deal of its fur and skin intact. When found it still had flowers in its mouth that it was eating when trapped. You won't see that every day! Don't know if it would interest you, but I was rapt. They have a large collection of mammoths and mastodon skeletons there, since they pop up through the permafrost on a fairly regular basis.

 

bgood

[dsw]

I just returned from spending several days touring St. Petersburg. In addition to the Hermitage and Peterhof, I thought the following were noteworthy:

 

1. The palace in Pushkin/Tsarkoe Salo (I can't remember right now what the common reference is for this palace). The amber room is amazing.

 

2. The Russian Museum, if you have an interest in more purely Russian art.

 

3. Yusupov Palace. This is the place where the final plot against Rasputin's life was executed. There is a display in the basement that seeks to recreate the scene on the night of the deed.

 

4. St. Isaac's Cathedral -- one of the most amazing cathedrals I have ever seen. In fact, St. Petersburg still has several very impressive churches and cathedrals that are a joy to visit and tour if this is something that interests you.

 

Have a great trip. St. Petersburg is one of the most amazing cities I have ever visited.

 

Don

[English Voyager]

Many thanks for the suggestions.

Having seen various TV programmes last year celebrating St.Petersburg's 300th anniversary we are looking forward to our visit.

[rdpjva]

Hello, we're booked on the Pride from London to St. Petersburg in mid-June. Could anyone give us some idea of the temperatures both on board during the days at sea and in the various ports -- I can get the latter from weather.com, but the former are tougher to find.

 

Thanks

[billteer]

We left London on the Pride on July 4, 2001. We expected cool weather and packed accordingly. However, we had warm, if not hot, weather in all ports. St. Petersburg need air conditioning only three days per year - the three days that we were there! Can't speak for the weather in June - should be cooler. And maybe 2001 was an exceptionally hot summer.

 

Incidentally,the beginning of the cruise down the Thames with a narrator is one of the highlights.

 

Bill

[bgood]

St Petersburg in July is like Michigan in July.Can be hot or chilly, but generally kinda hot and humid. I spent a couple of summers in the Baltic and got along fine with a windbreaker and a sweater.

 

bgood

[Roger & Rita]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by English Voyager:

We are looking forward to our July cruise,especially the extra long stop over in St.Petersburg.

We propose to visit the Hermitage,and the Peterhof palace,and were wondering if anyone has other "must see" recommendations.

Look forward to any suggestions.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

I would say the Summer Palace and the Peterhof is a must. We did it last year on the Pride and had a very good time. Remember you need to get a visa if you want to explore by yourself.

 

Also, if you walk up Nevsky Propekt and go down in the underpass there are loads of kiosks selling computer software, DVDs, CDs and MP3CDs which are well worth taking a look at, even if only for the grandchildren.

 

R&R