From Catherine’s Palace we headed straight to the lunch stop – along with the other Princess coaches. (Coach #5 were already on their second course!) The tables were already set up, with a small ham salad at each place setting, half a glass of fairly sweet champagne (deliberate use of lower case ‘C’) and a shot of vodka! There was also a basket of bread and small piece of bread with red caviar. Elbow to elbow, back to back, we had hardly finished the salad when the plates were whipped away to be replaced by bowls of watery vegetable soup, then once again, the bowls whipped away very quickly and plates of what we assume was a type of chicken stroganoff, with rice and mixed peas and sweet corn.
Whilst this was going on, a 4 piece folk group played and sang and muggins got dragged up to dance with one of the ladies. How could I refuse? However, please note back in NZ, neither Ian nor Kingsley taught me Russian folk dancing… According to my greatest fan (and critic), I performed well. Sorry, no pic, as Paula was struggling with the video and only managed the last three seconds – which was the bow - to tumultuous applause (well, it will be when I have edited the video). Strangely enough, not many people on our table drank the vodka so we donated our two glasses to Rory and his friend.
One of the things I noticed in St Petersburg, was the variations of private cars. They ranged from the new Rolls Royce parked outside the 5 star hotel in St Isaac’s Square, heaps of Range Rovers, BMWs, Volvos and Mercs, to Lada’s held together with wire coathangers and many parked cars with flat tyres (slashed or deliberately let down?).
Our City tour was full on, as the city has so many beautiful buildings and on a coach, you can only normally see out of your own side. As you may notice from one of the pics, yes, there is a Ho-Ho bus.
Anna stopped at the iconic ‘Church of the Saviour of Spilled Blood’ (a bit of a difference in name from ‘Mapperley Methodist Church’…) for a 20 minute photo stop and you had to go to the rear of the building to get a decent pic, as it was not only less obstructed (other than by telephone wires) but was also catching the afternoon sun. We noted several canal boats passing by, so we are looking forward to getting some more decent pics tomorrow.
The next stop was alongside the ‘Aurora’, a warship built in 1900, but with a fascinating history. To precis it for the blog and to keep the history side to an absolute minimum (Google is still your friend), it was a signal from this ship (a fired blank) that signalled the start of the revolution. There has been talk of restoring it, but the locals feel that if it is taken away, it may never be returned to St Petersburg, its rightful home.
There was also a stop at the ‘Flying Dutchman’. This wooden ship still flies the Dutch flag as apparently, Peter the Great went to Holland having been hooked on sailing, to study ship design and building. The ship is now a restaurant and one of many highly photogenic spots for wedding photographs. The bride in this instance looked nothing like the square jawed women so beloved of Giles the famous British cartoonist, nor did any of the other brides we saw – and there were several.
Our last stop was the obligatory souvenir emporium, for 25 minutes. We have a suspicion that these emporiums, world-wide, are in cahoots with the Cruise lines, as rarely is there a Princess tour (or Royal Caribbean for that matter, judging by the plaque on the wall inside) that doesn’t include a shop of this type, complete with attendants outside, who put out road cones just for the tour coaches. They also usually offer free tea and coffee and toilet facilities. No matter, Anna did an excellent job, was very well organised in terms of the count and was very informative without being irritating or totally non-stop. Top marks for her and even though we were in port overnight anyway, back on time too.
I mentioned that bus 5 was in the restaurant and out again before us and we found out later that their guide rushed them everywhere, gave them no time at all to dawdle until the end of the tour when she found she was about an hour early. Apparently, much of the rush was due to a potentially hefty fine from the cruise company if late back. Doubtful that Princess would even have even noticed. We obviously had a better organised, far more experienced guide. As always with tours, Princess or private, they can be enhanced or ruined by the guide.
With the Wimbledon tennis final and the British F1 Grand Prix on this Sunday afternoon (we are 3 hours ahead of England) after a quick call into the International Café, (the quiche and Waldorf chicken salad is getting to be a habit) we headed for the cabin where Paula was glued to the TV – so glued, that we had to rush out after the 4th set, raid the buffet and rush back again with the food, for the nail biting final.
At 10:15pm, despite the long day, we returned to the Explorer’s lounge for a musical concert, fronted by the orchestra’s reed player, so we settled down to listen. Why is it that some rude people go to these concerts then yak non-stop? A table of 4 behind us were discussing their preferences as to Coronation St characters! Despite the small glass of port as our relaxation, we just had to move after two numbers, otherwise there would have been an instance of concert rage.
We moved to the far side of the lounge, but lo and behold, two women centre middle were also yakking throughout. Grrr! My hearing isn’t too good these days, so if I can hear them above the amplified music, they couldn’t have been very quiet. Otherwise, a good concert. The Princess musicians are all extremely competent sight readers and solo performances like this where they can do their own thing, are often a revelation. A pity that it had to be 10:30pm after such a long day with such a small appreciative audience.
We wandered outside on deck afterwards, where it was still fairly light at 11:03pm - because the dockside clock said so – and we noted several crew members heading off for a rare opportunity to sample the local night life. We did chat to a Ukrainian pastry chef who was leaning on the railing, also surveying the constant stream of crew members heading away.
A more leisurely day planned tomorrow with an afternoon river and canal cruise, so a lie in is possible.
With such a great sunny day today, the forecast is looking good for tomorrow. How lucky is that?
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