Novgorod
This city was so different from St Petersburg. It is about 2-3 hours south on the way to Moscow. This is a picture of a monastery which dates back to the 12th century. Novgorod has churches etc. between the 12th and 15th centuries.
Back side of monastery
Wow, a beach. We had a quick lunch at a little cafe here. Nice view.
About a mile away from the monastery is a little village with wood houses, wood crafts, anything you can think of made of wood. we walked thru the houses. pretty sweet.
Near the center of Novgorod, there are a bunch of churches. We went to the top of one and there is a great view of the water.
Back in St Petersburg, nice one of Lenin. I found it interesting that there are a few sculptures of Lenin around Russia but none of Stalin. Yeah I know Stalin was hardcore etc. but thought maybe even in Moscow there would be one of him. Nope.
Mark and Olga on the way to Peterhof
Last day of St Petersburg. So sad. Wish I could have stayed another week. We are on the hydrofoil which takes a little less than an hour to the gulf of finland to Peterhof. Helsinki is actually just 3 hours from St Petersburg. This was the best day trip of the four. Olga has Korean roots but was born in Russia and thus given a russian name at birth.
Hydrofoil
These boats are sweet and the ride was so smooth.
The baltic beer on the side was the best russian beer. Again you have to drink the dark ones #4 & #6. The rest are all light.
Welcome to Peterhof
This is Peter the Great's town consisting of his palace and 150 fountains that are all over the huge park. So beautiful here. I was lucky with the fountains since they are turned off for 6 months of the year. They have a huge celebration on May 9th but they only started having the fountains on every day last week.
How awesome is this? Peter the Great's palace is on top. The story here is the Swedes owned this place and Peter the Great won it from them on one hand of blackjack. just kidding. It was a battle, of course. So this main fountain shows a guy (on the left) opening the jaws of a lion expressing victory. The fountain goes up 20 meters, the highest in Peterhof. What is the huge buff guys name? Samson!! Now you can see why I thought Peterhof was the best.
Close up of Samson
Samson - Deuce Deuce
I told him that when he gets tired, I will jump in and give him a hand.
Olga
Every 100 yards or so there is a cool fountain in this place. Behind here is where the royal family lived.
Neptune
The myth god of water. You have to touch his feet for good luck.
Adam fountain
Eve is on the other side of the park
Nice shot of the center of Peterhof
At the end is where the hydrofoil drops you off and you walk down to the center. Also to the left and right is the huge park to walk around and see all the fountains.
We just completed the tour of the caves. You walk down and see the mines and caves. Pretty sweet. You see all the pipes that flow to the fountains. It comes in from the sea and then goes to the fountains thru all the pipes and then it is dumped into the gulf of finland. So it is automatic and nothing needs to be done to maintain the fountains. pretty amazing.
We are on the one end of the park. How it works here is you can fish for your lunch. Behind me, people catch fish and then to the right there is a place to have it cooked up. Pretty cool.
Sushi on the main street, Nevsky Prospekt!!
Since I had the best week of my life, I wanted to treat my tour guides for some sushi, Anna and Olga (Maria had to work late and couldn't make it) along with Natalia who I rented my apartment from and helped me out so much including washing my clothes! Unagi, Hamachi, Scallop hand rolls and a bunch of different cool rolls along with saki and beers. Natalia had a great joke. Right after the waitress took the picture, I looked at it and said 'Nice-she got all of the sushi in the picture' and Natalia said 'I thought that you were going to say that you were glad that she got all of us in the picture.' so funny. Great meal. Great company. Incredible city!!
