June 1
St. Petersburg
When last we met, we were reviewing the extraordinary art of the Kremlin. We now continue . . .
[Sasha pointing out a whole lot of big pictures hanging on a wall . . . ]
[Quite a reception . . . ]
[I’m stunned . . . ]
[A good reason for Russian relationships . . . ]
[Oh my, they rolled out the red carpet for me . . . ]
[Now becoming quite the familiar room . . . ]
[There was something about her eyes . . . ]
[That made me want to capture her from different angles . . . ]
[Across a crowded room . . . ]
[You may have noticed, I had a hard time focusing on the smaller identification plates . . . ]
[A Rembrandt, following an El Greco – ho hum . . . ]
[And another Rembrandt . . . ]
[Follow the crowd . . . ]
[The Tent Room (the roof) . . . ]
[A 2-person par-tay?]
[And throw in a couple of Rubens . . . ]
[Adam and Eve (before rent control) . . . ]
[An exterior garden, views available at no extra charge . . . ]
[As best I could discover, merely described as one of the oldest and largest chandeliers in the Hermitage . . . ]
[Hermitage Square, where it appears things may be happening for World Cup events.]
[Meanwhile, our inside tour continues . . . ]
[Obviously a warm Winter . . . ]
[Can be found in museums worldwide . . . ]
[St. George slaying the dragon, part of Catherine the Great’s collection.]
[Tapestry Corridor . . . ]
[I suspect this may be identifying an original brick wall . . . ]
[This must be something of substance – or just a place for a meet up wth Sasha? Anyway, I couldn’t find out anything about it?]
[Now allemande left . . . ]
[I need a nap . . . ]
[No, really, I need a nap . . . ]
[A nap sounds good to me too . . . ]
[But until then, this is really exciting . . . ]
[Just look at those really big pictures . . . ]
[The Malachite Room . . . ]
[Another large unknown objet d’art? I’m getting embarrassed . . . ]
[The Super didn’t care what his name was . . . ]
[In the entry area of the museum . . . ]
[They are not the Three Graces . . . ]
[They appear to be nameless . . . ]
[Back out on the street, a photographer shoots across the street between buses . . . ]
[At a bride and groom . . . ]
[With the Neva and the Peter and Paul Fortress in the background . . . ]
[Obviously a favorite photo op spot . . . ]
[Say сыр! (That’s Russian for “cheese.”)]
[The Russian naval flag on a peeling building amidst a bunch of wires.]
[Back on the boat for lunch. This is the Panorama Bar, about 3 doors from our room. Every morning at 6:00 I was always the first to greet our host, on the left. And I can no longer remember her name. Arrrggggghhh! She is from Novgorod, a city about the size of St. Paul, between St. Petersburg and Moscow. Why do I remember that but not her name?]
[But lunch was in the Neva Restaurant. Looks lovely . . . ]
[Looks addled . . . ]
[So much excitement in anticipation of the ballet . . . ]
[Yes, after a morning and afternoon at the Hermitage, we’re off to a real live Russian ballet . . . ]
[A comfy bus ride downtown . . . ]
[Vosstaniya Square is a major square in the Central Business District – the building is the Moskovsky Rail Terminal . . . ]
[We’re on the “main street” of downtown St. Petersburg . . . ]
[The street signs are on the side of the buildings . . . ]
[And this is Nevsky Prospekt, the Broadway of the city . . . ]
[Now this looks Russian . . . ]
[A big time street for shopping . . . ]
[Teens look the same everywhere . . . ]
[We’re getting close . . . ]
[But not yet . . . ]
[We’re still in the big city excitement zone – we’ll be walking through here in a couple of days . . . ]
[The Catherine Garden is the public garden in front of the Alexandrinsky Theater, between the Theater and Nevsky Prospekt. The statue is Catherine the Great . . . ]
[Imperial Alexandrinsky Theatre . . . ]
[The Alexandrinsky Theatre or Russian State Pushkin Academy Drama Theater was built for the Imperial troupe of Petersburg (Imperial troupe was founded in 1756). The theatre was opened on 31 August (12 September), 1832. Since 1832, the theatre has occupied an Empire-style building that Carlo Rossi designed. It was built in 1828-1832 on Alexandrinsky Square (now Ostrovsky Square), which is situated on Nevsky Prospekt between the National Library of Russia and Anichkov Palace. The theatre and the square were named after Empress consort Alexandra Feodorovna. The building is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments. (Wikipedia). (This is a stock photo.)]
[Back to my photos . . . ]
[Led in by our Viking lollipop . . . ]
[We’re in!]
[Pam, being the most energetic, climbed to the top tier for a photo op. I don’t have a copy of it because of my acrophobia . . . ]
[We seemed pretty high in tier one . . . ]
[This was the stuff we’d only seen on PBS . . . ]
[Impressive . . . ]
[Obviously, the local A-listers, a/k/a, the beautiful people . . . ]
[The ladies looked lovely . . . ]
[Just like at the AAHS Performing Arts Center, lots of mingling and photo taking before the performance . . . ]
[I got my ticket!]
[The obligatory chandelier shot . . . ]
[Still just milling around . . . ]
[Marina? Marina is our assistant maitre d’ shipboard and is from St. Petersburg. She’s also a hoot. This was her first ever ballet at the Alexandrinsky . . . ]
[The Super eyeballs the crowd . . . ]
[Still lovely . . . ]
[The guys looked lovely, too?]
[Thanks for getting these shots, Marina . . . ]
[And Pam must have wandered away to get a shot of Marina with us . . . ]
[Bravo!!!]
[It was Swan Lake, of course . . . ]
[After this big-time major league performance, I have to admit I was most impressed with the sets. OK, and with the dancers . . . and the orchestra . . . amazing.]
[All together now . . . ]
[The bus trip back to the boat, on which street?]
[That’s right, Nevsky Prospekt. Just checking to see if you remembered?]
[Past the train depot . . . ]
[Back in our “neighborhood” . . . ]
[Aaaaah, the Akun. Until tomorrow . . . ]
It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia. ~ Sarah Palin
Up Next: Still St. Pete
alexandriacardinals2.wordpress.com 
LOVED all the photos. Felt like I was traveling with you. Loved all the art work and the shots of the ballet. What a grand experience for all of you. Interesting stuff to be sure.
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Woo-woo!
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