SUNGRL

Well the food on board the Eclipse in the main restaurant wasn’t as impressive or as inspiring as we had come to expect on a cruise ship. Thank goodness for the speciality restaurants on board though.

The Tuscan Grille, an Italian steakhouse with a nouveau twist was delicious. It was situated at the back of the boat so it was nice enjoying our dinner as we navigated through the Stockholm archipelago.

Next up was Qsine which is designed to awaken your inner foodie on a culinary journey. The decor was really funky and they present you with an iPad which is your menu. They have 20 dishes from all around the world in varying sizes but along the line of a tapas menu. You go through and add all the dishes that take your fancy to your “favourites” list. They recommended we choose 5 to 6 dishes – they are all designed to share. We had chosen 7 and boy by the time we were through we were rather full.

We had spring rolls that turn up in springs, a Chinese medley which turned up in martini glasses with no stems, filet mignon presented on a painters palate with all the accompaniments ready to be painted on your steak. The steak was gorgeous and trust me we know our steak. The beef tacos come with all the ingredients to make your own guacamole and you can even make your own mojito.

The dessert menu is presented on a cube which you need to open up and change around to find all the items, one of which is the chef’s surprise. We so did not need any dessert but those waiters are so persuasive! I did feel rather ill after that meal and said next time we come here I am not having dessert – yeah right! Steve had the silver bullet which contained an ice cream, fruit and sorbet medley.

Last but not least was Murano which is a classic fine dining restaurant with impeccable service, food and food presentation. Goats cheese soufflé to start with followed by rack of lamb and finished off nicely with a valrhona chocolate dessert. Well actually it was the petit fours that finished us off – they were delightfully presented in a lovely dish. This was all washed down with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Rose. Life is grand : )

On Wednesday we spent the day in Copenhagen. We docked at 8am and weren’t sailing until midnight so it was nice to be able to take our time exploring the city. It was a lovely sunny day although the temperature only got to about 19 degrees. There were quite a few things to see so we took the Hop On Hop Off bus tour which had three routes to choose from.

Originally a Viking fishing village founded in the 10th century, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the early 15th century. It is the most populated city of Denmark, and second largest in Scandinavia, with an urban population of 1,246,611 and a metropolitan population of 1,975,361 (as of 1 April 2014). It is situated on the eastern coast of Zealand, 42 km northwest of Malmö, Sweden and 164 km (102 mi) northeast of Odense. The city stretches across parts of the island of Amager and also contains the enclave of Frederiksberg, a municipality in its own right.

Since the summer of 2000, Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmö have been connected by the Øresund Bridge, which carries rail and road traffic. As a result, Copenhagen has become the centre of a larger metropolitan area spanning both nations.

In 2012, Copenhagen was third in the ranking of the richest cities in the world in terms of gross earnings, dropping from first place in 2009. Copenhagen has some of the highest gross wages in the world. High taxes mean that wages are reduced after mandatory deduction. A beneficial researcher scheme with low taxation of foreign specialists has made Denmark an attractive location for foreign labour. It is however also among the most expensive cities in Europe.

Copenhagen were the first city in the world to officially introduce green policy. They are aiming to be carbon neutral by 2019. Cars attract an import tax of 180% so they are very expensive. They have bicycle lanes everywhere – 35,000 bicycles come into the city every day.

Copenhagen has over 94,000 students enrolled in its largest universities and institutions, including the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark and Copenhagen Business School. The University of Copenhagen, founded in 1479, is the oldest university in Denmark, and has repeatedly been ranked as one of the best universities in Europe.

As a result of Denmark’s neutrality in the First World War, Copenhagen prospered from trade with both Britain and Germany while the city’s defences were kept fully manned by some 40,000 soldiers for the duration of the war. However, during World War II, Copenhagen was occupied by German troops along with the rest of the country from 9 April 1940 until 4 May 1945. On 8 May 1945 Copenhagen was officially liberated by British troops commanded by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery who supervised the surrender of 30,000 Germans situated around the capital.

Copenhagen is home to a number of international companies including A.P. Møller-Mærsk, Novo Nordisk, Carlsberg and Novozymes. A.P. Møller-Mærsk is the largest shipping company in the world. It’s logo is a seven point star which represent the seven seas that they sail. The city also has successful business clusters in several innovative sectors including information technology, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and clean technology.

The Tivoli Gardens had been highly recommended to us so that was our first stop. Tivoli Gardens is a famous amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen. The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the second oldest amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Klampenborg. With 4.033 million visitors in 2012, Tivoli is the second most popular seasonal theme park in the world, the most visited theme park in Scandinavia and the fourth most visited in Europe, only behind Disneyland Paris, Europa-Park Rust and the Efteling.

While Tivoli looked cool we actually decided amusement parks weren’t really our thing so next stop was the Carlsberg factory. As you can imagine this was right up Steve’s alley. We decided to do the tour and it was really interesting. They main factory has been shut since 2008 due to the difficulty of getting the raw product to the site – it is very close to the centre of Copenhagen. They still operate a microbrewery from the site though with the main facilities now located in another part of Denmark. They have many offshore breweries making beer under the Carlsberg label with the yeast being supplied from the laboratory in Copenhagen – this ensures consistency in the brew. The only thing that can alter the taste of the beer is the quality of the water.

Carlsberg was founded by J. C. Jacobsen; the first brew was finished on 10 November 1847. Export of Carlsberg beer began in 1868; foreign brewing began in 1968 with the opening of a Carlsberg brewery in Blantyre, Malawi. Some of the company’s original logos include an elephant (after which some of its lagers are named) and the swastika. Use of the latter was discontinued in the 1930s because of its association with the Nazis. The company’s flagship brand is Carlsberg Beer but it also brews Tuborg, Kronenbourg, Somersby cider, Russia’s best selling beer Baltika, Belgian Grimbergen abbey beers as well more than 500 local beers.

Carlsberg is named after J.C. Jacobsen’s only child, a son called Carl. Berg mean’s hill so the translation is Carl’s Hill. Carl had a strict upbringing and was sent abroad to learn the art of brew making. J.C. and Carl didn’t see eye to eye and this was further exacerbated by Carl being well educated and having his own ideas. They ended up operating separate brew houses side by side – Old Carlsberg and New Carlsberg. Carl had been written out of his father’s will so on his father’s death all his father’s assets were put into a foundation to help all sorts of projects that benefited Copenhagen going forward.

In the early 20th century Carl got into some financial difficulty and asked the foundation for money – they originally refused but later agreed on the proviso that when Carl died all his assets were also put into a foundation. Carl agreed but there was provision for each of his children and their children etc… to be paid a lump sum annually for 50 years. He died in 1914 so in 1964 the last payments to any of his descendants were made. The foundations were eventually joined and continue to benefit Copenhagen with none of the descendants of the family benefiting directly.

In 1901, on brewer Carl Jacobsen’s initiative, the Architect Professor J. L. Dahlerup created a tower resting on four elephants carved in granite from the Danish island Bornholm. Brewer Jacobsen was inspired by this gate by the obelisk supporting elephant on the Piazza della Minerva in Rome. The four elephants each bear the initial of one of Carl Jacobsen’s four children: Theodora, Paula, Helge and Vagn. This became known as The Elephant Gate and is a landmark entrance to the brewery. To the west of the gate, Carl Jacobsen’s motto was inscribed: Laboremus pro Patria (Let us work for our country). Since then the Elephant has been a famous part of the Carlsberg Family, especially after the strong Elephant Beer was created in 1955 under the name “Export Lager Beer” and featuring the Elephant label. The Elephant is still brewed in Carlsberg Breweries in Copenhagen and exported around the world. A few markets brew their own Carlsberg Elephant beer locally according to the original recipe.

After the Carlsberg tour we caught the bus back to the city to check out the Nyhavn Canal which is also known as the longest bar in the world. It has all these bars set up alongside the canal. It had turned into a beautiful afternoon and there were people everywhere sitting on the edge of the canal. All the wooden sailing ships in the canal and the colourful 17th and 18th century townhouses alongside make it such a picturesque spot. The bars advertise takeaway beer – it is cheaper to buy a beer and go and sit on the edge of the canal and drink it.

Nyhavn was constructed by King Christian V from 1670 to 1673, dug by Swedish war prisoners from the Dano-Swedish War 1658–1660. It is a gateway from the sea to the old inner city at Kongens Nytorv (King’s Square), where ships handled cargo and fishermens’ catch. It was notorious for beer, sailors, and prostitution. Danish author Hans Christian Andersen lived at Nyhavn for some 18 years.

As ocean-going ships grew larger, Nyhavn was taken over by internal Danish small vessel freight traffic. After World War II land transport took over this role and small vessel traffic disappeared from the Port of Copenhagen, leaving Nyhavn largely deserted of ships.

Hans Christian Andersen (2nd April 1805 – 4th August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, Andersen is best remembered for his fairy tales. Andersen’s popularity is not limited to children; his stories, called eventyr in Danish, or “fairy-tales” in English, express themes that transcend age and nationality.

Andersen’s fairy tales, which have been translated into more than 125 languages, have become culturally embedded in the West’s collective consciousness, readily accessible to children, but presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers as well. Some of his most famous fairy tales include “The Little Mermaid”, “The Snow Queen”, “The Ugly Duckling”, “The Nightingale”, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and many more. His stories have inspired plays, ballets, and both live-action and animated films.

After spending a couple of hours exploring the area around the Nyhavn canal we had missed the last bus back to the boat but it was only about 2km to walk so we took the waterfront route past the Amalienborg Castle which is the winter home of the Danish Royal Family. It consists of four identical classicizing palace façades with rococo interiors around an octagonal courtyard in the centre of the square is a monumental equestrian statue of Amalienborg’s founder, King Frederick V.

The Danish Royal Family enjoys remarkably high approval ratings in Denmark, possibly ranging from somewhere between 82% and 92%. Queen Margrethe II is married to a French man who is known as the Prince Consort. They have two sons – Prince Fredrik who married Mary Donaldson from Australia, now known as Crown Princess Mary, and Joachim.

The Queen’s style of reigning is outgoing and during her reign, the royal house’s relationship with the population has become more open than before. During her annual summer cruises on the royal yacht Dannebrog, she attaches great importance to reaching all parts of the realm, including the Faroe Islands and Greenland. In addition, she has managed to give her traditional televised New Year message a personal touch, which has strengthened the monarchy’s position in the nation.

There is quite a connection between all the various royal families in Europe. The royal descendants of Queen Victoria (Queen of the United Kingdom) and of Christian IX (King of Denmark) currently occupy the thrones of Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. At the outbreak of the First World War their grandchildren occupied the thrones of Denmark, Greece, Norway, Germany, Romania, Russia, Spain and the United Kingdom. For this, Queen Victoria was nicknamed “the grandmother of Europe” while Christian IX was nicknamed “Father-in-law of Europe”. Of the remaining kingdoms of Europe today, only Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands descends neither from Queen Victoria nor Christian IX.

Not far from where our boat was docked is the Little Mermaid statue. It is a bronze statue by Edvard Eriksen, depicting a mermaid. The sculpture is displayed on a rock by the waterside at the Langelinie promenade. It is 1.25 metres tall and weighs 175 kilograms. Based on the fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen, the small and unimposing statue is a Copenhagen icon and has been a major tourist attraction since 1913. In recent decades it has become a popular target for defacement by vandals and political activists.

The statue was commissioned in 1909 by Carl Jacobsen, son of the founder of Carlsberg, who had been fascinated by a ballet about the fairytale in Copenhagen’s Royal Theatre and asked the ballerina, Ellen Price, to model for the statue. The sculptor Edvard Eriksen created the bronze statue, which was unveiled on August 23, 1913. The statue’s head was modelled after Price, but as the ballerina did not agree to model in the nude, the sculptor’s wife, Eline Eriksen, was used for the body.

We docked in Saint Petersburg at 7am Saturday morning. We are here until 6pm Sunday night which gives us two days to explore the city – there is a lot to see. We had organised a private tour with Tours by Locals and our guide Margarita met us off the boat at 9am.

Saint Petersburg is situated on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea and is considered the most European of all Russian cities. It is Russia’s second largest and Europe’s fourth largest city after Moscow, London and Paris. In 1914 the name of the city was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad, and in 1991, back to Saint Petersburg. It is built on a network of islands, featuring 65 rivers and canals that crisscross the city. Along with about 400 bridges, the city also closely resembles Venice or Amsterdam.

Saint Petersburg was founded by Czar Peter the Great on the 27 May 1703. Between 1713–1728 and 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the imperial capital of Russia. In 1918, the central government bodies moved from Saint Petersburg (then named Petrograd) to Moscow. It is Russia’s 2nd largest city after Moscow with 5 million inhabitants. The total population of Russia is 150 million.

In 1725, Peter died at the age of fifty-two. His endeavours to modernise Russia had met with opposition from the Russian nobility—resulting in several attempts on his life and a treason case involving his son. In 1728, Peter II of Russia moved his seat back to Moscow. But four years later, in 1732, under Empress Anna of Russia, Saint Petersburg was again designated as the capital of the Russian Empire. It remained the seat of the Romanov Dynasty and the Imperial Court of the Russian Tzars, as well as the seat of the Russian government, for another 186 years until the communist revolution of 1917.

The names of saints Peter and Paul, bestowed upon original city’s citadel and its cathedral (from 1725—a burial vault of Russian emperors) coincidentally were the names of the first two assassinated Russian Emperors, Peter III (1762, supposedly killed in a conspiracy led by his wife, Catherine the Great) and Paul I (1801, Nicholas Zubov and other conspirators who brought to power Alexander I, the son of their victim). The third emperor’s assassination took place in Petersburg in 1881 when Alexander II fell victim to narodniki (see The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood).

The Russian Revolution of 1917 began in Saint Petersburg when the Bolsheviks stormed the Winter Palace. During World War I, the Imperial government renamed the city Petrograd, meaning “Peter’s City”, to remove the German words Sankt and Burg.

In March 1917, during the February Revolution Nicholas II abdicated both for himself and on behalf of his son, ending the Russian monarchy and over three hundred years of Romanov dynastic rule. On November 7, 1917, the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, stormed the Winter Palace in an event known thereafter as the October Revolution, which led to the end of the post-Tsarist provisional government, the transfer of all political power to the Soviets, and the rise of the Communist Party.

In September and October 1917, German troops invaded the West Estonian archipelago and threatened Petrograd with bombardment and invasion. On March 12, 1918, the Soviets transferred the government to Moscow. During the ensuing Civil War, in 1919 general Yudenich advancing from Estonia repeated the attempt to capture the city, but Leon Trotsky mobilized the army and forced him to retreat.

On January 26, 1924, five days after Lenin’s death, Petrograd was renamed Leningrad. Later some streets and other toponyms were renamed accordingly. The city has over 230 places associated with the life and activities of Lenin.

Stallin took over from Lenin in 1924 and ruled until his death in 1953. He was a very cruel man, if you were wealthy you were an enemy and put into prison. He was widely disliked and there are no statutes or memorials to him anywhere in Russia.

During World War II, German forces besieged Leningrad following the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. The siege lasted 872 days, from September 1941 to January 1944. The Siege of Leningrad proved one of the longest, most destructive, and most lethal sieges of a major city in modern history. It isolated the city from most supplies except those provided through the Road of Life across Lake Ladoga. More than one million civilians died, mainly from starvation. Many others were eventually evacuated or escaped, so the city became largely depopulated.

1991 saw the fall of the Communist Party and the election of a President. Leningrad was renamed back to St Petersburg. Meanwhile, economic conditions started to deteriorate as the country tried to adapt to major changes. For the first time since the 1940s, food rationing was introduced, and the city received humanitarian food aid from abroad.

Ironically, those close to the power at the time of the fall of the Communist Party benefited greatly when the state assets were privatised. They managed to buy these state assets for a pittance and now they are worth billions. These new Russians, as Margarita referred to them, are known as Russian Oligarchs in the western world.

Being under soviet rule actually made the Russian people feel safe – everything was regulated and they knew where they stood. In saying that the economy has never been better than now. Putin is considered a very secretive man but has made good changes. There is still a lot of corruption in the police and government but he is trying to clean it up Government ministers are now required to declare all their income and interests.

People in urban Saint Petersburg live mostly in apartments. Between 1918 and the 1990s, the Soviets nationalised housing and forced residents to share communal apartments (kommunalkas). With 68% living in shared flats in the 1930s, Leningrad was the city in the USSR with the largest number of kommunalkas. Resettling residents of kommunalkas is now on the way out, albeit shared apartments are still not uncommon. As new boroughs were built on the outskirts in the 1950s to 1980s, over half a million low income families eventually received free apartments, and about an additional hundred thousand condos were purchased.

Saint Petersburg is a major trade gateway, financial and industrial centre of Russia specialising in oil and gas trade, shipbuilding yards, aerospace industry, radio and electronics, software and computers; machine building, heavy machinery and transport, including tanks and other military equipment, mining, instrument manufacture, ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy (production of aluminium alloys), chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, publishing and printing, food and catering, wholesale and retail, textile and apparel industries, and many other businesses.

The Saint Petersburg Mint (Monetny Dvor), founded in 1724, is one of the largest mints in the world, it mints Russian coins, medals and badges.

In 2007, Toyota opened a Camry plant after investing 5 billion roubles (USD200 million) in Shushary, one of the southern suburbs of Saint Petersburg. Opel, Hyundai and Nissan have signed deals with the Russian government to build their automotive plants in Saint Petersburg too. Automotive and auto-parts industry is on the rise there during the last decade.

Saint Petersburg is the location of a significant brewery and distillery industry. It is known as the “beer capital” of Russia, due to the supply and quality of local water, contributing over 30% of the domestic production of beer with its five large-scale breweries including Europe’s second largest brewery Baltika, Vena (both operated by BBH), Heineken Brewery, Stepan Razin (both by Heineken) and Tinkoff brewery (SUN-InBev).

The city has a lot of local distilleries which produce a broad range of vodka brands. The oldest ones is LIVIZ (founded in 1897). Among the youngest is Russian Standard Vodka introduced in Moscow in 1998, which opened in 2006 a new $60 million distillery in Petersburg (an area of 30,000 square meters, production rate of 22,500 bottles per hour). In 2007 this brand was exported to over 70 countries.

Saint Petersburg is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list as an area with 36 historical architectural complexes and around 4,000 outstanding individual monuments of architecture, history and culture. New tourist programs and sightseeing tours have been developed for those wishing to see Saint Petersburg’s cultural heritage.

The city has 221 museums, 2,000 libraries, more than 80 theaters, 100 concert organizations, 45 galleries and exhibition halls, 62 cinemas and around 80 other cultural establishments. Ballet performances occupy a special place in the cultural life of Saint Petersburg. The Petersburg School of Ballet is deservedly named as one of the best in the world. With a packed cultural program and a large number of world heritage sites, as well as a developing tourist infrastructure, Saint Petersburg has become among the world’s leading centers of culture and tourism.

The weather in Saint Petersburg, however, leaves a lot to be desired. It gets up to about 25 in summer which is June and July and can get as cold as minus 25 in the winter. Due to location at ca. 60° N latitude the day length in Petersburg varies across seasons, ranging from 5:53 hours to 18:50 hours. A period from mid-May to mid-July when twilight may last all night is called the white nights.

History of Russian Czars
Czar (also spelled as tsar) literally means an emperor or a male monarch. It was the imperial title of Russian rulers, who ruled Russia from 16th century until the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. The title Czar is derived from the Latin word Caesar, the title of Roman emperors. Czar also means a person having great power. The Russian Czars were the rulers of Russia, whose reign began with Ivan, the Terrible and ended with Nicholas II. They ruled for nearly 350 years.

In earlier times, the rulers of Russia were known as Grand Princes of Moscow, Grand Princes of Vladimir, Grand Princes of Kiev, etc. The House of Romanov is the most popular dynasty in Russia. But, the use of the title, ‘Czar’ dates back to nearly 50 years before the Romanov emperors ascended the throne. Ivan IV (popularly known as Ivan, the Terrible) was the first Russian ruler to assume the title of Czar in 1547. He belonged to the House of Rurik and reigned from 1547-1584. He was an authoritarian and a ruthless ruler. Ivan IV is infamous for killing his own son in a fit of rage. Ivan IV died in 1584, leaving his worthless second son Feodor, as heir to the throne.

The time of troubles began in Russia, after Ivan IVth’s death. The country was torn by civil war, unrest and famines. Finally, in 1613, the chaos ended. Representatives of 50 cities and some peasants unanimously elected Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov as the new Czar. From here began the Romanov dynasty that ruled Russia till 1917.

Czar Peter, popularly known as Peter the Great, was the founder of modern Russia. He transformed Russia into a great European empire. During the reign of Catherine the Great, the Russian empire expanded and improved in administration. Czar Alexander II abolished serfdom in 1861. But, he was assassinated. His son Czar Alexander III, in order to avenge his father’s murder, imposed strict and ruthless laws. The last Czar Nicholas II’s failure to take action, even in extreme conditions, eventually led to his downfall and eradication of the monarchy in Russia.

The stories of the Czar’s fascinated me and a lot of what we saw and what Margarita told us about focused around Peter the Great (1696 – 1725), his daughter Elizabeth (1741 – 1761) and Catherine the Great (1762 – 1796). Peter the Great had 11 children of which only two survived – Elizabeth and Mary. There were a couple of rulers after Peter and then Elizabeth took over. Elizabeth didn’t have any children so her nephew succeeded her. He married a German woman called Rita who became known as Catherine II (Peter’s wife was Catherine I). Catherine had her lover murder her husband after which she took over the country. She ruled for 34 years and became known as Catherine the Great.

The Last Russian Czar
Nicholas II was the last Czar of Russia. He was not an able ruler due to inconsistency in his decisions and actions. He was under great influence of his wife Czarina Alexandra, and his corrupt ministers. A monk named Rasputin influenced the Czarina and manipulated most of the Czar’s decisions. Russia faced military as well as economic losses during the First World War. There was rising discontent due to the Czar’s reluctance to undertake immediate action. The people were fed up of the autocratic and dictatorial rule. The event known as Bloody Sunday, shattered people’s belief in the Russian Czars. The consequence of which was the Russian Revolution (Bolshevik Revolution), which took place in 1917. Czar Nicholas II abdicated. He and his immediate family were imprisoned, and later killed by the Bolsheviks. Czarism and monarchy came to an end in Russia with the death of Nicholas II.

Serfdom was prevalent in Russia during the reign of the Russian Czars. Almost 80% of the Russian people were either peasants or serfs. The Czars did not wish to end the feudal system. As they were afraid of losing power, capitalism was verboten. Most of the Czars were autocratic rulers. Although, the Russian Czars were oppressive, the world was gifted with works of great Russian authors, painters and artists during their reign.

After Margarita had picked us up from the Port we drove out of town to explore Catherine Palace.

Catherine Palace
The residence originated in 1717, when Catherine I of Russia engaged the German architect Johann-Friedrich Braunstein to construct a summer palace for her pleasure. In 1733, Empress Elizabeth commissioned Mikhail Zemtsov and Andrei Kvasov to expand the Catherine Palace. Empress Elizabeth, however, found her mother’s residence outdated and incommodious and in May 1752 asked her court architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli to demolish the old structure and replace it with a much grander edifice in a flamboyant Rococo style. Construction lasted for four years, and on 30 July 1756 the architect presented the brand-new 325-meter-long palace to the Empress, her dazed courtiers, and stupefied foreign ambassadors.

More than 100 kilograms of gold were used to gild the sophisticated stucco façade and numerous statues erected on the roof. It was even rumoured that the palace’s roof was constructed entirely of gold. In front of the palace a great formal garden was laid out.

Although the palace is popularly associated with Catherine the Great, she actually regarded its “whipped cream” architecture as old-fashioned. When she ascended to the throne, a number of statues in the park were being covered with gold, in accordance with the last wish of Empress Elizabeth, yet the new monarch had all the works suspended upon being informed about the expense. In her memoirs she censured her predecessor’s reckless extravagance.

Upon Catherine the Great’s death in 1796, the palace was abandoned in favour of Pavlovsk Palace. Subsequent monarchs preferred to reside in the nearby Alexander Palace and, with only two exceptions, refrained from making new additions to the Catherine Palace, regarding it as a splendid monument to Elizabeth’s wealth and Catherine II’s glory.

When the German forces retreated after the siege of Leningrad, they intentionally destroyed the residence, leaving only the hollow shell of the palace behind. Prior to World War II, the Russian archivists managed to document a fair amount of the interior, which proved of great importance in reconstructing the palace. Although the largest part of the reconstruction was completed in time for the Tercentenary of St. Petersburg in 2003, much work is still required to restore the palace to its former glory. In order to attract funds, the palace’s administration has leased the Grand Hall for such high-profile events as Elton John’s concert for an elite audience in 2001 and an exclusive party in 2005 featuring the likes of Bill Clinton, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Naomi Campbell, and Sting.

Peterhof
We then went to Peterhof. The Peterhof Palace is a series of palaces and gardens laid out on the orders of Peter the Great. These Palaces and gardens are sometimes referred as the “Russian Versailles”. The palace-ensemble along with the city centre is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Peter the Great used the palaces to receive foreign dignitaries. He didn’t stay in the palace’s when he was there in the summer months – instead he choose to stay in a simple house down on the water’s edge. He was obsessed with water, hence the many fountains on the property and it’s proximity to the Gulf of Finland.

The State Hermitage
On Sunday we visited The State Hermitage which is located on Palace Square. The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture. One of the largest and oldest museums in the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been open to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise over three million items, including the largest collection of paintings in the world. The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors. Apart from them, the Menshikov Palace, Museum of Porcelain, Storage Facility at Staraya Derevnya and the eastern wing of the General Staff Building are also part of the museum. The museum has several exhibition centers abroad. The Hermitage is a federal state property.

Of six buildings of the main museum complex, five, named the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage, New Hermitage and Hermitage Theatre, are open to the public.

Just before the Second World War the artworks were shipped off in three train carriages to protect them from the Germans. The artworks returned after the war so are all original pieces. Van Gough, Rembrandt, Picasso and Leonardo Da Vinci feature amongst the artists. There are only 14 original artworks by Leonardo Da Vinci remaining in the world and we saw two in the Hermitage.

I had heard of the different styles of art but never really understood the differences – Margarita did a good job explaining the differences between renaissance, impressionist and baroque. You could spend days in The Hermitage – there is so much to see.

The Peter & Paul Fortress
We then went to the Peter & Paul Fortress which was built in 1703 to protect the area from Swedish invasion, and the the first site chosen by Peter the Great to build his new city. Inside the impressive Citadel is the former Royal Mint and the Peter and Paul Cathedral, with it’s tall slender golden spire, which was the City’s first monumental building and the burial place of all the Russian Czars. It became a museum in 1924. We saw the tombs of Peter the Great, Elizabeth and Catherine the Great. There bodies are actually under the ground and still accessible although under lock and key.

The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood
The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is one of the main sights of St. Petersburg, Russia. It is also variously called the Church on Spilt Blood and the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, its official name. This Church was built on the site where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated and was dedicated in his memory. It is completely decorated inside by mosaic paintings which were quite a sight and hard to capture on camera.

Saint Isaac’s
Saint Isaac’s Cathedral in Saint Petersburg, Russia is the largest Russian Orthodox cathedral in the city. It is the largest orthodox basilica and the fourth largest cathedral in the world. It is dedicated to Saint Isaac of Dalmatia, a patron saint of Peter the Great, who had been born on the feast day of that saint.

St. Issac’s Cathedral is the original Church of Russia. It has been rebuilt four times. The fourth and final church as situated on the site today was built between 1818 and 1858. A French architect oversaw this project – it was his life time’s work. He died 6 months after it was completed. It is decorated with 14 kinds of minerals and semi precious stones, as well as mosaic paintings.

The main religion in Russia is Russian Orthodox which has it’s roots in the Greek Orthodox religion although it broke away from that in the 15th century. My understanding is that it has many similarities to the Catholic religion and is extremely conservative. The Russian Orthodox Church currently claims its exclusive jurisdiction over the Orthodox Christians living in the former member republics of the USSR. Prior to the Russian revolution in 1914 there were 55,173 Russian Orthodox churches and 29,593 chapels, 112,629 priests and deacons, 550 monasteries and 475 convents with a total of 95,259 monks and nuns in Russia.

The year 1917 was a major turning point in Russian history, and also the Russian Orthodox Church. The Russian empire was dissolved and the Tsarist government – which had granted the Church numerous privileges – was overthrown. The Soviet government stood on a platform of antireligion, viewing the church as a “counter-revolutionary” organization and an independent voice with a great influence in society. While the Soviet Union officially claimed religious tolerance, in practice the government discouraged organized religion and did much to remove religious influence from Soviet society.

In the time between 1927 and 1940, the number of Orthodox Churches in the Russian Republic fell from 29,584 to less than 500. Between 1917 and 1935, 130,000 Orthodox priests were arrested. Of these, 95,000 were put to death. After Nazi Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union in 1941, Joseph Stalin revived the Russian Orthodox Church to intensify patriotic support for the war effort. Between 1945 and 1959 the official organization of the church was greatly expanded, although individual members of the clergy were occasionally arrested and exiled. The number of open churches reached 25,000.

By 1987 the number of functioning churches in the Soviet Union had fallen to 6893 and the number of functioning monasteries to just 18. Beginning in the late 1980s, under Mikhail Gorbachev, the new political and social freedoms resulted in many church buildings being returned to the church, to be restored by local parishioners. A pivotal point in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church came in 1988 – an implicit ban on religious propaganda on state TV was finally lifted. For the first time in the history of the Soviet Union, people could see live transmissions of church services on television.

The Church and the government remained on unfriendly terms until 1988. In practice, the most important aspect of this conflict was that openly religious people could not join the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which meant that they could not hold any political office. However, among the general population, large numbers remained religious.

This close alliance between the government and the Russian Orthodox Church has become a defining characteristic of Mr. Putin’s tenure, a mutually reinforcing choreography that is usually described here as working “in symphony”.

It was a fantastic couple of days in St Petersburg and we learnt a lot about the history of Russia both recent and further back. There sure is a lot of history here and it was so good spending two days with Margarita – she has experienced a lot of the recent history first hand so her insight was so interesting. We had some interesting discussions about communism, Putin and the current situation involving the Ukraine.

Today’s port of call was Helsinki in Finland. The sky was blue and the sun was shining but it was rather chilly. We took the shuttle bus into the central city which is very nice. We had a look in the local department store – Stockmans. We then wandered down to Market Square which was bustling with vendors selling Finnish souvenirs and food. Reindeer meatballs were on the menu – mmmmm? Next stop was the Helsinki Cathedral which is the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran cathedral of the Diocese of Helsinki. The church was originally built from 1830-1852 as a tribute to the Grand Duke of Finland, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. It was also known as St Nicholas’ Church until the independence of Finland in 1917.

Helsinki is the capital and largest city of Finland – the city has a population of 616,000 with the wider metropolitan area being home to 1.4 million people. It is located in the southern part of the country, on a peninsula with a fringe of small islands overlooking the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea. Surrounded on three sides by water, this natural seaport is known as the “city of the sea”. Helsinki is Finland’s capital for business, education, research, culture and government.

The town of Helsinki was founded by King Gustavus of Sweden (to which Finland belonged for many centuries) as a new trading post in southern Finland and as a competitor to Tallinn in Estonia, the Hanseatic city on the opposite shore of the Gulf of Finland.

Russia’s growing power in the 18th century and the founding of it’s new capital, St Petersburg, not far from the Finnish border in 1703 were to have a decisive influence on the growth and future of the Finnish capital. Shortly after Sweden lost its position as a superpower, Finland was annexed to Russia as an Autonomous Grand Duchy in 1809. Finland declared it’s independence from Russia in 1917.

The nation of Finland has never been an independent sovereign monarchy: no attempt to establish one was crowned with success. When it finally became established as a modern independent nation-state, it was – despite a very brief flirtation with monarchy – in the form of a republic.

Unlike all other states on the European continent that were involved in the Second World War, Finland was never occupied by foreign forces. Therefore, Finland is one of the very few European countries with an unbroken record of democratic rule from the end of the First World War to the present. In 1995, Finland became a member of the EU, once again marking the start of a new era for the capital.