We had a really early start to the day today as our reporting time for the excursion in St. Petersburg, the port of call for the day, was 6:45am! I had my doubts about how I would manage that with the little one around, but we did. Am pretty proud that we even managed to squeeze in breakfast by that time!
Alright, so St. Petersburg!
It was such an eventful day…both eventful and dramatic. There is no way am gonna be able to remember all the details and put it down on the blog, but let's try.
Russia was the only port of call on this cruise that required us to complete an immigration form and go through the immigration process. In all other ports of call, the "sea pass" was simply tapped at the exit of the ship and that was that. So this elaborate procedure of immigration basically meant heightened security measures (and general lack of trust of foreigners, if I may add) in the country.
[For those planning on a cruise to Russia any time in the future, here's a useful tip: if you take the excursion from the cruise to go around Russia, you do not need a Russian visa! That's like music to any Indian's ears!]
So in a way, from the exclusive immigration procedure and all that, I already had this feeling in my head that Russia might not exactly be a piece of cake.
Interestingly enough, as soon as our excursion bus took off from the port terminal and we entered the city, I saw a police car and two policemen roughing up a guy who I presume is some kind of a petty criminal and shoving him into the car. I hugged my belongings, including the little one, a little tighter after watching that scene.
But there was no need for such tension because we had the most comfortable trip ever.
Russia was spectacular!
I was pleasantly surprised by how developed and well maintained it is! Yeah, yeah I know it was a superpower earlier and this is to be expected, but from what I have personally heard from friends who had visited Russia before, it was a complete story of riches to rags and was not necessarily a pretty place. So I had a different set of expectation and was genuinely very amazed about its grandeur and modernity.
Our first stop was in Pushkin, outside of St. Petersburg, to visit Queen Catherine's Palace.
Before I get into more details about the palace itself, I have to write about the drama that took place. Today's excursion was to be a 9 hour long one and we were well prepared for a lot of milk and food for the little one. When we heard that the Pushkin tour would last about 2 hours or so, we thought there's no point in carrying so much luggage around and that we would take just a bottle of milk and some snacks for the little one. I took the necessary things out and kept them aside in the bus, all prepared.
Just that, when we got down, due to some confusion regarding the stroller, I forgot to carry the milk and the food. I didn't carry the entire luggage as planned but I also happily left behind the small amounts we had set aside for the Pushkin tour. I realized this within minutes of getting off the bus, but before I could do something about it, the guide informed me that the bus is already far away and will not be coming back to the palace until after the tour because of lack of parking space.
Needless to say, I panicked. The little one had just woken up from her nap and I knew that she will not be keeping her spirits up for long if she doesn't get something to eat and drink. I felt faint and almost sick from tension I believe because as luck would have it, the palace was on holiday for the day and was opened only for a couple of tour groups like ours. So even their cafe was closed!
There was nothing I could do other hope and pray that the little one doesn't get hungry very soon. So I did that. I tried to focus on the palace, meanwhile praying with all my heart for some miracle to happen and for some food and drinks to appear, that would be edible for a baby.
At the doors of the palace we were welcomed by a Russian band playing some of the popular Russian marches. That was a nice touch to the start of the tour.
The palace was spectacular and reminds one of similar structures like that of Versailles. Like I mentioned before, we were there on a day when the palace is usually closed but it was opened just for a few tour groups like ours. So only about 200 people visited that palace the same day as us and that was actually pretty brilliant, inspite of their cafe being closed. Because, it meant that we almost got a private tour of the palace with nobody in our way to take as many pics as we wanted! I actually have solo shots standing in the super long corridors with a line of golden arches connecting each rooms, behind me. This, am certain, would not have been possible had we not gotten this special tour. I was super thrilled about this!
One downside was that I had to carry the little one in my arms throughout the tour inside the palace because the stroller wasn't allowed. However, given that there were not many people in the palace, I could leave her on the floor and let her play around Queen Catherine's rooms. How awesome is that! Even more awesome was the fact that she actually seemed to enjoy the palace tour thoroughly. She was in her best spirits throughout!
The the tour inside the palace ended and we stepped outside into its gardens. The little one was strapped on to her stroller now, and I was grateful for getting my hands back to myself. But just then she started to wail. A wail that I instantly recognized to be that of hunger and that I knew will not end until she gets something to eat or drink. I think for a few seconds the blood would have drained my face. The guide informed that the tour inside the gardens would last another 30 minutes at least. 30 minutes?! Is my baby gonna wail for 30 minutes because I was so stupid as to leave her food in the bus!
Just for a minute, I stood rooted to the spot, not knowing what to do. And then it caught my eyes... at a little distance, right there on the palace grounds, a lady had opened up a stall selling drinks and I saw bottles of water as well. No food... just water. But it was something. I pointed it out to the hubby, who rushed to get a bottle of water. I poured some water into the cap of the bottle and offered it to the little one, hoping that she would drink some because she has never ever drank water before. She hates it and always drinks only milk. But this time, maybe due to the novelty of getting to sip off a bottle cap vs. a feeding bottle, she sipped on it eagerly. I couldn't believe my eyes and I thanked our luck with all my heart!
After she seemed to be satiated for the time being, we rushed to join our tour group that had already reached a fair distance ahead. We had to walk past the above mentioned drinks stall to get to them, and just as we were hurrying past it, my eyes caught sight of a basket filled with cookies and biscuits hiding behind the stall.
FOOD!!! My head screamed!
Seems like the lady had just opened the stall and hasn't had a chance to display all her wares yet. So we hadn't seen this earlier and thought it was a store that sold drinks only. Needless to say, we quickly armed ourselves with a cookie as big as my head and started to break it into small pieces for the little one to munch on. And she loved it!
Yes, she got both water and food. Just in time. I thanked all Gods known to me.
After that, putting aside the tension and panic till now, we walked around the widespread gardens surrounding the palace. I finally began to relax and enjoy the views.
One stop in the garden was this old, dilapidated building known for its acoustics. To demonstrate how good the acoustics was, a group of 4 singers sang a bit of opera for us. I am not sure whether it was their talent or the acoustics or the drama just preceded this entire thing or all three, but it was heavenly. Standing there, listening to them, gave me goosebumps and if I were a bit more sentimental, I would have cried.
After Pushkin, the next stop was lunch at a restaurant. We had a few Russian singers entertaining us through the lunch and that just added the awesomeness of the wonderful food we had. The lunch was served with breads, cheese, salad, vegetable soup, a very yummy chicken dish, rice, one of the best champagnes I've had that simply wouldn't stop bubbling (!) and even vodka!! The singers made the experience very interactive - they invited guests to dance with them and let us also play with this super cool, small percussion instrument, like a rattle, called the Treshchotka. We were so taken by it that we even bought ourselves one.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable lunch!
Post lunch, we were driven back to St. Petersburg and given a tour around the city. Once again I was really awed by it - it was a humungous city with very good use of the space. There were so many parks at every corner that added to the beauty of the city and the Palace Square and its surroundings were just mindblowing! Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to get down here because we were short on time, but just seeing these places from the bus was still pretty thrilling.
We then went to the banks of the Neva river and got on a boat for a 2 hour cruise on the Neva river, covering most of the important landmarks around St. Petersberg. We relaxed on the boat, taking in the sights - all of them massive, grand and a visual treat - and absorbing the history. There was just too much of it!
Thus ended our 9 hour excursion to St. Petersberg, but not before some souvenier shopping. We simply had to get ourselves the Matryoshka dolls!
Back on the ship, we first refreshed ourselves, grabbed a cup of tea and some snacks and got a bit of rest. In the evening, we went to watch the special show by the local artists from St. Petersberg. The ship has had a production show every evening but we had skipped all the previous ones because we thought going in to a theatre with the little one might not be a good idea. But today, we had enjoyed the Russian performance during lunch so much that I didn't want to miss another one for sure. We decided to take a chance and went in with the little one. We took a seat right next to the exit in case… well, we had to exit unexpectedly.
The show was brilliant, and we watched it right until the end! The little one not only didn't make any fuss, she actually seemed to enjoy the performances, especially all the dances! Once in a while, she was even clapping her hands in appreciation!
After the performance, we had another round of delicious dinner and then it was time to call it a night for some well deserved rest after that long day. I had my doubts about how a 9 hour excursion with a 9 month old will go, and there were hiccups - big ones at that - but it all ended as well as possible! Am so thankful for that!
I loved St. Petersberg and tomorrow, it's time for Finland!
Alright, so St. Petersburg!
It was such an eventful day…both eventful and dramatic. There is no way am gonna be able to remember all the details and put it down on the blog, but let's try.
Russia was the only port of call on this cruise that required us to complete an immigration form and go through the immigration process. In all other ports of call, the "sea pass" was simply tapped at the exit of the ship and that was that. So this elaborate procedure of immigration basically meant heightened security measures (and general lack of trust of foreigners, if I may add) in the country.
[For those planning on a cruise to Russia any time in the future, here's a useful tip: if you take the excursion from the cruise to go around Russia, you do not need a Russian visa! That's like music to any Indian's ears!]
So in a way, from the exclusive immigration procedure and all that, I already had this feeling in my head that Russia might not exactly be a piece of cake.
Interestingly enough, as soon as our excursion bus took off from the port terminal and we entered the city, I saw a police car and two policemen roughing up a guy who I presume is some kind of a petty criminal and shoving him into the car. I hugged my belongings, including the little one, a little tighter after watching that scene.
But there was no need for such tension because we had the most comfortable trip ever.
Russia was spectacular!
I was pleasantly surprised by how developed and well maintained it is! Yeah, yeah I know it was a superpower earlier and this is to be expected, but from what I have personally heard from friends who had visited Russia before, it was a complete story of riches to rags and was not necessarily a pretty place. So I had a different set of expectation and was genuinely very amazed about its grandeur and modernity.
Our first stop was in Pushkin, outside of St. Petersburg, to visit Queen Catherine's Palace.
Before I get into more details about the palace itself, I have to write about the drama that took place. Today's excursion was to be a 9 hour long one and we were well prepared for a lot of milk and food for the little one. When we heard that the Pushkin tour would last about 2 hours or so, we thought there's no point in carrying so much luggage around and that we would take just a bottle of milk and some snacks for the little one. I took the necessary things out and kept them aside in the bus, all prepared.
Just that, when we got down, due to some confusion regarding the stroller, I forgot to carry the milk and the food. I didn't carry the entire luggage as planned but I also happily left behind the small amounts we had set aside for the Pushkin tour. I realized this within minutes of getting off the bus, but before I could do something about it, the guide informed me that the bus is already far away and will not be coming back to the palace until after the tour because of lack of parking space.
Needless to say, I panicked. The little one had just woken up from her nap and I knew that she will not be keeping her spirits up for long if she doesn't get something to eat and drink. I felt faint and almost sick from tension I believe because as luck would have it, the palace was on holiday for the day and was opened only for a couple of tour groups like ours. So even their cafe was closed!
There was nothing I could do other hope and pray that the little one doesn't get hungry very soon. So I did that. I tried to focus on the palace, meanwhile praying with all my heart for some miracle to happen and for some food and drinks to appear, that would be edible for a baby.
At the doors of the palace we were welcomed by a Russian band playing some of the popular Russian marches. That was a nice touch to the start of the tour.
The palace was spectacular and reminds one of similar structures like that of Versailles. Like I mentioned before, we were there on a day when the palace is usually closed but it was opened just for a few tour groups like ours. So only about 200 people visited that palace the same day as us and that was actually pretty brilliant, inspite of their cafe being closed. Because, it meant that we almost got a private tour of the palace with nobody in our way to take as many pics as we wanted! I actually have solo shots standing in the super long corridors with a line of golden arches connecting each rooms, behind me. This, am certain, would not have been possible had we not gotten this special tour. I was super thrilled about this!
One downside was that I had to carry the little one in my arms throughout the tour inside the palace because the stroller wasn't allowed. However, given that there were not many people in the palace, I could leave her on the floor and let her play around Queen Catherine's rooms. How awesome is that! Even more awesome was the fact that she actually seemed to enjoy the palace tour thoroughly. She was in her best spirits throughout!
The the tour inside the palace ended and we stepped outside into its gardens. The little one was strapped on to her stroller now, and I was grateful for getting my hands back to myself. But just then she started to wail. A wail that I instantly recognized to be that of hunger and that I knew will not end until she gets something to eat or drink. I think for a few seconds the blood would have drained my face. The guide informed that the tour inside the gardens would last another 30 minutes at least. 30 minutes?! Is my baby gonna wail for 30 minutes because I was so stupid as to leave her food in the bus!
Just for a minute, I stood rooted to the spot, not knowing what to do. And then it caught my eyes... at a little distance, right there on the palace grounds, a lady had opened up a stall selling drinks and I saw bottles of water as well. No food... just water. But it was something. I pointed it out to the hubby, who rushed to get a bottle of water. I poured some water into the cap of the bottle and offered it to the little one, hoping that she would drink some because she has never ever drank water before. She hates it and always drinks only milk. But this time, maybe due to the novelty of getting to sip off a bottle cap vs. a feeding bottle, she sipped on it eagerly. I couldn't believe my eyes and I thanked our luck with all my heart!
After she seemed to be satiated for the time being, we rushed to join our tour group that had already reached a fair distance ahead. We had to walk past the above mentioned drinks stall to get to them, and just as we were hurrying past it, my eyes caught sight of a basket filled with cookies and biscuits hiding behind the stall.
FOOD!!! My head screamed!
Seems like the lady had just opened the stall and hasn't had a chance to display all her wares yet. So we hadn't seen this earlier and thought it was a store that sold drinks only. Needless to say, we quickly armed ourselves with a cookie as big as my head and started to break it into small pieces for the little one to munch on. And she loved it!
Yes, she got both water and food. Just in time. I thanked all Gods known to me.
After that, putting aside the tension and panic till now, we walked around the widespread gardens surrounding the palace. I finally began to relax and enjoy the views.
One stop in the garden was this old, dilapidated building known for its acoustics. To demonstrate how good the acoustics was, a group of 4 singers sang a bit of opera for us. I am not sure whether it was their talent or the acoustics or the drama just preceded this entire thing or all three, but it was heavenly. Standing there, listening to them, gave me goosebumps and if I were a bit more sentimental, I would have cried.
After Pushkin, the next stop was lunch at a restaurant. We had a few Russian singers entertaining us through the lunch and that just added the awesomeness of the wonderful food we had. The lunch was served with breads, cheese, salad, vegetable soup, a very yummy chicken dish, rice, one of the best champagnes I've had that simply wouldn't stop bubbling (!) and even vodka!! The singers made the experience very interactive - they invited guests to dance with them and let us also play with this super cool, small percussion instrument, like a rattle, called the Treshchotka. We were so taken by it that we even bought ourselves one.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable lunch!
Post lunch, we were driven back to St. Petersburg and given a tour around the city. Once again I was really awed by it - it was a humungous city with very good use of the space. There were so many parks at every corner that added to the beauty of the city and the Palace Square and its surroundings were just mindblowing! Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to get down here because we were short on time, but just seeing these places from the bus was still pretty thrilling.
We then went to the banks of the Neva river and got on a boat for a 2 hour cruise on the Neva river, covering most of the important landmarks around St. Petersberg. We relaxed on the boat, taking in the sights - all of them massive, grand and a visual treat - and absorbing the history. There was just too much of it!
Thus ended our 9 hour excursion to St. Petersberg, but not before some souvenier shopping. We simply had to get ourselves the Matryoshka dolls!
Back on the ship, we first refreshed ourselves, grabbed a cup of tea and some snacks and got a bit of rest. In the evening, we went to watch the special show by the local artists from St. Petersberg. The ship has had a production show every evening but we had skipped all the previous ones because we thought going in to a theatre with the little one might not be a good idea. But today, we had enjoyed the Russian performance during lunch so much that I didn't want to miss another one for sure. We decided to take a chance and went in with the little one. We took a seat right next to the exit in case… well, we had to exit unexpectedly.
The show was brilliant, and we watched it right until the end! The little one not only didn't make any fuss, she actually seemed to enjoy the performances, especially all the dances! Once in a while, she was even clapping her hands in appreciation!
After the performance, we had another round of delicious dinner and then it was time to call it a night for some well deserved rest after that long day. I had my doubts about how a 9 hour excursion with a 9 month old will go, and there were hiccups - big ones at that - but it all ended as well as possible! Am so thankful for that!
I loved St. Petersberg and tomorrow, it's time for Finland!
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