Put on your comfy shoes! We are hitting the streets of the beautiful St. Petersburg for a walking tour, the best way to become acquainted with a new city. My shoe selection: Toms. Today, I glance at this choice with sadness thinking that this pair of shoes should now be retired with the number of miles I put on them and the wear and tear they faced. Focus, the ode to my shoes is over, and we get back to topic, our walking tour. Instead of hiring a guide, we simply opened our travel bible, Lonely Planet: St. Petersburg, and found a walking tour of the historic heart. If you want the whole tour, I recommend purchasing the book, but here are a few sites we saw along the way....
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| Entering the Triumphal Arch at Palace Square |
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| On the other side of the Triumphal Arch at Palace Square. The architecture in St. P is so unique! |
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| The blue and white building is the Winter Palace, where the ruling tsar spent the majority of their time. It now is the Hermitage, housing artwork (we visited the following day). |
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| Palace Square, where many historical events took place such as Bloody Sunday (1907) and the October Revolution of 1917. |
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| Church on the Spilled Blood |
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| Church on the Spilled Blood....what I consider to be St. Petersburg's skyline structure (Eiffel Tower to Paris, Arch to St. Louis, etc.). |
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| There were several artists (youth to adult) in this area sketching or painting the church. |
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| This ironwork was commonly found throughout the city. |
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| Mikhailovsky Castle, also known as St. Michael's Castle and Engineers' Castle, which was also a royal residence. |
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| Arts Square with a Monument to Pushkin, considered Russia's greatest poet, and the Russian Museum in the background. |
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| Kazan Cathedral |
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| Kazan Cathedral with a PDub |
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| Some fun camera work. |
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| St. Petersburg is considered the Venice of the North with its water roadways. Church on the Spilled Blood is in the background. This is probably one of my favorite photos of St. P; hence its extra largeness. |
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| Bank Bridge with four griffins, which in mythology are guards of treasure....the bridge sits in front of a bank. |
Hope you enjoyed our stroll!
