Viking River Cruises: From Russian Palace to Swan Lake

Article posted: June 8th, 2010 by Cruisepilot | No Comments »

Day 2

The one thing that is so good about river cruising with Viking River Cruises is that you receive at least one if not two tours a day that are complementary with your cruise. We stuck to the tours included with the cruise, but there were a myriad of other tours available at a fee if you chose to do so.

We were up and had a great breakfast onboard the Viking Kirov and were ready for our journey by bus out to Pushkin around 20 kilometres from St Petersburg. Pushkin is where Catherine’s Summer Palace is. The interior of the Summer Palace was nearly destroyed by the Germans in World War 2. Paintings, artifacts, statues and basically anything of value was ripped from the walls by the Germans. Russia completely rebuilt and restored the palace after the war and that restoration still goes on today. I have been to Versailles Palace and others in Europe and I can say that nothing I have seen rivals Catherine’s Palace. With it’s gold baroque mouldings, artwork and unbelievable Amber Room, it is truly one of the most amazing buildings you will come across.

Following an early dinner in the evening, we all dressed up the best we could with what we had and went off to a world renowned Russian Ballet performance of Swan Lake at the historic Palace Theater, St Petersburg. The thing with a Viking River Cruise is that it is all casual which makes for a very relaxing time. I didn’t know what to really expect, but it was a fantastic time. The orchestra was just magnificent.

It doesn’t matter where you go with Viking River Cruises, there is an English speaking guide with every bus and on every trip whether you are just driving into the city or some other destination, you get a full commentary on any landmarks or interesting things that may come along the way.

Day 3

You know how you strain sometimes to hear what the guides are saying, well Viking River Cruises have that covered as well with wireless individual radio’s with earphones. Every word spoken by your guides is loud and clear.

So, its day three and we are off to the world renowned Hermitage museum in St Petersburg with over 3 million exhibits. Here you can view the likes of Rembrandt and learn the history of St Petersburg from its beginnings, with Peter the Great and the misery and loss of life when the Germans surrounded the city for 900 days during World War 2. More than 1 million inhabitants of the city lost their lives from starvation and the continuous bombardment.

The Hermitage Museum was followed by a tour of St Petersburg with many stops and opportunities to learn more about the city. St Petersburg is made up of 101 islands with 66 canals and hundreds of bridges. Almost perfectly planned with Russian and western architecture. The tour was very informative, giving interesting facts such as, there was over 200 pounds of gold that went into the gilding of the dome on St Isaac’s cathedral and how St Petersburg was built by Peter the Great as Russia’s window to Europe.

Search for great rates on Viking River cruises.

Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for the next Viking River Cruise Russian installment!