Nathan's Insights

World Traveller: 7 Continents, 90 Countries, 871 Days Overseas

Pages:
About | Countries | Tours | Trips | Bucket List – Done | Bucket List – To Do | Airport Lounges | Flight History

Travel Categories:
Flight Reviews | Lounge Reviews | Destinations | Short Breaks | World Trip 1986 | World Trip 1998 | World Trip 1999-2000 | World Trip 2006 | World Trip 2009 | World Trip 2009-10 | World Trip 2010 | World Trip 2011 | World Trip 2012-13 | World Trip 2015 | World Trip 2016 | World Trip 2017 | World Trip 2017-18 | World Trip 2018 | World Trip 2019 | Australia 2022 | World Trip 2023 | World Trip 2024 | World Trip 2024-25 | World Trip 2026-27

  • World Trip 2006: Day 106 – St Petersburg and Novgorod, Russia

    Wednesday 12 July 2006
    Highlights: Hermitage art collection (St Petersburg), Kremlin Fort (Novgorod)

    On our last day in St Petersburg we visited the Hermitage art collection.   Started by Catherine the II (the Great) as her personal art museum in a structure linked to the winter palace it now covers the entire palace area. The collection is the best I have ever seen (yes including the Louvre).   The only reason it isn’t known by most people in the West is due to the Soviet era restrictions and you still have to jump through hoops to get a visa (however it is worth it for this place alone).

    The paintings by Leonardo Da Vinci are worth a look, but so too are the sculptures and state rooms.   I was very impressed.   The palace square was also stunning; Peter the Great had a great vision for this city when he created it.

    256006_10150219428590685_7695811_o

     

     

     

     

     

     

    In the afternoon we left for Novgorod and on arrival did a city tour.   Highlights include the Millennium Monument (for Russia), the Kremlin Fort, and St Sophia Cathedral, which is the oldest in Russia (but was having reconstruction work done). Novgorod was initially the biggest city in Russia.   Ivan the IV (the Terrible) however almost destroyed it completely due to their independence (and democracy arrangements).   During World War II the town was occupied by the Germans and in the fighting the town lost over 250,000 residents which is more than the current population.

    Novgorod

  • World Trip 2006: Day 105 – St Petersburg, Russia

    Tuesday 11 July 2006
    Highlights: St Isaac’s Square & Cathedral, Eternal Flame, Yusupov’s Palace

    After the very big day of yesterday I had scheduled a tour of Yusupov’s Palace which was the home of Felix Yusupov and his noble family. Three months before the revolution on 16th December 1916 Felix conspired to kill the infamous Rasputin.   Rasputin believed in sinning (mostly though sex, apparently he organised orgies) and repenting bought you closer to god.   He had a lot of influence of the Romanovs (Tsars) which caused public unrest and also with the nobles as he was a commoner.

    (more…)

  • World Trip 2006: Day 104 – St Petersburg, Russia

    Monday 10 July 2006
    Highlights: Pushkin Palace (Summer Palace), Petredvoert (Versailles of Russia), Attending the ballet – Swan Lake

    This morning I visited what is now know as the Pushkin Palace (after famous Russian poet) but was the former Summer Palace of the Tsars.   This palace was occupied by the Nazis in WWII and severely damaged, so much so that they are still fixing this palace. The palace is incredible, especially the architecture.   The Romanovs (Tsars) spared no expense building this place.   In fact they hired the best artist etc from Western Europe or sent locals to Rome to study and came back and build this place.

    Peter the Great loved Western Europe which is why he built St Petersburg to get Russia closer to Europe.  In the afternoon I visited Petredvoert which was a summer residence of Tsar Peter the Great and has been compared to Versailles in France (which I think is a fair comparison).   The grounds are breathtaking.   In summer the fountains are a sight to behold.

    They don’t use pumps but instead nature via water pressure, a brilliant design. In the evening I attended a ballet, Swan Lake, and I was very impressed.   I go to the theatre usually a few times a year, and I actually saw my first Opera overseas in Vienna, but the ballet might have to become a regular event for me.   The theatre wasn’t air conditioned (and the day got to 35 degrees) but I still loved the performance.   Apparently the ending of Swan Lake can vary but tonight we got the happy ending.

  • World Trip 2006: Day 103 – Helsinki to St Petersburg, Russia

    Sunday 9 July 2006
    Highlights: Peter and Paul Fortress

    With a 6 am wakeup call and an excellent buffet breakfast (I might like touring after all!) we were off to Russia. Passing the border was an interesting experience, first you go through the Finland border (which didn’t take long), then you enter a sort of no man’s land, and then through to the Russian border (which took longer but wasn’t bad).   On the Russian side of the border heaps of trucks were waiting to be cleared, our guide Ilya (who was born in Russia) said once there was a 20 km line of trucks to get out!

    We got into St Petersburg in the late afternoon we got to visit the Peter and Paul Fortress which was really the founding point for this city.   We visited the Cathedral and visited the tombs of the Tsar’s including Nicholas II and his family.

    Peter and Paul Fortress
    Peter and Paul Fortress

  • World Trip 2006: Days 101 and 102 – San Sebastian to Paris to Helsinki, Finland

    Friday 7 July 2006 and Saturday 8 July 2006
    Highlights: Sacre Coeur Monument (Paris), the sun still shining at 1 am (Helsinki)

    Friday
    Friday started with a very long travel day of over 13 hours, while the bus stopped in Bordeaux to pick up and drop people off.  I stayed on or near the bus as I wasn’t keen to quickly walk around these cities during the short stay as my mind was already on the next leg of this trip.

    When we got in Paris it started pouring like in a mayor storm, I haven’t seen rain since Cape Town.   Luckily it stopped just as I got off the bus for the last time.   I did however get to see Sacre Coeur monument which was near my hostel.   You get great views of Paris from this location.   Our guide had warned us about the Africans who will try to tie a string to your hand and make you pay.

    Saturday
    I set off to the airport well in time however at Paris Airport I don’t have any  lounge access and I really missed this which a lot of time on my hand.  I think I’m getting tired from all the constant travel.

    It was an uneventful flight on Finnair to Helsinki (lunch was good) left me waiting around at the airport for the Trafalgar representative, just as I was worrying (I didn’t have a map or idea how to get to hotel) the representative showed up.

    We had a welcome drink (local beer for me) and I was introduced to my follow travellers.   There are 19 of us and while my guess on the average age being on the older side for this tour company there were three girls under 27 (one 17 year old travelling with family, another around 20 with her dad and the other 26 or 27 year old by herself).

    Still I’ve gone from at the top end of the age group on BusAbout to being about 15-20 years under the average age on this tour. The really good news is I got a room to myself despite only paying for shared accommodation.   Being the only single guy in the group and the company not mixing genders got me this special bonus.

    I watched the World Cup final in my room which finished around 1 am local time and the sun was still up!