To Russia from Greece
From Santorini we travelled, via Athens and Frankfurt, to St. Petersburg, Russia, where Chuck (and several others from the office) were attending a conference on the technology of fast ships, followed by a major Defense trade show. Altogether, a week in that city. And once again, neither of us had been in St. Petersburg (or any other part of Russia) before.
While the men were "working" at the conference and show, Kathi got a chance to do quite a bit of touring with Carol O'Neil (wife of John O'Neil, a colleague of Chuck's; they happen to live in Monterey, too, where they will return in a couple of months); and with several other of the wives who had accompanied their husbands.
St. Petersburg calls itself the "Venice of the north" (I think Amsterdam uses the same nickname; I wonder how many cities call themselves the Venice of something). Touring this city is both interesting and sad. It's a city that, like the rest of Russia, is badly run down -- but it has "good bones". There is a huge legacy of great architecture and beautiful buildings, though many are in great need of maintenance, refurbishment and cleaning. A few selected ones have received some recent attention and show how beautiful the city could be.
In the center of the city it seems as if every other building is (was?) a palace of some sort. Several of these are available for sightseeing and some house great museums. The most well-known, of course, is the Hermitage (<-picture) -- a former royal palace that now houses the world's largest art collection. When the ladies visited it, they found it too crowded to enjoy and were dismayed to see how poorly much of the art is displayed and how poorly it is being protected. Interestingly, one category of buildings that, collectively, has been most restored is the churches -- most of which were 
used for decidedly non-religious purposes during the Soviet era, as warehouses and other things. But since the breakup of the USSR many of them have been restored to their former glory -- and I do mean glory. (<- St. Isaac's Cathedral) They are, of course, in the Russian baroque or rococo style, with what seems to be acres of gold leaf. The architecture and decoration are both breathtaking. 
On Saturday we took a trip by high speed hydrofoil boat outside the city proper to Peterhof -- the "country home" of Tsar Peter the Great, the founder of St. Petersburg. It, too, is one of those amazing displays of wealth and power, as the pictures show.
St. Petersburg has become a fairly popular European tourist destination, though there are still a number of downsides, such as undrinkable water and, apparently, a pretty high level of street crime, some aimed at tourists -- though I hasten to add that none of our party encountered any problems. The Russians still have a long way to go to shed their long-practiced government paranoia and the civil population hasn't yet learned about service in business. To see pictures of St. Petersburg sites, visit: http://chuck.smugmug.com/gallery/666028
While the men were "working" at the conference and show, Kathi got a chance to do quite a bit of touring with Carol O'Neil (wife of John O'Neil, a colleague of Chuck's; they happen to live in Monterey, too, where they will return in a couple of months); and with several other of the wives who had accompanied their husbands.
St. Petersburg calls itself the "Venice of the north" (I think Amsterdam uses the same nickname; I wonder how many cities call themselves the Venice of something). Touring this city is both interesting and sad. It's a city that, like the rest of Russia, is badly run down -- but it has "good bones". There is a huge legacy of great architecture and beautiful buildings, though many are in great need of maintenance, refurbishment and cleaning. A few selected ones have received some recent attention and show how beautiful the city could be.
In the center of the city it seems as if every other building is (was?) a palace of some sort. Several of these are available for sightseeing and some house great museums. The most well-known, of course, is the Hermitage (<-picture) -- a former royal palace that now houses the world's largest art collection. When the ladies visited it, they found it too crowded to enjoy and were dismayed to see how poorly much of the art is displayed and how poorly it is being protected. Interestingly, one category of buildings that, collectively, has been most restored is the churches -- most of which were 
used for decidedly non-religious purposes during the Soviet era, as warehouses and other things. But since the breakup of the USSR many of them have been restored to their former glory -- and I do mean glory. (<- St. Isaac's Cathedral) They are, of course, in the Russian baroque or rococo style, with what seems to be acres of gold leaf. The architecture and decoration are both breathtaking. 
On Saturday we took a trip by high speed hydrofoil boat outside the city proper to Peterhof -- the "country home" of Tsar Peter the Great, the founder of St. Petersburg. It, too, is one of those amazing displays of wealth and power, as the pictures show.
St. Petersburg has become a fairly popular European tourist destination, though there are still a number of downsides, such as undrinkable water and, apparently, a pretty high level of street crime, some aimed at tourists -- though I hasten to add that none of our party encountered any problems. The Russians still have a long way to go to shed their long-practiced government paranoia and the civil population hasn't yet learned about service in business. To see pictures of St. Petersburg sites, visit: http://chuck.smugmug.com/gallery/666028
posted by Chuck and Kathi Calvano @ 7:15 PM
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