Travel Thursday - The Baltic Adventure Part 6

Last week, we wrapped up our trip part way through our first day in St. Petersburg, Russia. Today we will finish this day.

Our last stop for our day tour was Peterhof Palace. We only visited the garden of this palace to see some of the 144 fountains, all which work without a pump. According to wikipedia "Water is supplied from natural springs and collects in reservoirs in the Upper Gardens. The elevation difference creates the pressure that drives most of the fountains of the Lower Gardens . . ."

Our first stop at the garden was the washroom. This sign made me laugh hard, so I had to photograph it!

Now to the beautiful gardens. We were blessed with a very sunny and warm day, which is rare in St. Petersburg. 

The palace

The palace

This is my fave picture of myself from this trip

This fountain is a dog chasing ducks

The following fountain use to be surrounded by trees and if a person stepped on a certain step, it would spray. Tourists don't like this, so it sprays all the time now. 

If I hadn't been going out in the evening, I think I would have run under this fountain. 

A friendly reminder that crime awaits, even in a beautiful place like this. We did see these in other countries as well. 

There were benches that were also trick fountains, if you stepped on a spot, they would spray. The kids loved to step on all the spots and play in the fountain. This was something I loved about Europe, that we Canadians really need to relax about. This would be likely not allowed here. 

After a stroll through the gardens we walked down the water edge towards the hydrofoil that would take us back to the city. 

For Rosy, Arty and Jakey's mom

The hydrofoil moved quickly across the water.

One of the Fifa locations

We left our day tour at the dock of the hydrofoil and joined another couple and a new guide for our evening at the ballet. We went to a cafe for dinner. Then we walked to the Alexandrinsky Theatre to see Swan Lake.

That day in St. Petersburg had been a Harley Davidson Rally. All around the theatre was a very eclectic mix of people. There were theatre goers, tourists, families and bikers of every kind, including what I am 100% sure was the Russian mob (no pictures were taken of that for obvious reasons). 

The yellow building in the background of these pictures is the theatre.

This is one of my fave pictures from the trip

I have no words for this except I am glad they didn't take any more clothes off

Also not pictured was the tattoo booth in the street. 

The contrast of this and the theatre is probably the best summary of St. Petersburg. 

Our tickets were 5th row, slightly off centre. The other couple was given first balcony box tickets. I don't understand how this works, but it didn't matter, I was at the Russian Ballet. Each of our tickets cost almost as much as our 2 day tour, but totally worth it. I see this as a once in a life time experience and one I had been waiting so long for. 

Prior to this, I had been to the ballet 3 times. Once as a child to a performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, in Toronto with my grandparents and cousin, once to see the Nutcracker and recently to see Dracula. While the Man will tell you he felt Swan Lake was a little drawn out in places, I thought it was magical. 

The royal box

After the ballet, we were driven back to our ship. The lights of St. Petersburg sparkling. I could barely look out the window at them as it was so overwhelming. We returned back around 11:30. We fell into bed and got a little sleep as we were meeting our tour at 7:15 the next morning for the second day in Russia. Next week, I will share that.