September 8, St Petersburg. We dock in the morning to get ready for a new logistical experience, Russian immigration. You can only go ashore if you have a licensed tour, so we booked 3 before we sailed. We have to wait in line for about an hour to get through passport control where they look at you and then finally stamp your passport and an immigration card. We meet our tour of 9 people and are introduced to Russia, yes we do our second day tour on the first day, We take a bus through the city and to the beautiful Peterhof grand palace and gardens.
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| Peterhof Grand Palace and Gardens |
We tour the garden and get the history of the summer palace of Peter the Great. It was destroyed during WW II and occupied by the Nazi. It has now been restored. The many fountains are operated by gravity flow. We see the surprise fountain that turns a walk into a showered area that children love to run through. We take a hydrofoil back to the hotel.
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| Surprise Fountain |
We have a second tour in the evening, a boat ride through the Neva river and the canals. We have a wonderful guide that seems to know every building in the city. The bridges are lit and it's a completely different view of the wonderful city. Some of the canals are quite small and there is only a few feet between you head and the bridge. A wonderful evening and passport control seems to have eased up. We will see on day 2 as we overnight in St Petersburg.
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| Night Tour on the Canals of St. Petersburg |
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