Places to Shop and Go

St. Petersburg, Russia – Venice of the North

St. Petersburg is a fascinating mixture of old-style Russia and Gilded Age Europe. Tsar Peter decided to move the capital and founded a city in 1703 devoted to culture and science. Along the banks of the River Neva he started an effort that continued for two hundred years.

For generations, artists and engineers from Italy, France, Germany and elsewhere were imported to work on projects. Using local labor they built bridges, palaces, churches and the city streets themselves. Many of their efforts are still in existence.

Among the earliest structures were several bridges, some of which survive in modified form from the time of the St. Petersburg’s founding. Everything from the six-foot wide Bank Bridge with its lovely iron griffins to the aptly-named Blue Bridge over 300 feet wide are counted among the city’s 500 spans. Read more…

The Hermitage and Winter Palace, St. Petersburg

By far one of the most popular attractions in St. Petersburg, the Winter Palace (which houses The Hermitage art museum), deserves the crowds it attracts. It is an outstanding series of structures as well as one of the world’s finest art museums.

Completed in 1762, it was the home of Russia’s monarchs for 150 years, starting with Catherine the Great. Her love for art created a vast collection that formed the largest part of the works for decades. The initial collection grew out of 255 paintings the Empress purchased from Berlin, and has grown to over 2.7 million objects. Read more…

The Battleship Aurora, St. Petersburg

Completed in 1900, the battleship Aurora was destined for fame. One of the few survivors of the Tsushima battle of the Russo-Japan war in 1905, it would go on to feature prominently in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. The signal to storm the Winter Palace was a shot fired from her decks.

Though damaged during WWII, the Aurora has been fully restored and is now one of St. Petersburg’s premier tourist attractions. Raised from her watery grave after being sunk in September of 1941, visitors can roam her decks and get a tour of 20th century history unlike any other in the city. Read more…