Friday, September 26, 2014

More from Peter Paul Fortress

Let me preface that I am not still in Russia. I am actually back in Oregon. I just haven't had an easy time to upload the photos. 
This is the what's the word for giant, crypt. Church crypt? I don't know exactly what to call it. Would you believe the name for this is, Peter and Paul Cathedral. The spire is very tall and can be seen from a the other side of the island? Bay? Water way. 

The distance you will find the mint. The mint has functioned as a mint or something industrial since 1724. 

This is loki, riding around on his scooter. Other children aren't allowed to scooter around the museums etc of Saint Petersburg. My son is allowed to scooter around because he is a spoiled child. Also his grandparents emphasize many times that he is American. 


Hey! It's a graveyard outside of a crypt. Inside are the sarcophagi of the Romanovs outside are the grave markers of mayors and such of Saint Petersburg. SURPRISE!!!! They have moved around the graves a couple of times. Because? They had to. I guess that there was something communism, or something I don't know. They had to move the graves, and grave markers around. You know a lot of the things in the crypt, have been moved around frequently. 

Here Loki desperately implores as to why he can't play on the grass. I didn't understand why he couldn't play on the grass either. Also his outfit is brought to you by a shirt his father used to wear as a child, and some shorts from America. 

This is/was the mayor residence. Why the mayor lives on a manmade island, and not in the city proper back in the day heaven only knows. Probably because according to the history they were like naval admirals. At least I think this is the mayors property. 


Here are some images of an Onion Dome, the Peter and Paul Cathedral and an image of Christ and I would assume Peter and Paul. It's frustrating because when there is an information board, it is in English, and Russian. Would you believe there appears to be more information in Russian then in English. Including dates and stuff, and just generally more information. You can carry around a "paddle" with a speaker on it to listen to information about the sites you are touring. Nothing says you are a tourist, like walking around with the paddle. This time when we were at the "fortress" I saw German tourists and Asian tourists. There were a lot of Asian tourist, Koreans and Chinese seemed to be two of the more represented Asian countries. So you can get your paddle in a variety of languages, Chinese, English (British English), Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Korean.. And I can't remember some of the other flags that are represented to show the countries. Spanish usually throws me, and it seems unexpected. But hey, Spaniards travel. There are so many palaces in any given European country.