st. petersburg 2011, day 2

Ooops! I’ve been forgetting to post! It’s been a busy week, what with school starting, ya know.

Here are many pictures from our second day in sunny St. Petes:

We started the day souvenir shopping near St. Isaac’s Cathedral. Mattias did not buy this hat.

I did buy the chinchilla scarf, but not the mink coat.

The Fam, in front of the Cathedral.

In front of a statue of Peter the Great, The Bronze Horseman.

We crossed the Neva River by walking across a bridge. Of course, this started a whole discussion about the raising of the bridges at night to let boats pass. Not one discussion, but 3 . . . since each child had to re-ask because they only heard the end of the story the previous time it was told.

Sofia and Stefan’s dad.

Finally at our morning’s destination: Peter and Paul Fortress. More Top Model poses from Sofia.

Mattias and Joel doing something they probably shouldn’t . . .

Sofia and Faffa.

Joel (better get down quick!)

Cannons! Sweet!

The 12 o’clock cannon shot. It was loud!

We paid a wad of rubles to come up onto the walls of the fortress and walk around . . . so here are a bunch of pictures . . .

Some interesting chairs.

This one was a little difficult to sit on.

Does she look like a princess?

Shortly after a meltdown due to line-ups for the toilets. This pic was taken just outside the entrance to the Bastion Prison. It was a bit expensive, so Stefan’s mom asked the guard if there was anything to see. He said, “Not really.”

Walking back towards our hotel. Faffa, Fammo and Mattias.

The fortress is in the background.

A baby bear drinking cream.

The kids got to pet him.

At the edge of the Neva, across from the Hermitage.

We ate lunch at a little place across the street from our hotel – real Russian food, I think. It wasn’t much of a touristy place. She saw us outside trying to figure out what kind of food was on the sign and brought us down inside. Most of us had the lunch special: salad (choice of green or potato), soup (choice of cream of mushroom or pumpkin), authentic Russian ravioli (chicken, meat or fish) or meatballs, wedge potatoes or vegetables and coffee or special cherry drink (which was thick with cherries floating in it – I didn’t really like it).

After lunch we swam at the hotel pool. Then later we walked down Nevsky Prospect with the grandparents to a huge mall and did some window shopping. Everything was out of our price range. On the way back, we ate at Pizza Hut again.

Stefan’s parents went back to the hotel, but we went to the fountain at the Admirality.

Then the park.

Statue of Przhevalsky – I don’t know why a camel is here . . .

Our walk brought us back around the cathedral. You can see our hotel in the background – the Petro Palace.

Stefan gets mauled by the hotel’s bear.

TTFN,

Barb