St Petersburg Part 6 - St Isaacs Cathedral

There's a beautiful cathedral or two (or 15) or in this town.   The largest one is called St. Isaac's Cathedral.  The largest church in Russia when it was built (101.5 meters high), and still remaining the third largest domed cathedral in the world. For visitors willing to climb 300 steps, it provides a spectacular view of St. Petersburg.  The cathedral took 40 years to construct, from 1818 to 1858, and was dedicated/named after Saint Isaac of Dalmatia, a patron saint of Peter the Great.

St. Isaac's Cathedral was ordered by Tsar Alexander I to replace an earlier Rinaldiesque structure.  French-born architect Auguste de Montferrand (1786-1858), who had studied in the atelier of Napoleon's designer, Charles Percier was selected as the designer.

Under the Soviet government, the building was abandoned, then turned into a museum of atheism. The dove sculpture was removed, and replaced by a Foucault pendulum. During World War II, the dome was painted over in gray to avoid attracting attention from enemy aircraft.   Today, worship activity has resumed in the cathedral, but only in the left-hand side chapel, and in the main body of the cathedral on feast days only.

 wanna climb 290 stairs?

 view of admiralty square and the neva river:

St Petersburg Part 7 - UFOs

I found a UFO in Russia !!! (actually it's just a really cool subway station in St Petersburg adjacent to the Peter and Paul Fortress).    We were able to make it about 95% of the way through the trip "above the labrynth" (avoiding the subway) but alas faced with only 3 hours left in the City and another 8 places to see - we took the plunge underground to save about 40 minutes of walking time - - and then encountered this flying saucer !!   (Footnote - for the record, the St Petersburg Metro does not even come close to meeting the architecture, design and functionality of the Moscow Metro)

Russian Power

they say moscow is a powerful city, and you can get what you want.   I guess that's true...

you want an old fashioned switch feed power

 or nuclear ?

you can read russian right ?

which way is the bathroom again?!?!  haha  

(Luckily I can halfway read Russian now - make sure you can do when you come here because NOTHING IS IN ENGLISH !!)

Engineering Musuem

Russian's are proud of their scientific innovations and contributions to society.   Their fantastic Polytechnic Museum right in the heart of the city centre is evidence of that.   A fantastic collection of thousands of exhibits on aviation, automobiles, steel and metallurgy, energy, and technology.   An engineer's paradise !!

old old old russian large format camera

somewhat old 1960's soviet cameras (known for being extremely reliable and very affordable)

replica for russia's first nuclear bomb (I like how they made it look kind of cute and harmless)

i wonder if these have dual core processers

Colorful Moscow

For 6 months a year it's pretty much just white, grey and green but in the summer this is a colorful city indeed (purples, greens, blues, reds, yellows, orange, whites, etc etc ..........)

where the signs are gold

only in russia

Russian Airline flight attendants

they may carry a bit of an attitude, and still give you a fish dinner on board the plane even when you ask for steak, but at least their retro Soviet style red outfits are cool !

2014 Olympics

although the 2014 Winter Games are several hundred kilometers south of moscow, the city is nonetheless doing it's part in starting to help build the momentum (there are ads up throughout the city, and olympic gear for sale in various locations too)...

perfect day in Moscow - part 1

Sunday was a perfect example of an incredible day in today's Moscow.  We awoke mid-morning to the summer rain, with a free day or limitless possibilities in front of us. A hot cup of green tea and we decided to stop by the recently reclaimed Red October Chocolate Factory property on Bolotny Island to visit some of the new cafes and galleries that are popping up there like wildflowers. Some more green tea and drinks at Bar Belka (the city's first smoke-free bar!) and we moved on to the Lumiere Brothers Gallery, which was recently founded by a bunch of oligarchs and architect Rem Koolhaas to promote art, architecture and photography. Their current exhibit was fascinating, hundreds of large photos of Moscow and Moscovites (Anastasiya's two favorite topics) taken from 1900-1960. Unforgettable.  Followed that by taking in an impromptu concert from Bar Strelka's patio, while standing on the Christ the Savior Bridge admiring the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.   Looked at my watch and it was only 6pm and the sun was still shining high in the sky....

A perfect night in Moscow - part 2

(continued)... after the concert we decided to meet up with some friends for dinner.   Moscovites like eating later in the evenings, particularly in the summer (which is how I like it too - this city is starting to click with me!).   Therefore, we had some time to kill so we started the night with a cool car ride around town, checking out some of the saturday night street scene including the streets around the university where all the drag racers hang out.    A rumble from our german v8 turned some heads, and we then scooted over to the academy of sciences to check out their 22nd floor sky lounge overlooking the city and the sparrow hills national reserve.    Decided to end the night with a stop at the shatyor terrace at chistye prudy lake.   Great friends + a great city = a great vacation. 

sparrow hills and moscow university

 moscow river and the kremlin in the distance:

 

rooftop deck:

 

 

that's a nice chandelier, but I think she shines brighter:

 

 

 

castles and palaces

unlike many european cities where you have to travel beyond the city limits to visit centuries old castles and palaces, moscow has quite a number of stunning palaces right in town.  Most were built between 1200 and 1700...  here's a few we've been able to visit over the past week (Tsaritsyno and Kolomonskoye):

soviet ice cream

for the people !

my empress

My Tsaritsa (empress) in her St Petersburg "apartment"