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Here is a handstand picture at
Peter and Paul fortress (with the
top of the pointy spire cut out of the picture). |
One of the places that was closed on Wednesdays was Peter and Paul Fortress. The grounds were open but the cathedral and the museums that were in the fortress were all closed. The fortress was founded in 1703 as a core structure in Peter the Great's new capital it takes up almost all the space on an island called Zayachy Ostrov, the island is opposite the winter palace. The fortress has a lot of buildings worth seeing including the Peter and Paul cathedral at the cathedral are the graves of all but two of the Russian tzars. the tall golden spire is as far away as you can get from the normal Russian union domes on almost all of the other cathedrals in St Petersburg (if not all) and can be seen from far across city. In summer the island becomes a magnet for sunbathers with its pebbly beaches and in winter swimmers who are known as morzhi or Walruses break through the ice and swimming on the south side of the island, you can even see a blue painted walrus symbolizing them on the wall of the fortress.
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| at the bottom of this picture there is the two headed eagle (the symbol of the romanov family). |
Here are some more pictures of the cathedral at Peter and Paul fortress, you can see from these pictures that it does not have any onion domes!
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| Here is a picture of mommy with Peter the great when he is old . |
Yikes! tortures of the middle ages! Ok it is just fake. on the left is a picture of part of the fortress.
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| family picture with the Hermitage in the background. |
LOL! Love the fake torture guy. You should have done some hand stands beside him:-) The Peter the Great statue looks a little freaky - must be the tiny head on top of the massive torso. Perhaps that is artistic symbolism? Did you know that Peter the Great liked strong women - literally!! His future "queen" was a servant he saw carrying an entire hog over her shoulders like a man and could bend iron bars in half. He loved to get her to do feats of strength at banquets. I guess every successful man really does need a "strong" woman beside him - haha! Glad to see you back on the blog!! Hope your Jedi underwear and socks arrive soon. Otherwise intergalactic war will break out over who gets access to the last clean t-shirt or extra sweater for warmth. Uncle Crabby lost his luggage when we were in Greece on a cruise and he had to buy Athens Olympics old man shirts from the ship gift shop to tie him over until we got to Turkey. We both look forward to hearing more from you, Jaybob, and mom about how your adventure progresses in the land of chocolate and fruit beer:-)
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