Our tour of Russia via Grand Circle Travel tour began in late August, 2007. I used for the first time a Sony Handycam video and digital camera. The video part went well, but I lost about 200 single, digital pictures of the trip, beginning in Moscow through Kitzi Island, meaning that most of the following digital pictures were taken from palaces and museums in St. Petersburg. The following is a video comprising the digital pictures I took on the second half of the tour. All the remaining sections of this travel blog are the videos I took on the tour and captured the sights and sounds of Moscow, ending with our short stay in Helsinki Finland before we flew back to Los Angeles.
There is Russian music attached to the video clip of the nearly 200 single digital pictures I was able to take on the second half of the trip. The videos were taken to record the comments of the local tour guides. So the pictures you see in the video collage below will be amplified as you view the videos below.
In particular, Yusopov Palace is the famous and historical house where Rasputin was killed and dumped into the nearby river. Catherine's Palace and The Hermitage have a tremendous source of paintings and collections of clothing and coaches and art objects once owned by The Czar's. This trip and the comments of the trip guides made many reference to the changes in the former Soviet Russia in the last 15 years and we were very surprised at the amount of and reference to the former Czarist rulers of Russia beginning with Peter and Catherine the Great.
Many of the priceless art and historical objects in St. Petersburg were hidden during WW II where the city of St. Petersburg was under siege for some three years with a loss of lives amount to well over one million residents.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Begin Tour in Moscow
Begin 3-week Grand Circle Travel tour in Moscow, after spending 3 hours at the Moscow Airport. First impression of Russia, at the airport, is that it is horribly behind the times in processing tourists that is slowed down considerably by manually checking databases. But the tour guides are wonderful and knowledgeable.
I also want to note the obvious: there appears a date and time in each video. This was the first time I used my Sony Handycam video recorder (and digital camera) on an organized tour and did not know how to turn off this function.
Bus ride to hotel:
Moscow history:
Begin city tour of Moscow:
Russian National War Museum:
Moscow Restaurant:
Moscow Circus:
Assumption Cathedral and other Czarist Churches:
The Kremlin and Red Square:
City Bus tour of Central Moscow on way to ship to begin river cruise:
City bus tour and sights continued:
I also want to note the obvious: there appears a date and time in each video. This was the first time I used my Sony Handycam video recorder (and digital camera) on an organized tour and did not know how to turn off this function.
Bus ride to hotel:
Moscow history:
Begin city tour of Moscow:
Russian National War Museum:
Moscow Restaurant:
Moscow Circus:
Assumption Cathedral and other Czarist Churches:
The Kremlin and Red Square:
City Bus tour of Central Moscow on way to ship to begin river cruise:
City bus tour and sights continued:
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
River trip begins in the Moscow Canal en route to St. Petersberg
On board Grand Circle Tour ship,begin river cruise:
The next video is taken on the Volga River of an old church and steeple which were flooded, we think as a result of construction of the Moscow Canal and link with the Volga. What you see submerged is the Bell tower of St. Nicolas Cathedral in thetown of Kalyazin; the whole town is submerged except the steeple:
The next video is taken on the Volga River of an old church and steeple which were flooded, we think as a result of construction of the Moscow Canal and link with the Volga. What you see submerged is the Bell tower of St. Nicolas Cathedral in thetown of Kalyazin; the whole town is submerged except the steeple:
Kizhi Island, north of Moscow:
On board entertainment:
Other river cruise ships like GCT's Tiki Don on the Svir River:
Tour of Uglich Cathedral:
Long live Russian Vodka:
St. Petersburg
Elizabeth's Convent:
Peter and Paul Fortress:
Peterhof (Peter's Summer Palace) main fountain with Sampson
slaying a lion:
The Magnificient, one and only Hermitage, Peter the Great's Summer Palace, reached by hydrofoil:
Hermitage - Part 2:
Hermitage - Part 3:
Hermitage - Part 4:
Hermitage - Pecaso - Part 5:
Peter and Paul Fortress:
Peterhof (Peter's Summer Palace) main fountain with Sampson
slaying a lion:
The Magnificient, one and only Hermitage, Peter the Great's Summer Palace, reached by hydrofoil:
Hermitage - Part 2:
Hermitage - Part 3:
Hermitage - Part 4:
Hermitage - Pecaso - Part 5:
Hermitage - Part 6 - Exterior:
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Yusupov (House) Palace where Rasputin was murdered:
Outside Catherine's Palace:
Main Street -Nevsky Prospect:
Walks continues on Nevsky Prospect, people, street vendors and
places including MacDonalds:
St. Isaacs Cathedral and begin city tour:
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