No guide book could have prepared me for all of the things I would experience in St. Petersburg. The architecture of the buildings, the number of monuments and the plan of the city- it is often to referred to as a Venice of the North because of all of the canals and waterways in the city. It reminded me a lot of Amsterdam too.
The planning for this trip started way back when I first moved to Saudi Arabia in October. Chris Watson was a colleague at BU from 1996-1999 and we have been friends ever since. When I moved back from Bogota and Chris was moving to Princeton, I rented his apartment in the South End of Boston for many years. Chris currently works at Northwestern and lives in Chicago. We usually get together once or twice a year and usually in Boston or Chicago. So this was a good excuse to meet someplace new to both of us. I traveled via Frankfurt and Chris via Paris and we met at the Grand Hotel Europe. So amazing!! And I realized I didn't take many pictures inside the hotel. But grand it is indeed. It is St. Petersburg oldest hotel and was built in 1875. (www.grandhoteleurope.com)
Home Sweet Home for a week!
St. Petersburg was founded by Tsar Peter I of Russia on May 27, 1703 and was the capital of the Russian Empire for more than two hundred years (1713–1728, 1732–1918). It ceased being the capital in 1918 after the Russian Revolution of 1917. It is Russia's second largest city after Moscow with 4.6 million inhabitants, and fourth in Europe after Istanbul, London and Moscow. It is located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. It was called Petrograd from 1914-1924and Leningrad from 1924-1991. (In case you go, the airport code is LEN.)
Horse tamer on the Anichkov Bridge. There are four on this first bridge to be built in St. Petersburg in 1715. (The statues were added in 1851)
Eliseevskiy Gastronom- Grocery opened in 1903 but closed in 2007 and now empty because the city requires it remain a grocery but the rents are too high in the Nevsky district. See the allegorical sculpture below (Industry, Commerce, Art, and Science).
Singer Building- Built in 1904 for the home of the Singer sewing machine company and the US Embassy, it is now a bookstore!
Nevsky Gate at the entrance to the Peter and Paul Fortress. Known as the 'Death Gateway' because prisoners would be led through here to their executions.Now for just a brief history lesson... In 1703 Peter the Great captured a Swedish fortress on the Neva River. A few weeks later he put forth the plans for the Peter Paul Fortress on Zayachy Island, three miles inland from the Gulf of Finland. He named it after his patron saint, St. Peter and the original name, Piter, was meant to sound Dutch because of Peter's appreciation for Dutch culture. (Probably why the city reminded me of Amsterdam too!) By 1716 a project was in place whereby the city centre would be located on Vasilievsky Island and shaped by a rectangular grid of canals. The primary architect, Domenico Trezzini, developed the Petrine Baroque style which represents a break with the Byzantine traditions that had dominated Russian architecture.In 1725, Peter the Great died and in 1728, Peter II moved the capital back to Moscow. But just four years later, in 1732, Empress Anna of Russia moved the capital back to St. Petersburg where it remained the seat of government for 186 years.
Me and Peter the Great- controversial sculpture (because of the small head and BIG body)
Spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral which is in the middle of the Peter and Paul Fortress. This is the first church built in the city. On top of the cathedrals’ spire is a golden angel holding a cross. At 404 feet tall, the cathedral is the highest building in the city. 
Interior of the Cathedral. All of the Romanov Tsars and Tsarinas are buried here with the exception of Peter II and Ivan VI.
Chapel of St. Catherine in the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul where the remains of Nicholas II and his family were re-interred in July 1998.
Grave of Peter the Great on the right.
Moscow, Tallin and Kiev all in the same direction?
Peter and Paul Fortress from the East bank of the Neva.
Rooftop Restaurant at the Kempinski Hotel- St. Petersburg position on the latitude of ca. 60° N causes variation in day length across seasons. So, while we were there the sun set around 11:30 pm and rose around 4 am. And it never really was completely dark-- just dusk. This time of year is known as the white nights. 
Notice all of the cranes in the background! Dubai?
Watching the sunset from the rooftop of the Kempinski
In 1736-1737 the city suffered from fires. In order to rebuild, the city center was moved to the Admirality borough on the east bank of the Neva. The Baroque style dominated the architecture of the new city center and it is still apparent today. During the reign of Catherine the Great in the 1760s-1780s the banks of the Neva were lined with granite embankments.
The Revolution of 1905 began in Saint Petersburg. With the start of World War I, the name Saint Petersburg was perceived to be too German, so in 1914 the city was renamed Petrograd. In 1917 the February Revolution, which put an end to the Russian monarchy, and the October Revolution, which ultimately brought Vladimir Lenin to power, broke out in Petrograd. The city's proximity to the border, the threat of German bombardment and invasion, as well as the build-up of anti-Soviet armies forced the Bolsheviks under Lenin to transfer the capital to Moscow on March 12, 1918. In 1924, three days after Lenin's death, Petrograd was renamed Leningrad. For decades Leningrad was glorified by the Soviet propaganda as "the cradle of the revolution" and "the city of three revolutions."
On December 1, 1934, Sergey Kirov, popular communist leader of Leningrad, was assassinated, which was used to start the Great Purge. The sizeable minorities of Germans, Poles, Finns, Estonians and Latvians were almost completely expelled from Leningrad by the Soviet government during the 1930s. During World War II, Leningrad was besieged by Nazi Germany. The siege lasted 872 days from September 1941 to January 1944. The Siege of Leningrad was one of the longest, most destructive, and most lethal sieges of major cities in modern history. It isolated the city from most supplies and more than a million civilians died, mainly from starvation. Many others were eventually evacuated or escaped by themselves, so the city became largely depopulated. Leningrad and many of its suburbs were rebuilt over the post-war decades, partially according to the pre-war plans and including an underground subway (which I did not experience). On June 12, 1991, in a referendum held on the same day as the first Russian presidential election, 54% of voters chose to restore the name "Saint Petersburg" (the change officially took effect on September 6, 1991).
The architecture is truly amazing! So many styles that compliment each other. The Hermitage and Peterhof and a night at the ballet will follow soon...
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