A Few Pictures From My Visit to Vlad Land

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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:44 pm

I returned a few days ago from a vacation/holiday in Russia. I hope you don't mind if I share a limited number of pictures from my trip.

St. Petersburg
Some of the State Hermitage Museum. It had an amazing collection of priceless artwork. The Winter Palace of the czar is the large blue/green colored building. The interior of the palaces were eye popping in their opulence and craftsmanship. The building with the gold dome is St. Issac's Cathedral.

Peter and Paul Fortress. Many of the Russian czars and czarinas are buried here. This is on the opposite side of the river from the Hermitage.

The interior of the church were the czars and czarinas are buried.

Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. It was built to memorialize the death of Alexander II in 1881 at this location by a terrorist bomb.

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:50 pm

Moscow

St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square.

Red Square (opposite end from St. Basil's Cathedral). Part of the huge GUM department store is on the right.

Red Square. The walls of the Kremlin are on the left. Lenin's Tomb is the square building next the the Kremlin walls. This is where the Soviet leaders viewed the famous May Day parades of weapons and soldiers on Red Square.

Red Square at night.

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:57 pm

Moscow

The metro (underground/subway) stations in Moscow are works of fine art. Many of them are decorated with Soviet propaganda scenes. They are very deep and were intended to be bomb shelters.

One of the churches at the Zagorsk monastery outside of Moscow.

The interior of one of the Zagorsk churches.

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:58 pm

Given the events of the 20th century,It's amazing any of it is left to marvel at.One can only imagine what The Amber Room must have looked like.Some nice pics,thanks.

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 12:02 am

Moscow
New Maiden's Convent. This is where the czars sent their wives when they grew tried of them. By making the wife take a veil, the czar's marriage was annulled and the czar was free to re-marry.

One of the churches inside of the Kremlin.

St. Petersburg
Peterhof Palace. Another of the czar's palaces on the edge of St. Petersburg. It is renowned for its gardens and fountains.

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 12:42 am

Great pics PRS. Thanks for sharing!

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 12:46 am

Thanks for sharing. That is about as close to Russia as I will ever get.

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 2:10 am

^^^Ditto!

Glad to see you back and thanks for sharing such beauty. Cool

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 2:24 am

Great pictures, looks like a great trip. Welcome back!

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 3:30 am

they are real fab pictures and thanks for sharing them.
did i miss the one of the russian girl with the flower in her hair leaning
against the tree in the park!!!!!!

anyway thanks again for sharing

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 5:13 am

Gorgeous pics! Glad you had a great time, and thanks for posting them. Very Happy

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 5:50 am

remmy223 wrote:

did i miss the one of the russian girl with the flower in her hair leaning against the tree in the park!!!!!!

There was a surprisingly high number of well-dressed and very pretty Russian women especially in Moscow. Some tended to dress a bit flashy and were wearing clothing more suitable for an evening at the clubs. Many wore very high heels and walked long distances even on rough cobble stones. My feet would have been screaming in pain after 30 minutes in some of those shoes. When I mentioned to my boyfriend about all of the pretty women, he said he didn't notice which meant he was lying. All I will say is he did a respectable job of not staring too much, thus staying out of major trouble. Very Happy

One thing I did notice was many Russian women posed for pictures in the same slightly unnatural or fake style as those seen in the pictures used by the romance scammers. This happened whether a male or female was taking the picture. This leads me to believe there is an ample supply of pictures of pretty young Russian women in all of those interesting poses.

In St. Petersburg and Moscow, brides and their respective wedding parties along with decorated limos were a common sight during the entire day. Russian tradition is for the wedding party to visit all of the city landmarks and get their pictures taken. The wedding reception for family and friends follows afterwards. There seemed to be a lot of weddings on this past Friday then we realized it was August 8, 2008 ( 08/08/08 ) .

The guy in the jeans with his back turned was approaching all of the wedding parties at this site and playing goofy songs on his accordion. He was expecting tips for his playing. Perhaps the money was to get him to stop playing.

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 8:41 am

Great pics PRS, everything said above^

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 9:03 am

PRS Girly Girl wrote:

high number of well-dressed and very pretty Russian women

Howcome no photos of the girls.... Sad

Looks like a fantastic trip, thanks for sharing those photos...

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 9:06 am

Thanx for the pics!

Reminds me of my own trip to St P/Moscow (and several points between, but it was mostly raining!) back in '95.

Did you do Lenin's Tomb?

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 12:51 pm

lovely pics PRS, thanks for sharing.

Baiting Guru Joined: 29 Jan 2008 Posts: 2531 Location: AU

fake fake they are all fake

jk

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:15 pm

Looks like a good trip. Now, more about those Russian girls...

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:25 pm

Russia has always been on my "Must Visit" list and these fab pics confirm it.

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 6:00 pm

There are some great pics there, PRS, and I especially like the one of the New Maidens' Convent. Thanks for posting them, and I'm glad to hear you had a good time. Very Happy

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:03 pm

Good pics.
There's some wonderful sights in Russia.
You're correct about the underground (subway) stations.
Spotlessly clean and some wonderful architecture and art work within.

On another of your observations:

Quote:

high number of well-dressed and very pretty Russian women

I remarked on the fact that all the young ladies in a restaurant, with after-dinner dancing, were very beautiful and immaculately dressed.
I was told, by my Russian hosts, that all fat, ugly or poorly-dressed women stayed at home, because they get mocked when they are out.

** Retired ** Joined: 14 May 2007 Posts: 750 Location: Air

PRS Girly Girl wrote:

When I mentioned to my boyfriend about all of the pretty women, he said he didn't notice which meant he was lying. All I will say is he did a respectable job of not staring too much, thus staying out of major trouble.

A guilty pleasure that I fail to conceal far too often Embarassed

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