The Catherine Palace - Author's daughter Casey

The leading role in design of the palace belongs to Italian architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli, who by 1756 created an architectural masterpiece, which the delighted Empress Elizabeth named after her mother, Catherine I. In the later part of the 18th century the palace was modified by Catherine II, “the Great”.
Like the honored guests of the Russian tsars, the nowadays visitors can also admire the full splendor of the palace interiors. Many restored rooms are open for public and contain objects of applied art, fine furniture, Russian and European paintings, unique collections of porcelain, amber, weaponry, artistic bronze and sculpture.

By far the most famous of these rooms is the well known “Amber Room”. First given by Fredrick the Great to Peter I, the amber panels were stored for many years. Finally they were assembled in this room and the room was considered to be extraordinary. During World War II the room was plundered. The amber was thought to have first been stolen by the Nazi’s during the Siege of Leningrad. What eventually happened to the precious works of art has been the subject of many books and wide speculation. After the war the Soviet began to restore the “Amber Room” as well as the entire palace from memories and pictures. The restoration of the Amber Room lasted 50 years.

Now the Catherine Palace and the magnificent “Amber Room” are among the “must see” sights in St. Petersburg and, indeed, the world!

The Catherine Palace is located in the village of Pushkin, a few miles from the center of St. Petersburg.

This picture is of Casey, the daughter of our American director. She is shown on the Catherine Palace grounds with one of the lesser buildings in the background.

St. Basil's Cathedral - Moscow,Russia

The Cathedral was built 1555-1561 to commemorate Ivan’s the Terrible’s defeat of the Tatar City of Kazan.  The statue in front of St. Basil’s dates from 1818, and portrays Minim and Pozharsky who drove Polish invaders out of Moscow in the early 1600′s.  It was moved from the middle of Red Square in 1936 because it impeded the many parades that marched through the Square.

The Cathedral was named after Basil, one of Russia’s barefoot “holy fools” (the most famous one being Rasputin).  Basil died while Kazan was still under siege.

Mariinsky Theatre - St. Petersburg

No trip should be made to St. Petersburg without including a ballet performance.

This is true even if you have never been to a ballet.

I am just such a person. I did not think I would enjoy ballet, but felt the need to see the things that we suggest to our clients. Now I can say I have seen Swan Lake 5 times in Russia as well as many other ballet performances. Ballet  is delightful and beautiful.

If it is possible, you should see many, but, if you can see only one, then it should be at the Mariinsky Theatre.

This  most prestigious theatre features the best of ballet in the world and is the home of the most prestigious ballet company in the world, the Kirov.

Kirov Ballet Company

Mariinsky Theatre - St. Petersburg

For English and Japanese speakers, ballet, opera and the folk shows are wonderful as they are language “independent”.

As with everything, there are varying degrees of excellence. So it is not surprising that there are vastly different prices for performances of the same ballet or opera at different theatres.

Among the best theatres in St. Petersburg are, but not restricted to,

1. Mariinsky theatre.
2. Alexandrindky theatre.
3. Mihailovsky theatre.
4. Hermitage theatre.
5. Palace theatre.

It is wonderful to attend an opera, ballet, symphony or folk show. Let us assist you in choosing what is right for you based on your budget, and the dates on which you are in the city.

Beware!  Many of the ticket sellers on the internet either sell fake tickets or ones at HIGHLY inflated prices or both. (there are theatres who openly publish that they will not accept balletandopera.com or operaandballet.com tickets)

Hermitage Theatre St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg is the home of the Russian School for Ballet. In this city, the most important ballet dancers have trained and performed. Among those are Baryshnikov and Nureyev.
If you have a free evening in St. Petersburg or Moscow, the ballet is an event you will long remember, even it you are not already a fan of ballet.
It is important to note that the revival of the Hermitage Theater makes it possible to step back in time to see a performance as did the previous crowned heads of state during the days of Imperial Russia. It is all the more remarkable that these ballets are again being performed along the historic Neva Embankment and it is as if the patron has stepped back into a time once thought to have been lost forever. Performances are practically nightly in during the tourist season.

Performances of the great ballets like “Swan Lake”, “Giselle” and “Sleeping Beauty” ,among others, are performed frequently.

RussianTourGuide.com obtains tickets, for all of our clients, to any of the theatres in St. Petersburg.

The Hermitage Theatre is the oldest building in the complex of theWinter Palace preserved to our time. It was built on the site of the former Winter Palace of Peter I. The construction of the theatre is functionaly independent and is connected to the basic court building by an arch. The arch is built over the channel that connects the Moika River to the river Neva. The arch is called the “Winter flute”. The theater building, which sometimes is called as fourth Winter the Palace, was constructed between 1711-1723. The theatre was built later in 1783-1785 during the reign of Catherine the Great. The architect was Jakomo Kvarengi, who built around 30 of the most beautiful buildings and structures in the city.

Note: There are many companies who sell tickets to the theatres in St. Petersburg. One of the most easily found in web searches, actually sells ticktets which are fake. Some theatres’ home pages warn potential customers not to buy from this site.
You can be assured of the quaity and price of the tickets RussianTourGuide.com buys for your theatrical performances in St. Petersburg and Moscow.

All other visitors to the Russian Federation must have a tourist visa.

Getting a Russian Federation tourist visa is easy.

You must:

• Have a document called an “invitation“.  www.RussianTourGuide.com  obtains the “invitation” for most of our clients*
• Have a letter from us stating that we are responsible for your tours during your visit to St. Petersburg, Moscow or other Russian city. www.RussianTourGuide.com provides this.
• Complete the application procedure for the Russian consulate in your country along with the appropriate fee to that Russian consualte.

You send your passport, invitation and letter, along with the fee, and the Russian consulate returns your passport to you with the visa for the Russian Federation posted inside your passport.

www.RussianTourGuide.com will assist you with each step. We have NEVER had a client rejected for a Russian visa.

Your guide has much experience with almost all situations which arise with tourists and can probably craft a solution for any contingency. Your guide also has phone access to support from our staff in the USA. If needed, she can contact us to assist you.

While you travel in Russia we can facilitate services such as

• Cash advance (for example in the case of a lost or stolen credit card)>
• Foreign exchange.
• Provide Russian phones for your use while visiting.
• Medical facilities with English speaking physicians in St. Petersburg

We use the passport details to obtain the tourist visa enabling documents (invitation and voucher) for clients who are not visiting via cruise ships.

[gravityform id=2 title=false description=false]

Whether you are a cuise ship passenger to St. Petersburg or a land tour client visiting Russia and using RussianTourGuide.com as your tour provider, you will be receiving your documents from us a few days after submitting these details.

As a back up to the accuracy of this data, we encourage you to scan the picture pages of your passport(s) and email them to us so we can double check the accuracy of the details on the form.

Accuracy with travel documents to Russia is essential and www.RussianTourGuide.com cannot be responsible for complications arising from miscommunicated passport details.

Peter and Paul Fortress & Cathedral

When one observes the skyline of St. Petersburg the spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral is predominant. The Peter and Paul Fortress was the first structure Peter the Great built in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1703. Today it marks the founding of the city, but the fortress was used as a political prison for centuries and the cathedral holds the tombs of the Romanov Tsars. The Peter and Paul Fortress sits on the northern banks of the Neva River, and the tall golden spire of Peter and Paul Cathedral marks the location. This spire was the tallest point in Saint Petersburg until a television tower was built in the mid-1960s. Many famous persons have been incarcerated in the Prison. Feodor Dostoevsky was imprisoned here for his part in the attempt on the Czar’s life. While standing to be executed, the czar commuted his death sentence and sentenced him to many years in Siberia. This episode in his life is assumed to be the motivation for his novel Crime and Punishment. It is remarkable to see the semi precious stone tombs of the likes of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great.  All of the Romanov Czars’ remains are in the Peter and Paul Cathedral with the exception of Peter the III.

The remains of the last Czar , Nicholas II, and his murdered family are in the Cathedral in a special room. They were placed there in the last few years after the remains were discovered in the Urals near where they were murdered.

Many children will recognize the name of one of Nicholas’ children, Grand Duchess Anastasia from the Disney movie of the same name.

St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral Nicholas II family Crypt