Jun
21
Saint Petersburg
Filed Under VWS
Today was the first day of Saint Petersburg. This is the first time that Disney has ever overnighted in a port. We arrived late morning and our first excursion was at 1230. Frances and I did the walking tour while Lauren did the Master Ballet class. The walking tour was quite nice as we saw most if the major sites in a short time. Traffic was terrible, though, as the St. Petersburg Economic Forum was there during our visit. During our walk we saw the Blood Cathedral, the Hermitage, and many other spectacular sites. The traffic delayed our return to the ship and we pulled into the terminal area at 5:25pm. Our next excursion was due to meet at 5:30pm. We ran to customs, and some nice crew members let us cut to the front of the line. I had already texted Lauren and talked to the excursion manager so they were aware of our dilemma. We changed quickly and made our way to the excursion. We did the Backstage Experience at the Ballet. We boarded the bus and headed to dinner. Dinner was at a restaurant that was absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately they didn’t really tell us the name, or if they did I didn’t understand it. Dinner was good, the vodka supplied burned, and the red wine was decent. We were then scheduled to take the buses to the Ballet. The Economic Forum had closed down streets and we had to walk. Lauren and Frances didn’t enjoy the walk in their high heels. Swan Lake was the performance. It was in a theater called the Grand Palace Theater. This theater was a private theater of the Tsars and has been restored. It was a beautiful theater and our seats in the third row were good. The Ballet was quite good but the highlight was definitely being able to go backstage and meet the performers. Lauren and a couple of other teens who were in the Master Ballet class were singled out for pictures with both the Ballerina that taught their class and the lead male dancer. The Managing Director of the Theater “Russian Ballet”, Ludmila Bragina, seemed quite genuine in her enthusiasm for our visit and in particular the girls who were dancers., A quick trip back to the Magic and bed as we have a full day tomorrow.
that sounds absolutely fascinating – I’m sure Lauren will remember this forever.
Kind of stinks about the traffic mess though