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Today, a little walk to go to our day tour: the fortress of St. Peter and Paul.
Some decorated and advertising cars. While on a wall, a poster offers us love to sell for 24 hours.

A bit of architecture where we could have crossed Bilbo. And the metro station in the shape of a flying saucer:

And finally here we are, the Fortress of St. Peter and Paul. Built on a small island called Hare Island present here, while there was no soul, by Tsar Peter the great (3rd Romanov) in 1703 and completed in 1740. Since the installation of the armament of the fortress in 1730, a gun is fired every lunchtime.



The first building, the wooden church, carried a high bell tower that allowed the Tsar to watch himself the surroundings while the fortress was being built. Thus preventing the approach of the Swedish invader.
The spire of the old church, rebuilt in cathedral, culminates at 122m high, topped by the protecting angel of the city. And this same church houses the tombs of all the tsars and their families since Peter the Great. The latter, moreover, had a very bad literary education, but had learned 14 manual trades as well as the art of war!

The tombs of the tsars and their families have not been complete for a long time. Involved, the murder of Nicholas II and his family and those who accompanied them during their exile (the family doctor, the Tsarina's maid, a valet and the cook) who was always denied by the authorities Russian. Following their exile forced by the Bolsheviks, the imperial family and its servants are kept under guard at the Ekaterina Palace. Then they were moved to the Ipatiev House where they were all slaughtered on Lenin's direct order on the night of July 16 to 17, 2918. Slaughtered at close range with rifles, the survivors are savagely executed with bayonets, blows of boots and balls.

It is only on October 1, 2008 that the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation rehabilitates the Romanovs and considers that Nicholas II, his family and accompanying persons have been victims of political repression. It was on this date that they could finally be buried in the cathedral, in the Sainte-Catherine chapel.

Other tombs were also laid in 2006 like the Tsarina Maria Fedorovna, wife of Tsar Alexander III, who exiled in 1919 in the United Kingdom and Denmark (his country of origin). She had asked to be buried with her husband only when the Bolsheviks were no longer in power (possibly to avoid the same thing that happened to Tsar Nicholas II and his relatives.).

Finally, the tomb of Tsar Alexander II carved in jasper and his wife Mary of Hesse-Darmstadten pink rhodonite murdered in 1881.

A t-shirt shop with some pretty perched models ...

A statue of hare and koala.

Then after clutching the paw with big ears, direction the meal! There is a lot of buckwheat on the menu, it's normal, it's a cereal widespread in Russia. I also had an olive salad (our macedonia, which in Russia is a festive dish) and chicken breaded in Kiev (chicken breast breaded with a piece of butter in the center). And a traditional Russian ice cream (soviet?) For dessert.

For the afternoon, separation! While the others are going to visit the ramparts, I noticed a small sign half hidden in a corner indicating the museum of the space conquest and science of Soviet rockets !
A Komet capsule at the entrance sets the tone.

The museum is not very big, but it is very well filled! There are old books of astrophysics and rocket ballistics, models, skits of various parts (a test room of electric motors ERE with a gigantic bridge of Graetz, a workshop, the research office from Glushko), cutting engines, posters ...

Documents of this time, other models, a whole wall just to Laika and Félicette (first dog and cat in space, the first Russian, the French second) of course a wall to the famous Yuri Gagarin, and still huge engines.

Reproductions in real size of command boards or the WC of the ISS. More models and finally the capsule Vostok of Yuri.

End of the visit of the fortress, direction one of the main avenues of St. Petersburg (the one that goes to the Naval Academy), with a little subway. We go out near an austere building, very soviet... and in front, a delivery truck Macdonald... I find it fun enough to see it here... Lenin has not finished turning around... I wonder if putting a few electric cables would be able to produce a little electricity, no? Dynamo way?

Then we take a small riverboat boat, for a tour of the city via the river canals.

We see the cruiser Aurore a bit far away !

Then we go back to the Nevskiy Prospektiv, passing in front of the Kazan Cathedral of St. Petersburg, a luxury goods shop (Dom Zingera) and a fountain-monument dedicated to Catherine II. I also took a photo of the streamer for the 315th anniversary of the foundation of saint petersbourg.


And then return to the apartment (again a decorated car and pipes... for the flow of rainwater!).

End of the second day of reporting, with a lot of photos, and even more for the next day!

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