Moscow and St Petersburg 2007

During half term, 30 6th formers set off along with 22 girls from St Margaret's, on the History trip to Russia. On the first evening, we had our first excursion into the centre of the St Petersburg, which gave us a chance to see the lights and sounds of the city before going back to the hotel. Our first full day was spent sight-seeing, visiting many famous sites, such as the Church Of Spilt Blood, built on the spot where Alexander II was assassinated in 1881 after seven previous attempts. We saw some graves of famous Russians including the composer Tchaikovsky and we also saw many churches, and cathedrals.  

Our second day in St Petersburg was spent again seeing more important sites; these included the memorial to the siege of Leningrad. We also visited the Summer Palace, where we saw hugely extravagant and opulent rooms. One of these included the famous amber room, which has recently been restored. One of the highlights of the trip was our evening spent watching a traditional Russian Ballet (Swan Lake); I think everybody would agree that the dancing was amazing, but the plot was mind-boggling.  

The group' s last day in St Petersburg began with a visit to the Hermitage, or the Winter Palace, one of the world's largest and most famous museums, and former residence of the Russian Royal Family. It contained paintings by such artists as Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, Rembrandt, as well as large section devoted to the impressionists, and exhibitions of both ancient Egyptian and Roman art. We took a short coach journey from here to the magnificent Cathedral of St Peter and Paul, much of which is covered in gold leaf. This is the resting place of the tsars and rest of the Royal Family. We also stopped at the Cruiser Aurora, the ship which supposedly fired the shot which launched the October Revolution.

That evening we went to the station to get our overnight train to Moscow. There we visited Red Square, and its magnificent view on to the traditionally stylized Cathedral of St Basils was breathtaking. We also saw within the graves of all the former Soviet leaders, (bar Khrushchev) and the figure of Lenin within his Mausoleum. The pit-stop tour of the Moscow underground showed us real style and glory as well as some magnificent communist artistry. In the evening the group took a visit to the Moscow State Circus, and despite some people's exception to the use of certain animals within the show, it was greatly enjoyed by all, particularly the fantastic horse riding and gymnastics that went along with it. Our last day was again spent mainly in the Kremlin, where the group managed to view thousands of artefacts collected by or made for the Russian Royal family including some of the famous eggs made by Carl Fabergé. Also within we had the opportunity to view the inside of a traditionally designed Russian orthodox church, containing thousands of icons and beautiful work with gold leaf.