Xmas/New Year - Saint Petersburg

OK, so we had fun in Finland and it was off to Russia, before we set off I proved just how hard I was by punching through a solid 5" thick piece of ice carved from a glacier (that Cullen was barely able to lift) with my fist of steel (Don't even get me started on my elbow of death or "The Claw") yes, you should all be very, very afraid:

We took an overnight train to Saint Petersburg, it was pretty cool, just like something out of a James Bond movie... Here's the dining cart:

We arrived in St. Petersburg on Xmas Eve and stayed in a DAMN cool flat, it was huge and included it's own grand piano, where Cullen and I preformed a duet of the fourth movement of Beethoven's Symphony number 9 in D minor:

Here's our Xmas photo, you can even see the grinch in there - who refused to turn around because he doesn't believe in the spirit of Xmas, due to him being nearly pecked to death by a Turkey when he was 5 and a half:

When we did finally get around to some sight-seeing in St. Petersburg, we where treated to some of the most fantastic buildings we have ever seen in one single city. Here is a sample of them, starting with one of the more amazing one's I've ever seen. I researched the cryptic message on the front and has lead me to believe that it is one of the original buildings, specifically designed for the comfort of the Tsars, one of the more incredible palaces devoted to them:

Other buildings (which paled in comparison, really) where the Church of spilt blood, where some dude called Alexander II got wasted:

Here's the inside of it (3 pictures joined together, the buildings not really made of rubber):

The Hermitage was the other palace where the Tsars hung out and thought of ways of nailing other countries. Here it is as well as the building across from it:

The inside of the Hermitage was even more impressive. Here's some dude sitting down:

A bunch of paintings with people doing stuff in them:

The room devoted to burning craap loads of candles:

And the I-wanna-look-cool-when-I-sit-down room:

It also contained the most kick ass bird bath EVER:

We went and saw Swan lake in the Hermitage theatre... I'll add a separate page for my run down on that.

Here's a couple more buildings for your viewing pleasure:

A half round building:

A building that wasn't half round, but had a round top:

A really bizarre looking building:

A floating building (I looked it up, it's called a "wake-board"):

Basically Saint Petersburg kicked ass as far as checking out damn cool buildings was concerned. I'd recommend it!