St Petersburg: Friday, October 5, 2018:

On the way to Peterhof Palace Anya told us the story of the murder of the holy monk Rasputin. Coincidentally I visited the scene of the crime a few years earlier when I shot these two photos. Here is the edited version version of the history:

He was considered both an imposter and a cheat with extraordinary abilities – he did stop the bleedings of the royal son Crown Prince Alexis. In St Petersburg he became well-known but he had no official recognition in the church.

The plot against him was organised plot by Prince Yusopov, who was married to niece of the Emperor, and involved the use of cyanide potassium and poisoned wine and cake.

In the cellar they served poisoned wine and snacks but there was no poison in reality and it was tooth powder. After 10 to 20 minutes they were puzzled and Rasputin became impatient so they decided they had to shoot him instead.

They asked him to pray and Felix fired at Rasputin who fell down onto the floor. However, Rasputin opened his eyes and started to strangle Felix before going upstairs, through an unlocked door, and crept away into a little garden and onto embankment of the river before being finished off. No one was punished for the crime.

When we first left the hotel it was bright and sunny and I asked Anya if there was a chance it would rain? She replied: “In St Petersburg anything can happen.” Having said that by the time we exited the palace it was raining.

At museums you have to check in your jackets into cloakrooms – apparently it is the rule.

Around 8000 people a day visit the palace in high season. Apparently, during Peter The Great’s time, the palace was tiny and the impressive fountains in the gardens use gravity to work.

The Nazis set fire to the palace when they were retreating in January 1944.

In the gardens I had to tell a woman to get out of the way when she brazenly stood right in front of my lens as I was obviously lining up my shot – by this time in the trip it was getting a bit tedious and very rude.

You could have your photograph taken with people in costume for 400 roubles or 200 roubles if it was taken on your own camera. Their photographers got a bit upset when I started taking photos of the actors.

We enjoyed lunch at the Red Tavern which consisted of salad, beetroot soup, chicken Kiev and ice cream. Apparently Russian’s eat ice cream in any season. I also thought it was time to get a group shot before getting back onto the coach back to the hotel.

I had a wander along Moscow Avenue to get a few street scenes. I even found some old Lada cars as well as general street shots and shops.

As I entered the Old Friends bar Deep Purple were on the TV, I thought Karen would have liked that, and I was surprised that they even had Newcastle Brown Ale for sale. The barman asked where I was from and I said England and told him I was born near Newcastle. He asked if it was my favourite beer and I said I had not had it for a long time and was surprised to see it in St Petersburg.

I had my evening meal in the Georgian place which consisted of: bread and toasted cheese, shish kebab from the leg of a young lamb.

Bizarrely, after listening to the Rasputin story earlier, the soundtrack consisted of Boney M – Daddy Cool, Ma Baker, Hands Up, Daddy Cool, but there was no Rah! Rah! Rasputin – and ABBA. The food was very good and service was excellent.

I even read a bit of Dostoyevski, Crime and Punishment, in the city where it is set and later met up with a few of the group in the sports bar.

On the whole the trip has been a lot better than I was expecting. The Russians are friendly and more speak English than I was expecting/was led to believe. During the time leading up to my departure UK politicians did not help things by antagonising Putin following the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Having said that it all turned out fine.

Here are a few stats – in the first six months of 2017 4.5 million tourists came to St Petersburg and 2.1 million were Russians and 500,000 were from China. In 2018 this was expected to increase by between 30 and 35 per cent.