Wandering Lizard
Russia

A Trip to Russia - St. Petersburg - Yusupov Palace - Spring

This was our last group sightseeing event in Russia. I have always hated the restrictions inherent in tours, but I was genuinely sorry to think that this pleasant interlude would end the very next day. One fellow in our group said it very well. "I feel like a kid that has been away to summer camp and am sad to leave my friends." As she was shooing me along to catch up with the group it hit me that I was even going to miss the slightly authoritarian guide that we had that day.

The Yusupov Palace is located in St. Petersburg on the Moika River, a tributary to the Neva River. Owned by the once wealthy, influential, and powerful Yusupov family it is now open as a museum. Today the principal point of interest for the museum's most popular tour seems to be related to the assassination of Grigory Rasputin that took place in the palace in 1916. For me, however, the palace was a fascinating look into the life of a wealthy Russian family living in St. Petersburg from 1830 until the 1917 Revolution. The family was important throughout more than a thousand years of the history of Russia and it is amazing to me as to how many places in our trip we unknowingly crossed paths with them.

Continue into the Palace...