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Longbow of Argyll - Longbow in the Baltic; Tallinn to St Petersburg.



Longbow in the Baltic; Tallinn to St Petersburg.

We lost our blog writer,Clare, when she and Felix left us in Tallinn so now, two busy weeks later, the first mate will summarise.
Leaving Tallinn, we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of sailing along the Estonian coastline. Dick and Budgie had joined Longbow and seemed delighted that their adventure had begun. By the following morning we had to enter the strict shipping channel that takes one 85nm to the Russian border control at Kronstadt, although one enters Russian waters a lot further west. Apart from a little sailing this leg was a long slog with the iron topsail through very featureless surroundings. Even when within a few miles of Saint Petersburg the skyline revealed industrial outlines only and a couple of vast cruise liners.
We settled in to the Central River Yacht Club and despite our weariness, looked forward to the exciting days ahead. The first of these revolved around a guided bus trip around some of the main features of the city founded with vision by Peter the Great. With more glorious weather, we visited the St Peter and Paul fortress church, heaving with people, but followed that with a private tour of the battleship Aurora. Having wondered whether we needed this, we were all most impressed by the ship and its site and learnt that it was a blank shell from the Aurora that gave the signal for the storming of the Winter Palace at the start of the Russian Revolution. Other sites we just got a glimpse of, tempting us to return if possible. On Friday, we were treated to a tour of parts of the incredible Winter Palace / Hermitage Museum. Overwhelming, sumptuous, with massive gilding, pillars, tables and vases of precious stone, the palace houses the vast collection started by Catherine the Great. Understandably the galleries were incredibly crowded making the peaceful viewing of the art quite difficult. Come in winter we decided, but life is short.... So we lapped it up.
Continuing the life is short theme, we all decided to go to Swan Lake in the Hermitage Theatre followed the next evening by Eugene Onegin at the fabulous modern Marinsky theatre. For me, these will be my abiding memories of St Petersburg. I was conscious of being totally immersed in these wonderful experiences, musically and visually gorgeous in these iconic settings. We were all struck by the glamour with which the audience graced these occasions. We were sadly lacking in 7 inch heels! Both of these evenings and a lot of the planning in St Petersburg were thanks to our agent, Vladimir.

Back at the marina the fleet enjoyed a lovely outdoor setting for a meal together, with entertainment from Gerard. We will just forget the incredible throbbing "music" which surrounded us all night or waking to find a stranger sitting on our deck. All in all, an unforgettable experience at a difficult time in international relations.


Posted by Jane


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