(This is part of a summer trip report using miles and points to fly first class on Emirates from JFK to Dubai/Paris, costing $41 and 100K Alaska miles; the cost of these flights would have been $23,914! I pinch myself to think I got such an unbelievable value for my miles!)

We flew from Tallin to St. Petersburg; we pre-booked a tour through MIR because much of what we wanted to see was outside the city.

We used Club Carlson points to stay at the Park Inn near Nevsky Prospekt, taking advantage of the third night free, which is no longer available. It was a great location, nothing special about the room, but it was free (sorry, no photos).

We started early the next morning and went by St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral with its’ gold domes.

We made a quick stop to see the Church of the Spilled Blood, which was built on the spot where Czar Alexander II was killed by a bomb in 1881. It’s in the style of the famous St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow (coming soon)!

We took the hydrofoil to Peterhof Grand Palace, which Peter the Great built on the Gulf of Finland 19 miles outside of St. Petersburg 290 years ago! It was ravaged in World War II, but I’m glad this treasure was restored. It’s known as the “Russian Versailles.” The gravity fed fountains are absolutely spectacular! No photos allowed inside, but here is the amazing outside, even on a cloudy day! (St. Petersburg only gets 75 days of sunshine per year).

Catherine’s Palace was our next stop and it was built by Catherine I in 1717. It too was almost totally destroyed during the war and restored. It was the “summer residence” of the Russian Tsars. Photos were allowed inside, except for the Amber Room. The Amber Room is a world famous chamber decorated in amber panels backed with goldleaf and mirrors. It was looted in WWII and its’ whereabouts are still unknown, but it has been reconstructed and opened in 2003. Can you pick out the “instagram” room in the palace? These pictures show just a bit of the magnificence of the palace, inside and out…

The Hermitage Museum encompasses six buildings, including the Winter Palace. It’s the oldest and largest museum in the world, has over three million items, and the largest collection of paintings in the world! We got a private tour and saw just a tiny bit of it all.

Our tour guide told us about the Faberge Museum and we walked there one day. The museum is privately owned, has the world’s largest collection of Faberge, and just opened in 2013 in the renovated Shuvalov Palace. Nine of the fifteen eggs were bought for 100 million dollars from the Malcolm Forbes estate, and all the eggs open for a surprise inside! The intricate, delicate work of these amazing pieces was well worth it! No photos were allowed, but here are some images…

The Mariinsky Theater was a must for us, so we went one evening to see “The Nutcracker.” There is actually a newer theater, but we went to the original one in all its’ grandeur. It was fantastic and made us feel like royalty!

I have NEVER seen so much gold as in St. Petersburg! Next up, Moscow…