11 December 2016. Our Great Russian Motherland… The Winter Palace in Piter… Yes… That’s a RECENT Pic

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Yep… it’s winter before winter in Russia again! It’s ten more days before the official faceoff, but Ol’ Baba Winter is goin’ on strong in the Rodina, as this picture from Piter shows. That’s the Winter Palace… today, the restored palace forms part of the complex of buildings housing the State Hermitage Museum (the official website of the museum complex is here). By the way, nothing in Washington comes even close to the Ermitazh in scope or grandeur… so, all American claims of “exceptionalism”, “indispensability”, and “unique goodness” are nothing but vacuous bullshit. The Ermitazh is the real deal (it was around BEFORE the USA even existed… fancy that)…

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16 November 2016. Our Great Russian Motherland… Vasilyevsky Island (Federal City of Saint Petersburg. Northwest Federal District)

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An island in the city of St Petersburg, bordered by the Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva Rivers (in the delta of the Neva River) in the south and northeast, and by the Gulf of Finland in the west. The Smolenka River separates Vasilyevsky Island from Dekabristov Island. Together they form Vasileostrovsky Raion, an administrative division of the Federal City of St Petersburg. Situated just across the river from the Winter Palace, it constitutes a large portion of the city’s historic centre. Two of the most famous St Petersburg bridges, Palace Bridge and Blagoveshchensky Bridge, connect it with the mainland to the south. The Exchange Bridge and Tuchkov Bridge across the Malaya Neva connect it with Petrogradsky Island.

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13 November 2016. It’s Just Another Normal Day in the Rodina… Snow in Piter!

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This was Tuesday 8 November in Piter, on Palace Square. The couple is wearing clothing in the style of the time of Tsar Pyotr Veliki. It looks like the famed Russian winter is setting in, on time, on schedule, and as snowy as ever. Where did I put that ushanka and my valenki?

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8 May 2016. Our Great Russian Motherland: Petropavlovsk Fortress (Zayachy Island. Federal City of St Petersburg. Northwestern Federal DIstrict)

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The Petropavlovsk Fortress (Петропа́вская кре́пость: Petropavlovskaya Krepost) is the original citadel of St Petersburg, founded by Tsar Pyotr I Alekseyevich Veliki on 16/27 May 1703, and built to the designs of Domenico Trezzini from 1706-40. In the early 20th century, the tsarist government still used it as a prison. During the February Revolution, on 27 February/12 March, rebel troops stormed it and freed the prisoners, replacing them with arrested tsarist officials. During the opening of the October Revolution, on 25 October/7 November, the cruiser Avrora fired on the island, but only registered two hits. Nevertheless, the fort quickly surrendered to the Bolsheviks. in 1924, it became part of the State Museum of St Petersburg History. Most graves of Russian rulers from Pyotr I Alekseyevich Veliki to Aleksandr III Aleksandrovich (except for Pyotr II Alekseyevich and Ivan VI Antonovich) are in the Petropavlovsk Cathedral, within the fortress battlements. In 1998, the bodies of the family and entourage of Tsar St Nikolai II Aleksandrovich were laid to rest in one of the cathedral’s chapels.

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