Winnipeg Free Press Newspaper Archives Jun 13 2015, Page 112

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 13, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE F1 Call your Travel Agent or 204- 989- 7011 or 1- 800- 263- 3691 fehrwaytours. com 36 years of service MARITIMES & NEW ENGLAND ATLANTIC CANADA & NEWFOUNDLAND 21 Day Drive or 16 Day Fly MARITIMES SPECIALISTS 100% Manitoba Owned TRAVEL EDITOR: WILLY WILLIAMSON 204- 797- 6577 I TRAVEL. WINNIPEGFREEPRESS. COM I WINNIPEGFREEPRESS. COM SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2015 F 1 COLOUR COMICS INSIDE . 2 0 4 - 94 2- 5000 1- 800- 859- 6354 info@ renaissancetravel. ca www. journeystravelgear. com 2 04 - 98 2 - 9494 * Air flflights are separate* WHY NOT VISIT ONE OF THE TOP 3 WINE REGIONS OF THE WORLD ON A MOTORCOACH TOUR TRAVEL: Mon - Fri: 9am to 5pm Sat: 9am to 6pm Sun: Closed STORE: Mon - Sat: 10am to 6pm Sun: Closed DISCOVER PROVENCE 8 Days From $ 1609 per person GRAND TOUR OF SPAIN 15 Days From $ 2244 per person Bring in this coupon to Offer ends Friday, June 19, 2015 T he Vers a tile Tr a v el Bag for Liquids & F r agile It ems Now you can bring home that special souvenir wine, keeping it safe inside your checked luggage. The VinniBag is an inflatable vinyl bag that secures and protects wine, sauces, or other fragile items. Comes boxed for great gift- giving too. SAV E 20 % JEWELS OF I TAL Y 15 Days From $ 2517 per person U NLIKE Rasputin, Emperor Alexander II, Czar Paul I and poet Alexander Pushkin, we visited St. Petersburg and came out alive. “ Poisoned, shot and thrown in the river; hit by a bomb; killed by conspirators; and fatally wounded in a duel,” says tour guide Elena Streltsova by way of summary of the ways the four gentlemen met their untimely ends. My wife and I and our 12- year- old daughter arrived in Russia’s former Imperial capital on a Disney Cruise Line Baltic Sea itinerary and immediately signed up for the Spilled Blood excursion. The gruesome title comes from the featured stop at the quintessential Russian Orthodox onion- domed cathedral called the Church of Our Saviour on the Spilled Blood. This place of worship, which is now more of a museum and tourist trap, is so named because it’s built on the site where Emperor Alexander II’s blood was spilled in 1881 when Peoples’ Will terrorists tossed two bombs stuffed in loaves of bread into his passing carriage. Outside the church we run into two elaborately- costumed actors playing Peter the Great, the czar who founded St. Petersburg in 1703, and his queen Catherine. They’ll only talk to us and pose for pictures after we cough up 200 rubles, the equivalent of $ 4. On the tourist boat cruise through some of the city’s 42 islands, 65 canals and 21 rivers we enjoy the sunshine and information on life today and back in the day in St. Petersburg. Streltsova is quick to point out we should be appreciative of the weather. “ St. Petersburg’s calendar is made up of nine months of anticipation of summer followed by three months of disappointment,” she quips. The tour passes all of the city’s greatest hits from the Winter Palace, gigantic Heritage Museum, Rabbit Island, where numerous czars are buried, Peter and Paul’s Cathedral, elaborate bridges, St. Petersburg University, St. Issac’s Cathedral, Summer Garden and Summer Palace. When we near Yusupov Palace the tale of Rasputin 1916 is retold. He’s become such a notorious historical character no one ever calls him by his first name, Grigori. Rasputin, a mere peasant, was considered by many a royalists to be getting too cozy with Czar Nicholas II’s wife, Alexandra. You might remember the 1978 disco hit by Boney M referring to Ra Ra Rasputin as Russia’s greatest love machine who wouldn’t die. Wealthy royalist Felix Yusupov invited Rasputin over for a bite to eat with the plan of poisoning him. When the cyanide in his wine and cakes didn’t work, he was shot in the basement, which also didn’t finish the job. By Steve MacNaull RASPUTIN’S St. Petersburg Cruise stop in Russia’s former Imperial capital goes for some murder and mayhem history Continued Please see ST. PETERSBURG F 4 STEVE MACNAULL / POSTMEDIA NETWORK INC. Actors portraying Peter the Great and his queen Catherine will pose for 200 rubles ( the equivalent of $ 4) outside the Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg, Russia. F_ 01_ Jun- 13- 15_ FT_ 01. indd F1 6/ 12/ 15 9: 32: 02 AM