My first sight of iconic cathedrals was in St Petersburg. Probably the most famous there for foreigners like myself is the Church on the Spilled Blood. My grandson described it as having lots of cup cakes stuck on it!! It is indeed a dramatic building. We saw it in the rain. You might be forgiven if you thought the spilled blood referred to that of Jesus on the cross. However, the blood referred to is that of Tsar Alexander II. His blood was spilled on this very spot when he was bombed by a Polish "terrorist." His legs were badly damaged. He did not die on the spot but was taken to the Winter Palace and died there. He was the Tsar who freed the serfs. However he had colluded in his father's death. This church is indeed typically Russian to the outsider's mind, but the tourist may find St Petersburg a little disappointing at first, simply because its architecture is quite European. In fact it was designed that way. Tsar Peter the Great looked to the West for inspiration and the result is the "Venice of the North." We took an evening trip on the waterways and it is a good way to enjoy the sights of the city. We were there in early July and so experienced the "White Nights," when darkness hardly comes at all.
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