I do not like taking organized excursions.

They have their place, of course,are invaluable to many and I myself have taken quite a number of them over the years,but given a choice I always prefer to make my own way wherever  the way  may take me.Some cruise companies offer the most wonderful way to get to know  this glorious city by providing transport  that takes one to the centre, you do your own thing for 2-3 hours,then  are collected   at an agreed spot and Bob's your uncle, an independent traveller is as happy as an Easter bunny,Not Cunard. So unless you have your own visa - I did try to get one when I came to St. Petersburg for the very first time on the  Celebrity Eclipse, but it was such a palava,I was completely turned off the whole process - you either join the tours provided or you stay on the ship.I have seen most of what the city has to offer but have not been able to photograph the inside  of the mot breathtakingly  beautiful church I have ever been to - The Church of The Saviour on the Spilled Blood[and the Bolsheviks  had wanted to blow it to pieces] - the battery of  my camera  had given up on me - so jumped at the chance to do so on a  PICTURESQUE St PETERSBURG  excursion. It was mainly a  boat cruise [more like  a rickety  old uncomfortable  barge]  on The River  Neva with this one stop  on dry land.We sailed past The Cruiser Aurora,whose gun signalled with blank  shot  the beginning of the Revolution in 1917 and the onslaught on the Winter Palace.It is docked near the  Peter and Paul Fortress, the cornerstone of the city,  erected  in 1703, and practically next  to  the old KGB building. We took photos of the Michael's Palace,The Hermitage,The Winter Palace and other ostentatious  residences  built for the nobility.There was even a small house  just for drinking coffee.For drinking coffee.The utter obscenity of the riches of the few in profound contrast  with the abject poverty of the majority of Russians.[The Winter Palace has 1000 rooms.]That was yesterday.Today I walked the walk.What I saw from the boat yesterday, I saw on foot today.There were six buses in all of like-minded people.