wanted to add an entry about another part of St. Petersburg/Leningrad's history not as glamorous as the Winter Palace or Tsarskoe Selo - the siege of Leningrad
i'd read about it as part of WWII history but it never hit home - there is a very moving memorial to the siege in St. Petersburg and we stopped for a visit there after seeing the over-the-top palaces at Tsarskoe Selo
the siege lasted almost 900 days and as a result, 1 million of the population of Leningrad (3.5 million) died of starvation and hunger - they sent out children at the beginning and our guide's father survived that way
from November 1941 – February 1942 the only food available to each citizen was 125 grams of bread each meal (the people inconsistently were given meals), of which 50–60% consisted of sawdust
Hitler planned to spend xmas at the fancy hotel Astoria and had already printed and sent out invitations - he also planned to change the name of the city to Adolfsburg
there are still gouges in the columns of the colossal St. Isaac's Cathedral from German shelling during that time
