The Russian Currency is the Ruble. The paper currency is in denominations of 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000. There are 10, 5, 2, and 1 Ruble coins, and the 10 Ruble coin has pretty much replaced the 10 Ruble paper note in circulation. There are even smaller coins called Kopeks in 1,5,10 and 50, but they are just about worthless, and I never saw any of them. At the time we were there, we approximated that 1000 rubles equalled $15.50.
We booked an excursion through TJ Travel.
A Russian Visa is required for St. Petersburg unless an excursion is pre-booked with an authorized company that includes a visa as part of the tour package. The cruise line offers excursions that include a visa, and TJ’s is authorized in Russia.
We were required to print our tour ticket in advance and bring it along with our passports and cruise ship card as we exited the ship and cleared passport control.
Once we cleared passport control, we met up with our tour guide holding a blue TJ Travel sign.
First stop: The Hermitage. (pronounced Her-muh-tahjh’) This was the Winter Palace for Russian Tsars for about 200 years. It is now a Russian state museum. We had early entrance before the general public. (All the cruise ship tours had early entrance, so we were still very crowded.) Our guide warned us about pickpockets near the entrance outside and anywhere inside once it opens to the general public.
Throne Room
Giant Vases made of malachite and Lapis at the entrance to the throne room
Ceiling of the throne room
Peacock clock
A view of the grounds outside the clock room
da Vinci painting of the Madonna
Catherine the Great loved to drink coffee and she collected many tables upon which to enjoy it. It is said that she never sat at the same table to enjoy coffee twice in one day.
Notice the micro-mosaic artwork on th surface of that table.
Michelangelo – Statue of the Crouching Boy
Works are changed often in this room with red walls and a blue and white ceiling
Hall of Statues – Statues were gifted to Catherine the Great by the grandchildren of Josephine (of Napoleon and Josephine fame).
Rembrandt – Old Man in Red and Return of the Prodigal Son
Room of Twenty Columns – Yep, that’s what it’s called.
Giant vase made of Jade. The vase was placed here and the room was built around it.
The Egyptian Hall – Catherine loved anything Egyptian. Several statues with an Egyptian theme are scattered throughout St. Petersburg.
Our next stop was the Russian Orthodox Church of the Spilt Blood.
Um…. I guess they have a problem with people bringing ice cream inside? 
It is built on the site of the murder of Alexander II and used as a place of memorial to him – not for public worship. The canopy protects a portion of the road and riverbank where the murder occurred.
The walls and columns are covered in mosaics.
Next: Lunch – we ate typical Russian fast food: Bellinis – They are a cross between a pancake and a crepe with fillings. They can be savory or sweet. 
I ordered one with chicken caesar filling and hubby ordered one with meat and cheese filling. For dessert, we split one filled with banana and chocolate sauce. They were quite good!
Cost: 903 Rubles. We gave them a 1000 bill. In US dollars, our entire order was under $15 total including soft drinks.
We traveled toward Pushkin and stopped at a building that was used during Soviet rule. A statue of Lenin is in the front.
We did a quick drive-by of the President’s residence. (I cannot understand why President Putin did not come out and wave!)
Pushkin gets its name from a famous Russian poet and it is famous for being the city where the Romanov family lived. There are many palaces and gardens in Pushkin. The Summer Palace of Catherine the Great is the only one we visited. 
It keeps going……
and going……
and going…..
We had to wear these cute little paper shoe covers.
We toured many impressive rooms, but I am glad our tour only included some of them.
The green ribbon room
The red ribbon room
The Amber Room: At one time all the walls were covered in amber. The amber was stolen during World War II and no one knows for sure where it ended up. The room has been recreated since then. Unfortunately, no photos are allowed of the amber room.
We made a quick return to the ship to freshen up and then went back to the Hermitage Theater for an 8PM performance of the famous Russian ballet, Swan Lake. They made an announcement in multiple languages that no photos and no audio nor video recordings were allowed during the performance. (Although many people had their phones out recording it all. One was even so bold as to take a flash photo.)
Since I am a rule-follower, I have no photos of the ballet. The closest thing I have is an advertisement I saw in the subway the next day.
I was really afraid that I would sleep through the ballet after a very long day of sightseeing, but even though I was extremely tired and a little fidgety, the 2.5 hour performance was captivating.
We only scratched the surface of things to do in St. Petersburg, but fortunately we have an overnight in port and another long day of sightseeing scheduled for Day 2.