What can we say? Such oppulence as we never imagined. Palaces with gold everywhere, on the walls, on the doors and on the ceilings. Comparing the oppulence on board our mighty ship, and today's effort fails to impress.

On Friday we went to the Hermitage museum, magnificent, and for a canal cruise. St Petersburg was establisehd on a swamp and the canals we built to drain the water away. Then they became an asset for transporting goods and people.

After lunch we went through a couple of other museums and churches, but these paled when compared to The Hermitage.

On Saturday we started with the Summer Palace at Peterhof. Unfortunately, the fountains were not working when we were there, but aparently they were later in the day. Peterhof is again covered in gold leaf and priceless silk wall coverings. The whole place simply overawed us. We returned to St Petersburg and visited the Church on the Blood where King Peter was killed. After lunch we visited the Usopov palace. The Usopov family was, with the Romanovs, amongst the richest in the world and their palace demonstrated what such money could buy. Absolutely fabulous an every respect.

A quick word about our ship. The Regal Princess accommodates over 3000 passengers and about the same number of staff. We usually sail at under 20 knots between ports. Everything we need is available: sporting facilities, bars, a couple of theatres, a number of shops, about 15 different spots to eat and spaces to get away form the rest of the crowd, like spas and pools. I will need to tell you more aboout this when we get home.

Finally, I am having a problem attaching pictures on the slow and rather expensive satellite Internet link. When we get back to Copenhagen, I will try to replace the main photos on each blog with shots of my own and also populate the photo section.