After getting back to our hotel at 3am in the morning after the canal and drawbridges trip, we well and truly missed breakfast. Waking at 11.45am im now feeling the effects of the flu. It was pretty cold out on an open aired boat at that time of the morning, even though we had rugs to cuddle up in, the air was crisp, coupled with the walk back to our hotel. However, it was worth every minute of it, even though we did question our sanity as we were waiting for the tour guide to meet us.

We took the rest of the day at a leisurely pace, and just wandered around the city. St Petersburg is a great city for getting around. There are plenty of landmarks to keep your bearings and two of the main roads run straight from the Admirality Building with its high Spire. We wandered along canals and watched the boats carting 100s of tourists, the weather was beautiful and the sun was shining at full force. We gravitated back to the Church of Spilled Blood, and even seeing it for a second time it still took our breaths away. A photo of this place simply does not capture the essence of the building. We rolled into the park and lay on a bench seat firstly under some large trees in the garden and 100 metres further along, in the sunshine. Shutting our eyes and enjoying the energy from the park and its large trees was a welcome intermission from the bustling city.

I managed to negotiate with a stall vendor and brought the matryoshka dolls for my little Australian nieces. I couldn't resist getting one for Alanah as well. I think they are so beautiful and knowing they are original Russian dolls I hope they get as much joy from them as I did buying them.

We stopped and enjoyed a glass of wine and a Russian beer, and watched the people go by. Its interesting listening to the accents and seeing the fashions and the care free confidence of the people that live in this city.

It's a very modern city, with plenty of individuals standing out. We loved the Russian signs and the English renditions of them. I particularly liked the Subway Sign,.,.,. same colours and even with the little arrows at each of the logo… take a look in my photos for that one

It was great fun trying to communicate with people that speak no English at all. It is quite amazing how with a bit of sign language you can get to a level of understanding. Try buying medicine at a Russian pharmacy when absolutely nothing on the shelves at all were in English….. that was a challenge. But I succeeded in getting some throat lozenges that eased my cough. Feels more like some sort of asthma,,,, so lets hope the warm sun in the French Riviera will help

From our brief visit to St Petersburg I would love now to travel further into Russia. St Petersburg is basically a European influenced city, and doesn't truly represent Russia. It was interesting that it is the result of Peter the Great and Katherine II's visions that moulded this place into exactly what they had set out to do all those years ago.

David thinks that perhaps they had no vision of their own as they were literally taking others ideas from things they had seen in other parts of Europe and having them replicated here. But isn't that a vision, being able to be strong enough to take and idea from something and recreating it in another environment.

St Petersburg is a place for contemplation… and we have certainly been doing a bit of that today