Our journey today was to the Peterhof, a Romanov summer palace. We arrived at 945 after about a 45 minute drive thru the suburbs of St. Petersburg. This was long enough for our local guide, Irene, to finish her story of the murder of Rasputin that she had started yesterday. The classical story is that he was poisoned, then shot, then thrown in the river, and finally died by drowning. The new story is that he was shot once in the head by a British spy since he...

St. Petersburg. Wow. It is hard to describe it. A city where every building seems to be a monument. Waterways like Venice, wide boulevards, the Hermitage. In a city that was besieged by the Germans for 900 days, then suffered under Stalin and his successors. But I don't want to get ahead of myself. We had a lovely dinner last night at a restaurant around the corner. While the baked salmon entree and grilled eggplant roulade appetizer were great, the straw...

Spent the day in transit from Tallinn to St. Petersburg, most of it at the border crossing. We will never again complain about US Customs. Left Tallinn at 7:30 am for the drive east. Stopped in Narva, the town on the Estonian side of the border. First, the driver had to stop and complete some paperwork for the bus. We then drove to a different area of town for a very nice lunch. Coffee served with dessert whether asked for or not. With all of the lectures ...