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 strawberry purée with ice cream for dessert was a hit that I have been directed to duplicate back home. Obligatory visit to the sauna, then bed when it finally got dark at 11:00.
We woke to rain this morning. The joke here is that the weather is 8 months of anticipation followed by 4 months of disappointment. We were on our bus most of the day, though, so it was not really a problem.
Odysseys arranged for our group to enter the Hermitage this morning 45 minutes prior to the normal opening. We had the place virtually to ourselves for over an hour. Our local guide knew the 2 1/2 hour highlights tour well, and kept us moving right along. The early entry made all of difference, as we were sharing the place with about 10,000 people who had stood outside in the rain by the time we left.
Our lunch stop was at two adjacent private apartments owned by English speaking women. We had a home cooked meal, got to see what the inside of those ubiquitous Soviet-era apartments look like (much better now that they are being renovated), and got to visit with Yelena, a former engineer who now teaches English. Not something most tourists get to experience. It is nice that the Russians are allowed to b**** about politics freely now. Neither Putin nor Medyedev are fondly regarded, but they really hate Yeltsin for having turned Russia back into an oligarchy.
We drove around much of historic St. Petersburg after lunch. The major stop was St. Issac's Cathedral, yet another amazing piece of architecture.
Back to the hotel at 5:30. We met some of the group members in the hotel pub for a light dinner at 6:30. Good beer selection and decent food, though $50 US for the two of us was a bit of sticker shock. And we hear that Helsinki is worse.
Interestingly, gas prices here are comparable to the US. They were double US prices down south.
I'm back from the sauna waiting for it to get dark. Tomorrow morning we visit the Peterhof as part of the formal tour, and will likely take the metro to Nevsky Prospekt in the afternoon with Dalija. Our farewell dinner is tomorrow evening. Six of us catch an early train to Helsinki Mon morning, most of the rest fly back to the US. Do' svedana!