Geo: 56.9465, 24.1048After a good night's sleep in our new hotel, grateful for cooler weather and with windows open all night, we awoke, stretched, and enjoyed our breakfast (from quite the spread) on a "summer terrace." Hotel Hanza is a beautifully restored 19th century building that sits on a square surrounding Jesus Church, a very old wooden structure that seats up to 1,200. Rich and Jake used a knife with chocolate syrup to try and train the bees to leave us alone. Bees don't train well. Nevertheless, it was a great breakfast.We were met by our driver and guide, Sergie shortly thereafter, who took us on a driving tour of areas of Riga. We stopped across the Daugava River (=much water) for some good photo opportunities. From here, we could see the spires and towers that ... read more

Geo: 59.939, 30.3158This morning, we headed off to Peterhof, the summer palace of Peter the Great that he constructed to outdo Versailles. He didn't succeed, at least in terms of the building. The gardens, however, were spectacular, with hundreds of fountains, all of which were powered only by gravity. When Peter talked to Louis XV, he took note that Louis was frustrated at having to constantly fix the pumps at the Versailles fountains. Peter was determined to pick a location where pumps would not be necessary. In this he succeeded.On the way to Peterhof, we had some interesting discussions with Natalia. She pointed out the factory where the 1905 workers' protest originated. In a peaceful protest at the Winter Palace, unarmed workers were shot under orders of Nicholas II. This was a precursor to the 1917 ... read more

Geo: 59.939, 30.3158We last left off while we were waiting for our overnight train from Moscow to St. Petersburg. It was a grueling afternoon, with no rooms to cool off in or to get cleaned up in after our long, hot day. Upon our arrival at the train station, the entire platform on the very long train was completely dark. We were grateful to have a guide with us. We made our way to car #5, scheduled to depart at 23:55. After some angst, the lights came on and we were able to board. It was so late and we were so tired it was straight to bed. It took very little adjusting before we let the rocking of the train put us to sleep.Morning came, and brought us an in-compartment breakfast of salad (shredded cabbage, ... read more

Geo: 55.75, 37.62After a strange night of sleep that came and left easily (we were certain, at several times, that it was time to get up, but alas, morning was nowhere near), we headed past the big portrait of Stalin down to the breakfast room. A woman was playing a harp and included selections from the Beatles, Ave Maria, and the Titanic theme. The breakfast spread was designed for champions, and included salmon, sandwiches, made-to-order omelets, tea, coffee, orange juice, cherry juice, shots of "vitamin water" (in shot glasses—not sure what it was), and various pastries. We spent a nice hour eating, socializing, downloading yesterday's speech by the President (we are slightly concerned about a loss of buying power if the debt talks derail) and uploading yesterday's blog entry and photos. This is the only place ... read more

Geo: 55.75, 37.62Well, here we are after a long day of travel. All of our flight connections worked out fine and the transition from American to "Finn Air" was seamless. After spending about an hour in Helsinki we were on our way to Moscow. The airlines fed us well.Our non-English speaking driver got lost on the way from the airport to Hotel Sovietsky. The hotel was built under orders of Josef Stalin in 1951 as a diplomatic hotel. We are certain the original furnishings remain. It is beautiful in its own way with 12 foot ceilings, parquet floors, marble staircases, chandeliers in every room, and portraits of famous guests and late Soviet leaders adorning the walls.We settled and took a quick nap to readjust and then it was off to the Dinamo Metro station to lead ... read more