A word about St. Petersburg's layout. This is a planned city in that it was build from nothing on a salt marsh in the early 1700s by Peter the Great. (Thousands of serfs died in its construction, but that's another story.) The streets are laid out like one half of a spider's web, with the centre of the web located on the Neva where the Winter Palace (Hermitage) and the Admiralty Building are. Several streets fan out from this central point and proceed more or less straight to other parts of the city, the largest of these being Nevsky Prospect. The cross streets connect these straight streets in large concentric circles around the central point. Then the canals make it really interesting. There are two large ones, which are called "reka" (rivers): the Moika and the ... read more

I've heard from quite a few people that they enjoyed my blog, which is gratifying. So I've decided to continue to post sporadically until I manage to make it back home to Canada. Today is Saturday, 30 Oct. My friends on the tour, Robert and Judy, are back home after flying out of Dublin yesterday. The plane was supposed to stop in Gander for refueling and customs, then proceed to Toronto, but there was a change en route. Was it related to the terrorist scare in the US? Anyway, refueling was in Iceland and for first landing and customs the plane was diverted to ... Ottawa! So we would have been home much earlier than anticipated. I mostly spend my time helping with Violet's care as best I can and entertaining her. She is of course ... read more

Up at 7, breakfast, bus. The bus takes us along Nevsky Prospect, which is the main and most famous street of St. Petersburg. Galina points out significant sites along the way. As you draw near to the waterfront, each building becomes an architectural masterpiece of its own, usually a variation on the typical St. Petersburg motif of a square building with one predominant pastel shade (yellow, orange, green, peach, etc.), high windows decorated with elaborate lintels, and one or more main doors with archways. The bus turns along the waterfront of the Neva River and proceeds pass magnificent squares and palaces, including the Winter Palace (Hermitage) and the Bronze Horseman (Peter the Great) proudly guarding the city.  Our first photo stop is Resurrection Church, aka Church of the Spilled Blood. It commemorates the assassination on this ... read more

A reminder that I am uploading photos to Facebook. If anyone following this blog wants to see them, find me (Medical Council of Canada is my workplace) and ask me politely to befriend you.... read more

Up at 7 once again. Unfortunately, Violet is running a fever now and elects to spend the day at the hotel, since we know it will be a fairly arduous day. So after breakfast I board the bus without her. Our first stop is the Dolmabahçe palace. The Ottoman sultans, after living for 400 years in the palace we saw yesterday, built a new one on the banks of the Bosphorus in the 1850s. It follows a similar layout to the old one, with an administrative area, a government area, and finally the inner royal palace itself. The style, of course, is much different, much more in the French style I've previously seen in the palaces of Versailles and St. Petersburg. The walk to the main palace is through beautiful gardens with ornate fountains and trees. ... read more