Cruisin' to St. Petersburg

---

Leaving St. Petersburg!

You know, for a person in the IT business, I am the WORST person in the world at using this blogging software. I just CAN'T figure it out.

Anyway, today was our last tour of St. Petersburg. It was a much easier day than yesterday. I felt so good that I had a drink with dinner and another for the road (to my cabin).

Again, though, I'll have to give you details tomorrow...I left my crib notes upstairs. I can give you some impressions of St. Petersburg, though.

Looking out of the bus window, I saw cars from a variety of manufacturers. I saw Mercedes, BMW, Ford, Chevy, Hyundai, Kia, Honda, and several I didn't recognize (which I expected). I swear I even saw an old Chevy Impala drive by.

Watching the people walk by on the streets, you'd think we were in any large metropolitan city. I saw everything from the little old ladies with their head scarves, oxford shoes, and grocery bags, to young business women in their platform shoes and mini skirts. Now that I think of it, what I didn't notice was many smokers. However, our tour guide did smoke which did detract from my overall opinion of her, which was that she was very intelligent, well prepared and well educated, and VERY stylish. And, not to be missed by Art, she was really cute!

The first picture we had of St. Petersburg besides the harbor, which was new and built specifically for the cruise ships, was the many high rise residential buildings. I hope they were old because, frankly, they were very shabby and depressing. Almost everywhere we saw residential buildings, they appeared to be poorly maintained. The new ones that were being built were more attractive, and I can only hope they will be better built. I took lots of pictures, but I started sending them to my hard drive and I guess I can't access them when I connect my phone. (There I go...IT person who doesn't know diddly again).

The inner city is jam packed with with beautiful old buildings, most of which have quite a history. The buildings are so old they go back to Czars and czarinas and have gone through revolutions and German attacks and the changing world so they've had many lives. There is a naval museum that used to be a building that had to do with commerce. And of course all of the Czars' palaces and summer homes are now museums, as are many of the churches and cathedrals. It's hard to believe the wealth of the czars...when viewing their former residences gold is everywhere to be seen inside and out. And they are huge. The palaces of England and Germany are maybe as large, but for me, they just don't give that same impression of "hugeness".

As part of our excursions, we've been treated to two meals. The meals were very different. One was in a small "bistro" and was very simple. I enjoyed it very much, although some of the other members of the tour didn't seem to like it. The second meal was quite different. It was served in a large hotel and was much more elegant. The first course was borscht. And for those of you who know my, um, picky tastes in food, you'll be glad to know I tried it, and ate it, and liked it! At any rate, almost everybody liked that meal. Strange, though, for such a fancy meal, coffee was self server and instant!

It has been quite a challenge dealing with dollars, Euros, and rubles. Surprisingly, people prefer trading in Euros. Woe to our mighty (?) dollar! In fact, in some of the shops, prices are marked in Euros.

Sorry for no pictures. I guess somehow I'll have to figure out how to send my photos back to my phone instead of my disk. I do have pictures of previous tours I'll post. And when I get home, and have access to my own computer, I'll be able to post lots of pictures.

Carol

---

Comments

[MK]

Great entry
Loving your blog entries Mom - don't worry about everything so much - blog posts and pics loading - just enjoy your trip!! Use the blog to try and remember the moments you don't want to forget! Love you!