St. Petersburg

Today we had a FULL day of the spendlors of St. Petersburg. We started with a city tour, then a visit to the Hermitage Museum, and finally an AMAZING performace of Swan Lake.

Quick tour of city: The city was founded around 1703 by Peter the Great. In the 1700's it was the capital city of Russia. The winter palace, which is now the Hermitage museum was built for the royal family residence. There is an old fortress that was built in 1703 by Peter the Great that has a church that holds the remains of most of the Russian Czars, including the remains of Czar Nicholas and his family (the last of the Romanov family). The Hermatiage museum was BEAUTIFUL. However it was insanely crowded and the tour was long. Needless to say, this tactile learner didn't take many notes as I was fanning and trying desparatly to pay attention to the guide. Since this is the land of the "White Nights" (about 16 hours of daylight right now) I say that the museums should be visited in the winter months when it is dark for about 16 hours and FREEZING. 

Burial Place of last of the Romanovs

Hermatiage 

The highlight of the day (and frankly the trip) was our viewing of Swan Lake tonight. We went to a beaufitul theater (modeled after the Bolshoi in Moscow) to view the State Academy of Ballet's perforamance of Swan Lake. I never aspired to be a ballerina (have you seen my build????) but you would have to have a negative estrogen level to not dream of being a dancer in this ballet. It was breathtaking. However, my favorite part was getting to sit on the 2nd row for the 3rd act (male usher, Margie, friendly, you do the math...) where I really got to hear the orchestra. I was actually sitting less than 5 feet from the flute player and WOW....they were amazing. The dancers moved with no effort, the orchestra played like they were playing for the king and queen, and I enjoyed every minute of it!!!

I got back into wifi only to get quite a few texts, emails, and facebook messages about safety. I do understand there is tension in the Ukraine area. We are not in that area. We are in the north close to the Baltic (Google map St. Petersburg). I appriciate so much the thougths of my friends and family though. All is well with this traveler!!!