We were glad to finally make it across our eastern border and into Russia for a guided visit to St. Petersburg, just a five hour train ride from Helsinki - city center to city center. There was an immediate contrast once we crossed the border, with a lot of ramshackle houses and decrepit buildings along the tracks, but then the caliber around St. Petersburg was much higher. Looks like a huge economic divide between the haves and the have-nots. We were then to spend the rest of our visit touring the czars' haunts and by Sunday Gerald was truly suffering from 'gilt glut' and if he never sees another golden cupid, he'll probably be quite content. But I did enjoy the sheer mastery of craft everywhere, in such abundance, and of such variety. Our guide, Ada, provided so much context as we toured through the Hermitage, the city, and Catherine's Palace. In 2.5 days we toured around in a mini-van with just one other couple - a mother and daughter from Britain who were nice company. I'll just post pictures with captions in subsequent pages (5 in all) - it was an excellent long weekend away, and the Russians we met were welcoming and interested in us, and the iced vodka was quite delicious too.
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