Today is a day that I have dreamed about. I was so excited to finally get to St Petersburg Russia, one of the world’s most enchanting cities. I now know that it truly rivals, Paris, Rome, Prague, and Vienna as one of the world’s most elegant cities. What a place!

Unfortunately the weather made it extremely difficult to enjoy the “on our own” time that we had here. We began our day with a visit to the Winter Palace, the residence of the Tsars that was conceived and begun by Peter the Great, as well as the Hermitage Museum, one of the world’s great Art museums. Neither disappointed. The Winter Palace was as splendid and opulent as I thought it would be. The number and quantity of great works of Art in the Hermitage is staggering. The Italian collection is second to none, as is the Impressionist section. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and informative.

The rain really began to come down just as we were dropped off for our 3 hours of time “on our own.” I had hoped to do my Walking Tour of St Petersburg but the weather made it impossible to do much of it. I did manage to see some of the most significant sights in the city, such as, the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood and St Isaac’s Cathedral, but the only picture I was able to take of the Bronze Horseman was through raindrops on a bus window.

All in all, it was a disappointing day, but we managed to salvage something to write home about and to take a few pictures. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!