MEANWHILE, BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD!

I was extremely tired from my trek the first day in St. Petersburg, so I decided to take a day off and turn one of my cameras over to Papa.







Being the trusting soul that I am, I took my chip out that had many images on it and gave him a brand new one in case something happened to him out on his own. At least I'd have the photos of the trip so far (just kidding). I must admit that I've very particular about the images I shoot and always guard them with my life. I hand carry them home on my person since next to Frank, they are the most precious possession I have on a trip. I also guard Papa with my life as well.
It was starting to rain, so I watched him from the balcony of our veranda in the suite as he headed back into St. Petersburg. He looked a little like Mary Poppions without as much hair!











You have to go through several security check points as you leave the ship and go into Russia, so I photographed him on his journey.














He looked up once he had gotten through Russian security and waved at me as he left for the day.









He took a tour of St. Petersburg through the eyes of the Russian people and visited some local markets.













He also got a great shot of this woman taking a bundle of leeks home to make soup for her dinner.






When they left the marketplace, they visited the Metro.







Saint Petersburg Metro is an underground rapid transit system in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Formerly known as Leningrad Metro , the system exhibits many typical Soviet designs and features exquisite decorations and artwork making it one of the most attractive and elegant metros in the world.










Due to the city's unique geology, the Saint Petersburg Metro is the deepest subway system in the world. Serving nearly three million passengers daily, it is also the 11th busiest subway system in the world
Some of the features of the Saint Petersburg Metro make it stand out amongst others, even those in the ex-USSR. It is customary to have all stations in the centre of a city to be built very deep, not only to minimize disruption, but also, because of the Cold War threat, they were built to double as bomb shelters (and many old stations do feature provisions such as blast doors and air filters). However, in most cities, as the lines reach the outer residential massifs, the lines become shallow (and in some cases even surface). However, in Saint Petersburg this is not the case. The difficult geology means that of the 60 stations 53 are deep level. The design and architecture went through numerous phases. The original stations were predominantly pylon type of which there are 13 stations. Also popular was the column layout, and there are 14 such stations in the system.







He also visited a vodka distillery and got a first hand view of life today in Russia and how they drink their vodka. The place was expecting them and had everything set up for their lecture before the tasting.

You never drink vodka without eating something along with it and you start with dill pickles,

and follow that with asparagus wrapped in herring served on Russian Rye bread.










Vodka is also always drunk warm and straight when you eat these particular foods. After their lecture they made a toast and ended the visit with some good Russian Vodka.









While Papa was busy in town, I decided to take in a movie. There is a movie theatre on board and the film that was showing that day was "The Other Boyelyn Girl" starring Scarlette Johansen and Natalie Portman.





It was a very good piece of cinema, a 2008 British drama film . It is a romanticized account of the lives of 16th-century aristocrats Mary Boleyn, one-time mistress of King Henry VIII, and her sister Anne, who became the monarch's ill-fated second wife. I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it if you happen to be interested in English history and Henry VIII.


I found out that one of the major industries in Russia is scrap metal. Near the port there was an overwhelming abundance of it.

I "guestimated" what time Papa would return and happened to be looking out my balcony when I saw him returning. I noticed that he was carrying a sack and hoped that it would be a surprise for me.

It was! It was a lovely book on St. Petersburg which I shall treasure for years to come.

He looked up and smiled at me and I couldn't wait for him to tell me about his adventures of the day which I have now, in turn, passed on to you.

We had reservations that night at the Pinnacle Grill which is the specialty restaurant on board. After having a cocktail and discussing the events of our day, we met the Lassley's at the Grill and had a wonderful meal. We started with Crab Cakes as our appetizer,

that was followed by Cream of Leek Soup.

Then came a little sorbet to cleanse our palates.
Since steak was their specialty, we all decided to have that and it was delicious. It was listed as a Porterhouse on the menu, but I told the Lassleys that in Texas that was called a large T-bone.

It was accompanied with asparagus and hollandaise sauce, mushroom caps and a baked potato. Even though the steak was served with a garlic buerre blanc, I showed my true Texan self and asked for some A-1 Steak Sauce! The waiter bowed graciously and when he returned, he presented it to me on a silver tray with his white gloved hand. I was impressed!

Even the bread was wonderful and beautifully presented.

After a lovely meal, we had an coconut/almond cake with raspberry puree and a tray of bon-bons.

It was the perfect way to end a perfect day. When we arrived back at our suite, this little critter was waiting for us on our bed along with more chocolate. I'm not real sure what he was supposed to be, but he was adorable just the same.

We're off to Finland tonight and will arrive in Helsinki tomorrow. It will be a very exciting time since we are going to visit a horse farm among other things. Stay tuned!

XOXO, Pcasso