Click to view larger image Prior to boarding the plane for St. Petersburg. (from left) Ira, Ken, Ingrid, Ernie	Click to view larger image Arrival in St. Petersburg	Click to view larger image Hopelessly lost, but making excellent progress.	Click to view larger image Ken and Ingrid
Click to view larger image Housed in the vast, ornate buildings of the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the State Hermitage Museum overlooks the Neva River. The Hermitage contains one of the world's greatest collections of art, including extensive holdings of Italian Renaissance and French Impressionist paintings. The Winter Palace, completed in 1762, was the winter home of Russian emperors before the Russian Revolution of 1917.	Click to view larger image On the embankment of the Neva River	Click to view larger image Crossing a bridge over the Neva River.	Click to view larger image An old ship.
Click to view larger image Ira in front of the battleship "Aurora".	Click to view larger image Lenin statue and Lenin Square in St. Petersburg. The square was surrounded by an impenetrable construction fence, so getting an even remotely decent shot was impossible.	Click to view larger image Lenin statue and Lenin Square in St. Petersburg.	Click to view larger image Lenin statue and Lenin Square in St. Petersburg.
Click to view larger image Sunset on Nevsky Prospect	Click to view larger image Don in front of The State Hermitage Museum.	Click to view larger image Housed in the vast, ornate buildings of the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the State Hermitage Museum overlooks the Neva River. The Hermitage contains one of the world's greatest collections of art, including extensive holdings of Italian Renaissance and French Impressionist paintings. The Winter Palace, completed in 1762, was the winter home of Russian emperors before the Russian Revolution of 1917.	Click to view larger image The State Hermitage Museum
Click to view larger image Ira in front of The Winter Palace.	Click to view larger image At The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.	Click to view larger image Ira in front of The Winter Palace.	Click to view larger image Ira in front of The Church of Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg.
Click to view larger image Don in front of The Church of Spilled Blood.	Click to view larger image The Church of Spilled Blood	Click to view larger image The Church of Spilled Blood	Click to view larger image The Church of Spilled Blood
Click to view larger image Ira in front of The Church of Spilled Blood.	Click to view larger image View of one of the canals from our boat ride.	Click to view larger image View of one of the canals from our boat ride.	Click to view larger image The dome of Saint Isaac's Cathedral towers over the Russian city of Saint Petersburg and the Neva River. Commissioned in the 1800s by Alexander I as a Russian Orthodox church, Saint Isaac's Cathedral served as the Museum of Atheism during most of the Communist period (1924-1991). Its religious functions restored, the cathedral is also one of Saint Petersburg's most popular tourist attractions.
Click to view larger image Unidentified building. View from the Neva River/	Click to view larger image Unidentified building. View from the Neva River.	Click to view larger image Ira (foreground). "Kunts Kammer" (Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (background)).	Click to view larger image Unidentified buildings. View from the Neva River.
Click to view larger image Fortress of Peter and Paul	Click to view larger image view from a canal	Click to view larger image The Church of Spilled Blood	Click to view larger image The Church of Spilled Blood
Click to view larger image The Church of Spilled Blood	Click to view larger image Saint Isaac's Cathedral served as the Museum of Atheism during most of the Communist period (1924-1991).	Click to view larger image Ira in front of a statue in front of Marinsky Palace	Click to view larger image The Idiot Restaurant; named after the Dostoyevskty book bearing the same name. Dostoyevskty was born in Moscow. He was educated at the School of Military Engineering in Saint Petersburg, but abandoned his military career in 1844 to devote himself to literature.
Click to view larger image That's Russian for "Irish Bar"	Click to view larger image Originally called the Maryinsky Theater (1886-1917), the theater was later named the State Maryinsky Theater (1917-1920) and then the State Academic Theater for Opera and Ballet (1920-1935). In 1935 the state government changed the company's name to the Kirov Ballet, after S. M. Kirov, a Communist Party leader assassinated that year. In 1991 the theater's name reverted to Maryinsky Theater, and the title of the company officially became the Saint Petersburg Ballet.	Click to view larger image Ira, inside the Maryinsky Theater, home of the world famous Saint Petersburg Ballet, formerly known as The Kirov Ballet	Click to view larger image Ken and Ingrid, inside the Maryinsky Theater. Former dancers of the Kirov Ballet include Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov, both of whom defected to the West.
Click to view larger image Maryinsky Theater	Click to view larger image Saint Petersburg Ballet performed Spartacus.	Click to view larger image Ken and Ingrid met up with some old friends from Washington state, Gary, Jennifer and Carol.	Click to view larger image statue of Peter the Great
Click to view larger image statue of Peter the Great	Click to view larger image Ira seizing a photo op in front of The State Hermitage Museum.	Click to view larger image Inside The State Hermitage Museum.	Click to view larger image Inside The State Hermitage Museum.
Click to view larger image Inside The State Hermitage Museum.	Click to view larger image Inside The State Hermitage Museum.	Click to view larger image Inside The State Hermitage Museum.	Click to view larger image Inside The State Hermitage Museum.
Click to view larger image Inside The State Hermitage Museum.	Click to view larger image Inside The State Hermitage Museum.	Click to view larger image Inside The State Hermitage Museum.	Click to view larger image Inside The State Hermitage Museum.
Click to view larger image Inside The State Hermitage Museum.	Click to view larger image Inside The State Hermitage Museum.	Click to view larger image Inside The State Hermitage Museum.	Click to view larger image Inside The State Hermitage Museum.
Click to view larger image Inside The State Hermitage Museum.	Click to view larger image Inside The State Hermitage Museum.	Click to view larger image Inside The State Hermitage Museum.	Click to view larger image Inside The State Hermitage Museum.
Click to view larger image Inside The State Hermitage Museum.	Click to view larger image The State Hermitage Museum	Click to view larger image The State Hermitage Museum	Click to view larger image The State Hermitage Museum
Click to view larger image Tandoor Indian Restaurant. St. Petersburg.	Click to view larger image Tandoor Indian Restaurant. Sergei, Carol and their kids, Gary and Jennifer, Ken and Ingrid, Ira, Artem, Ernie and me.	Click to view larger image Tandoor Indian Restaurant. Ira and the waiter.	Click to view larger image Tandoor Indian Restaurant. St. Petersburg.