From St. Petersburg to Dublin.

Our stop today was at Trinity college, which houses the book of Kells. I have seen it all before so did not go in. Instead wandered around the streets of Dublin for a few hours.

Dinner at Foyles pub.

Unevenful.

Today we went to the Hermitage.

What a magnificent place! What a wonderful collection art! I am not sure if there is any other place that has as many works of art as this (Louvre perhaps? Not sure.)

This sounds repetitive, but St. Petersberg is a magnificent and majestic city.

Today we visited Catherine the Great's palace. Couldn't get in though because it is closed on Mondays. It is a huge palace but we were told that, after th communists took over, the palace was left open for nearly a year and, during that time, people walked in and took away anything that they felt like taking away.

Her son Paul's palace was not too far off. It was a wonderful look at. A beautiful palace with many great works of art.

From Turkey to Russia.

Petropavlosk, our first stop abroad is at the one end of Russia and St. Petersburg at the other.

This is one of the most magnificent cities I have ever seen. The roads are broad, the sidewalks are generous, the squares (of which there are many) are spacious. The parks are populated with tall trees.

Each city block is concevied as a 'wall'. It means that there are no gaps between buildings. Each building is 4 or 5 stories high and large. Each building is conceived by a different architect who may use a different design and a different facade, as long as it is consistent with the other buildings. The effect is a stunnigly majestic city.

This evening I went to the world famous Kirov ballet at the Hermitage theatre. The theatre surprised me. It was small (about 7 rows) and intimate, with seat for about 200 people. Seating was open. Swan Lake was on the program and was immensely enjoyable. It was like watching a private performance.

Today we visited the new palace. It was again extremely impressive.
More on Istanbul later.