It's 1:00 am here time which means it's 5:00 pm at home. Quitting time for most of you lovely people! I have to wait til I'm back in the states to add pix from the Kirov Ballet. Took my cell phone in my little bag instead of hauling the iPad. The theater is tiny - only six rows or pews in a half circle around the stage. At one time there were 18 swans dancing with Zigfried the crown prince and the White Swan all on stage at the same time and I was certain they'd...

Happy good morning. Today we board Bus 4E again for our trip to Pushkin, also known as Tsarkoe Selo. It is the village where Catherine and Peter held their kiddie court while Elizabeth still lived. It's now called Pushkin Village and was a 25 minute bus ride south. The Catherine Palace was amazingly opulent and most of it was a renovation. The Germans bombed the hell out of it during the war, and in fact a couple of the rooms just reopened in the last year. Q...

Started our morning in the middle of the night as we still are trying to figure out what the hell time it is. Our iPads give one time, the clock on the TV an hour later, and the cell phones yet another time. I had been changing my watch at each time change and somehow had kept up with reality - imagine me doing that! - as my watch and the iPads and guest services all agreed. Whew. Another crisis averted.☺ We passed our muster inspection, meeting our neighb...

We're here aboard the Helgi. After a lunch of schnitzel with very rich cream on board the flight from Vienna, I arrived in St. Pete a little queasy. A shower later and I feel human but still not one with sea legs yet. Mama trooped up to the sun deck for the embarkation talk and I'm hoping the nausea will pass. And me without any pepto. Saw what appeared to be remnants of Soviet times on the highway from the airport to the Neva River. Nuclear reactors? Coul...

Now it's almost 9:00 pm and we are over the Labrador Sea on our way across the Atlantic. We've enjoyed white wine and champagne, I think courtesy of a box of Russell Stover chocolates. Score! Plus one of the flight attendants just brought us both sleeping masks and ear plugs. Clearly showing a little appreciation to the flight attendants pays off in spades! So--- saga in Washington. Not only did we leave about an hour late, we got to the freaking gate. AND...