Living in London

Fountains at Peterhof Palace	Fortress of St Peter and St Paul	Nazi front line during WWII
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Today we took a ship-sponsored excursion (meaning 25 of us on a big bus) to Peterhof Palace, lunch at the Grand Hotel, and a quick visit to both Fortress of Peter and Paul followed by St. Issacs. Writing this after 8+ hours of tourism, we are exhausted. The Peterhof was wonderful and interesting, lunch was terrible but entertaining (with some ethnic singers), and the last two stops were a friggin' blur of information, marble and mosaic art.

It is hard to imagine the sacrifice of the people of St. Petersburg who endured 900 days (that's three years) of siege during WW II. The Nazis surrounded the city and occupied many of the summer palaces that lie short distances from the city. In the end, although St Petersburg lost half its population, the people endured and Hitler went home without his party at the Astoria Hotel.

It was wonderful to learn about the incredible devotion and extraordinary effort exhibited by the curators and workers at the museums and palaces. As the Nazis were approaching, they exercised great creativity in hiding many of the great works of art in their care. Although the Nazis left rubble and ashes in their wake, the efforts of the curators paid off as many of the original paintings, sculptures and tapestries are now displayed, once again, in their original homes as the palaces are restored to pre-war glory.

Today is the first day of the cruise when we haven't lost an hour of time during the night due to sailing eastward. The result of this 23-hour day is that we feel chronically tired ... can't imagine how the Americans who flew here from the west part of the U.S. must be feeling right now.