A photo taken from my hotel room at midnight.

In the Mariinsky Theater, the production Мазепа had over a 100 cast members and even horses on stage!

Some of the items for sale at the Mariinsky Theatre. I didn't buy anything.

Walking back at 11pm, it was still light outside, perfect for photos!

I went to a vodka museum in St. Petersburg. I was the only visitor and since every word of the museum was in Russian I got a guided tour in English included. I hadn't realized that Gorbachev tried and failed to make a Prohibition. The tour included three small shots of vodka, and several traditional Russian snacks, including pig fat on toast! After drinking vodka, even that tastes delicious. I bought cranberry vodka, and birch vodka for later in the trip.


I was lucky to get a ticket to the Mariinsky Theater, fourth row center. This is the view from my seat.

Views of the Church of Spilled Blood, in St. Petersburg.

I took this photo by timer and balancing my photo on the railing.

Gryphons on a famous bridge in St. Petersburg.

Another view of the bridge.

The Church of Spilled Blood.

A street-level view down Nevsky Prospect, the main street of St. Petersburg.

In front of many monuments Peter the 1st, and Catherine the Great lookalikes earned money by posing with tourists for 100 rubles each (3 USD). At least that's what they wanted to charge me! Tulips were just in bloom.

The staircase leading down from St. Isaac's cathedral.

I was surprised to see this ATM machine was running Windows. You can clearly see the "start" button. I decided to use a different ATM to avoid any security problems!

Views of Palace Square, and the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The steps in St. Isaac's Cathedral St. Petersburg have numbers indicating the number left to the top.


The view of St. Petersburg from the top.

The view from my hotel in St. Petersburg of St. Isaac's Cathedral.

Smoked salmon blini with red caviar.

St. Isaac's Cathedral is now a museum, not a practicing church.

On my most recent trip, my first stop was the airport in Dubai. I had a delicious Mint lemonade. If only I could find that in Singapore!

In the airport in Moscow, I had time to grab this chocolate bar. It was big and chunky.

Arrival in St. Petersburg. This building leads to a subterranean pathway that extends to the airport terminal.

I booked a ticket on a local Russian airline, S7, that was cheap and comfortable.