St. Petersburg, Russia was founded in 1703, was the capital, and gained a reputation as one of Europe's most beautiful cities. In the 20 th century, it has changed names three times, and s had three revolutions. It is a city of rich and poor. It is a city of a lot of beautiful waterways. I'm just showing the pretty places.

Most people in St. Petersburg seem to live in High Rise Apartments. Some are not in very good condition. They do maintain the Museums, Palaces, etc.

If I remember correctly, this is a view of the Moyka River. We took a boat tour here and saw
St. Petersburg close up.

Palaces and Museums are what the the city is noted for. The Hermitage, a museum in which you could spend a mondy, the palace of  Katherine, the wife of Peter the Great, the Cathedral of Peter and Paul, etc., along with the Cathedral of our Lady of Kazan, etc. would take quite a while. We chose the Palace of Catherine for our start.

Her's grandma standing outside the entrace to the palace. This is looking in one direction; it goes on and on.You can only eat, sleep and whatever is so many rooms. I don't know why Catherine needed so many, although she was known to have lovers.

To my great suprise and pleasure, we were met at the entrance with this Russian Band, playing American Folk Songs. By George, (or whomever) they even played Dixie. I left a tip in their tip box.

Once inside, I It didn't look like anybody there needed a tip. It was awesome. Notice we had to wear hospital type "booties" over our shoes. I guess it kept the dust down to a minimum. I didn't notice much. I believe this was a ball room.

This is a small dining room. All the rooms were painted different colors, and elegantly furnished, etc.

This is a different room; perhaps Catherine had breakfast at the first one, lunch here.

The were no flys on the gardens either; a few butterflys and bees, and beautifully kept. Remember the first picture with granma in it, this is the side of the Palace going to the right; there is another to match on the left.

I frankly don't remember what this place is. It must be a guest house or something. The reason I took it was because it has a beautiful reflection, don't you think? I like reflections.

I don't care for 9 hour plane flights, custom inspections, and 8 hour tours. 4 hour tours are right for me. Now I know. I also know that some of my favorite composers are Russian. Borodin, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich are celebrated Petersburgers. They wrote some great stuff. Go give yourself a thrill.

Uncle Jim

Have a nice weekend. A walk might do us all good.

Uncle Jim

I'm still amazed at how clean and pretty Sweden was. The streets were not crowded because I 've never seen as many people riding bikes to work, to town, to play, etc.

They also have nice places to ride your bikes, highways almost. Again, well maintained and well used

 Before I leave Sweden, I must show just a couple more of my favorite things about Sweden; their use of unique ovals, wraught iron, flowers, etc. This is a gate below; I thought it was beautiful.

The green door is beautiful to me too. I like it because it's not square. Notice the arched top.

Here again I love the use of rock, arch, iron, flowers, etc.., simply georgeous.

Helsinki, Finland is a beautiful place too.
The temperature was in the 60s and just a great time to visit. Like the Swedes, they have a love of water, boats, and saunas. Finland is a wealthy country by most standards. You will notice this in the pictures of the houses on the islands, etc. on the boat tour we went on. While most Russians, etc. live in high rise apartments,  the more wealthy Swedish and Finish people own their own houses, some small, some suprisingly large.

This is an apartment house in Finland. Notice the flowers in the flowers boxes. (they are hard to see)

This is either a government building or cathedral in Helsinky. The next time I go on a trip, I'm going to have to log my pictures; I took about 1400 and I forgot where I was in some of them.

More architecture in Helsinky. Taken downtown.

As I mentioned, islands and lakes of Finland are numerous. Here are some pictures I took on a boat tour.

Notice the three "buildings." The one most near the water is the sauna, an essential. The one in the middle is where you live; the upper one is a small picnic, cookout area with cover. This is a summer home.

Here's another a little larger.

It has a cool place for a deck too.

This is my favorite:

Fly it in, fly it out.

I'll close this blog with a picture of Grandma in her "I own Helsinki pose."

Uncle Jim