We will spend three nights and two days exploring this beautiful and historic city on the Neva River just above the Gulf of Finland. Known as Leningrad during the daysof the Soviet Union, St. Petersburg has reclaimed its historic name (after Peter the Great). It is the showplace for grand palaces, monuments and museums built in its 18^th and 19^th century heyday before the Revolution by czars and czarinas such as Alexander, Nicholas, and Catherine the Great.

On one side of the river is the imposing fortress of Petropalovskaya, inside of which can be found residences, cathedrals, and the comical statue of a tall, thin Peter the Great. Nearby are the lovely Summer Gardens, whose shaded walks are lined with Roman-era statuary that was all buried underground to protect it during the Revolution. Nearby is an excellent natural history museum, which we will visit.

Immediately on the other side of the Neva can be found the rambling Hermitage, palace of the czars, which now contains one of the world’ greatest art collections (much of it stolen by the Nazis in WWII, but much of that successfully confiscated); the building is divided into many sections, including the green Winter Palace. It borders a great plaza, wherein can be found the 500-ton, 47-m Alexandrisky Column and the Triumph Arch. Also on this side of the river can be found the monumental "Cathedral of the Spilled Blood," built over the site of the assassination of Czar Alexandar II. The Romanesque Kazanski Cathedral is found along a major street in the city’s business district. Nearby are many canals, such as the Griboedov Canal, along which live some of St. Petersburg’s elite These areas have led some to refer to the city as the Venice of the North. A grand panoramic view of many of the famous buildings and monuments and the Neva can be had from atop St. Isaac's Cathedral.