For our visit to St. Petersburg we had an ace up our sleeve: We had friends living there! Sally, and her husband Mike had just taken up residence in the city last May after Mike won a scholarship to do graduate work in Economics at a University there. They proved to be excellent hosts.

Our first day in the city we made a bee-line to the Hermitage, the former home of the Tsars, which now holds one of the most spectacular collections of art in the world. We had a three hour guided tour including everything from DaVinci, and Monet to the famous Faberge eggs and the Tsarina's jewels.

The next day Sally and Mike joined us for a trip to Peter the Great's Peterhoff (the former summer residence of the tsars). When Peter the Great saw Versailles he vowed to create something even more spectacular. After a short boat ride we arrived at the palace. The gardens were enormous and the fountains spectacular. The most impressive factoid about the fountains is that they run entirely without pumps, they use gravity to move the water. The detail in the sculpture work is intricate, every sculpture, railing and awning was well thought-out and delicately crafted.

Our last night in town we attended a ballet performance of Romeo and Juliette in the Marinski theater. It was breathtaking. I was sitting on the edge of my seat for the entire performance, the orchestra was enchanting, and the fluidity of the dancers was mesmerizing.