Day 8

Hello all and greetings from russia again,
We started out the day early today, Grabbed a quick breakfast, and went down to muster for our tour. The weather was wonderful again this morning. We took busses to the first stop on the tour where there were two large red light houses. We got out and of course were quickly surrounded by local vendors. But we snuck through and snapped a few pictures. As we were getting into our seats we noticed a man just sitting in the park. Sitting next to him was a live bear cub. It was acting just like a dog would, following him around and was actually behaving very nicely. But unfortunatly we couldn't go over there cause the bus was already leaving. Our next stop was the castle of Peter and Paul. it was built on a small island out in the neva river. Inside of it was the cathedral of Peter and Paul which housed the remains of many of the great russian czars. The coffins were marble and were just sat out on the floor for everyone to see. The rest of the cathedral was done up very ornate with many paintings and lots of gold and marble. Also they have these restuarants on the side of the river that look just like old sailing vessels. I wish we could have gotten to at least get on them, but in russia they are still paraniod I guess so you have to be with an organized tour to leave the boat. Then we proceeded to the cathedral on spilled blood again. This time we just took a quick look from the outside but didn't go in. After that it was off to the souviner store. We looked all through it and kirah found a large painting of a naked women and came and told me to buy it. Unfortunatley I didn't have the money, and really I didn't have a place to put it. So we decided instead to purchase a fabrosee egg. It is very nice and when you open it, it plays the theme to the play "Swan Lake". So I think we got some very nice souvineers from Russia. Then the bus driver took us to an authentic Russian folklore show. Even though we couldn't understand a word it actually wasn't too bad. I think Kirah really liked it. We tried to take photos but the lighting was to dim and they were moving too fast. we then took the bus through town back to the ship. They pointed out buildings along the way but I think Kirah already told you about them yesterday. When we got back to the ship we went and had a quick lunch then came back to the room to wait for our next tour. As we were waiting our luck finally gave out as it started to rain and blow. We were worried that our tour would be cancelled because it was supposed to be a romantic river cruise up the neva river. Luckily the boat was enclosed so we did end up getting to go. As we were going to the boat the tour guide showed us all the places we had already seen so I kinda drifted off for a little bit. When we got to the boat we hurried through the rain and got a seat at the very front of the boat. As the boat pulled out they came through and offered everyone a glass of champagn. I had to at least try it but after my bachelor party just the smell of alchohol tightens my gut. So I just took a quick taste, it was ok. A little different than the stuff I am used to. Also that is the reason I didn't get any vodka from Russia, one of my favorite drinks. Anyways as we were sailing a group of real gypsies came out and danced and sang for us. It was nice until they took a break then our tour guide tried to step in and start guiding again. It was terrible, you couldn't understand what she was saying the audio equipment wasn't functioning properly so it was like two hours of droning on. Finally the gypsies returned and danced for the rest of the cruise. I had to laugh cause on the trip back on the bus the lady wouldn't stop talking even when we could understand her she would drone on and on. Kirah told me she reminded her of a certain old friend who could ramble on forever about nothing. But finally we made it to the ship and came up to our room to write this. On the good side it already looks like the clouds are parting and I can see some sunshine.