St. Petersburg, Russia

          Last May while on a walking tour of St. Petersburg, Russia I had just visited the famous Mariinsky Ballet and Opera Theatre (built in 1860) when I noticed that the large boulevard (ul. Dekabristov)  on which it was located had been cleared by police.  Naturally, I was curious about what was going on.  Would there be a parade or a motorcade or what?  I asked several bystanders and several police patrolling the boulevard, but despite their best efforts I was not able to understand them.

Passing the Olympic Torch 

          I decided to mill around for a while and checked out the nearby Mariinsky II, the new Opera House that had just opened earlier in the month.  After an hour of waiting, I was rewarded with a front row view of the Sochi Olympic Torch coming by.  Students from Kazan University passed off the torch right in front of me and it was a thrill to be part of this symbolic ritual in the run up to the Sochi Winter Olympics.

The Friendly People of Russia

          Mingling with the friendly Russian people in this festive atmosphere was a delight and was typical of the interactions I had with the locals throughout my trip.  Stay tuned for much more on my sojourn through Western Russia, from Helsinki, Finland in the north to Astrakahn on the Caspian Sea in the south and then west to Ukraine, where I visited Yalta on the Black Sea and Kiev.