St Petersburg

There must have been some sort of mistake. I was expecting to see a little snow, still on the ground; the Hermitage Museum; scenes from the October Revolution; St Isaacs Cathedral etc, and to have caviar, blinis and vodka for dinner. Instead we have tropical heat, palm trees, the Salvador Dali Museum and Mexican/Caribbean food and some beer called Florida Avenue. But I suppose we will have to make the best of it.

As I am on holiday, I won't go on and on about the painful aspects of the journey here: a two hour drive to the airport (30 miles); a row with the ignorant woman sitting in front of me on the plane who thrust her seat backwards, without warning, as I was sipping hot coffee; the large number of school age children on the flight, in term time; the parents torturing their babies with nine hours in a confined space; the ridiculous rigmarole at the airport, which took two hours to get us through various repetitive processes (I had my fingerprints taken three times;) the stupid attempts by the car rental chappie to get us to upgrade, for "only $20" - per day, that is; the unexplained heavy traffic getting here. I do love travel.