Why St. Petersburg?

"Can you direct me to the lake?" the woman asked.

It was six years ago more or less. I had chosen to walk from my doctor's to the train station.

"I'm going in that direction, walk with me," I said.

We chatted on the way. She was from Russia.

We exchanged business cards, then emails, talking about the things women talk about.

She invited me to St. Petersburg. Timing was off until this year when Rick and I stepped aboard a KLM plane destined for the city, infused with beauty and seasoned by history as no other I've seen.

There is no way we can describe all that we saw. The city has to be experienced and felt. Misconceptions must be replaced by a plethora of sights that defy description.

My mother once said she didn't need to travel to see things. She could look at photos, television programs or read about them in a book.

She was wrong, wrong, wrong. Travel lets you feel, smell, touch, experience in a way books, photos or film will never allow. Thus all the  "blogettes" below on a few impressions do not begin to capture the experiences of the past week.

Even as a writer, it is the best I can do.

Rick will also have a try over the next few days at http://lovinglifeineurope.blogspot.fr/