It's Always Sunny in St. Petersburg

OK, so it's not always sunny in St. Petersburg - and even my new Russian friends, via email before I left, asked why in the world I was coming to Russia in November, which they described as pretty dreary. Coming from Vermont I figured that it couldn't be that much worse - well, I was wrong - the weather has been immeasurably overcast with lots of cold rain. That said, both Moscow, and especially St. Petersburg, are still very beautiful cities - and it could be a lot worse. One, it could be snowing here (and considering all the rain we've received a little drop in temperature would leave us knee-deep in snow) and it could be summer, which, because St. Petersburg is so marshy, is so supposed to be mosquito heaven/hell. I'm back in my room after spending seven and a half hour working my way through the Hermitage museum, which I 'll say more about in the coming posts. Amazing. With the exception of a fifteen minute coffee break, I spent the entire time period walking around looking at painting and sculptures. And I still really flew through certain areas, and didn't even make it into some of the wings - and this is only one of the buildings that makes up the Hermitage!