On the 15th of February, the Russians celebrate women's holiday. They take a three-day vacation Thursday Friday and Saturday, and then have all employees work on Sunday make up for the day taken off. Not too much sense, but a great time when they show respect to the women with lots of flowers and niceties.

We had a lot of fun out in the mountains riding on the sleigh and roasting weenies around the fire having sandwiches and drinks. It was a fun event with Bob and KLynn.There were three other young families with children so there were lots of activiies.

Inside the Cathedral of the Resurrection

Even though oneCathedraldiffer significantly from the othersin the type and qualityof theirart work ormosaic workit all centers aroundstories in the New Testamentand some oldTestament depictions.

Picture on the right here is looking straight up into the dome of the cathedral and the art Work is amazing and goes clear up into the dome.

The exterior of this cathedral was so decorative and immaculate but it was hard to believe the details on the outside of the structure

This cathedral was built in the 17th century and yet as you can see it has weathered the storm of time without virtually any deterioration. These types of cathedrals are symbols of National Russian architectur of the time.

This is a more traditional Cathedral in St. Peter'sburg call the Cathedral of the spilt blood. Interesting enough its real name is Cathedral of the Resurrection.One of their ruling leaders was killed on this very spot and they built this magnificent Cathedral where he was killed, thus the Cathedral of the spilt blood.

The picture on the left shows the Extremely expensiveOr for mental decorations even on the outside. Underneath each dome On the inside There are places repeats to stand and worship as there are no benches in their cathedrals. One can hardly fathomat great expensein building these structures.

On the left we are in Hermitage and if you look closely inside the cage behind us is a medal pheasant in a tree that rotates in a full circle built by a watchmaker as a circulating clock.
On the left is another cathedralThe Kazan and as you can see it is huge. They charge an admission but you can go in virtually anytime of the day if you pay the admission price, even though there may be services taking place.

Millions of dollars are raised each year from tourists.

Catherine the Great Castle-Hermitage

Because of Catherine's desire to be left alone this whole structure is now called the Hermitage Museum. These places are huge display of enormous wealth used for the benefit of

a few.

In the background you see another mansion built and lived in by Catherine the Great. She was a Russian Czar leader after Peter the Great, the build statutes and reverence these great leaders even though there was

significant restrictions and poverty among the working class. One roomin this castle where there is 17 miles of inside hallways to view this castle.

This was a much smaller Castle earlier in her ruling period. Toward the end of her life a relativehad a significant Art collectionbut was struggling financially, so she purchased the collection , added on to this building and brought the art collection had to this castle.

With all of this she would order her meals to one room then ask all all of her maids and serve to leave so she can eat a lone. This is now a public Museum with fantastic displays.

Exterior of St. Isaac's Cathedral

The exteriorof St. Isaacs isthe huge columnswhere they built scaffoldsin rowsand then stood thecolumns upin between the scaffold.The cathedral ismore than 200 years oldbut still in great shapebut showing someblemishes from the harsh weather.

Inside St. Isaac's Cathedral

This St. Isaac's Cathedralas more of a Romantype structure with large pillarsso the roof didn't walk into an onion dome like their traditional cathedrals.The artwork,the rock and marble sculptures,and considerable bronze and brass adorn the insides of these great structures.

St. Isaac's Cathedral-St. Petersburg

One of the more famous cathedralsis St. Isaac'sthese are some of the interior photoswere they clearlyMajor artworkand Major mosaic artwork I'll be difficult

stories. Obviously large expenditures went into these projects And for the ways the worldThey are some of the greatest.

Beautiful St. Petersburg-Russia

In 1703, the Ruler of Russia Was Peter The Great and he was a lover of Holland and its access to the sea. So he went from Moscow to St. Petersburg with the determination that the only way Rush would be great as a nation and to be able to compete with other nations economically they needed a strong seaport He therefore decreed that St. Petersburg was the ideal place for that port to be located on the Gulf of Finland. St. Petersburg therefore is one of the newer cities in this part of the world is this area was surrounded by lakes and high water table. The battle that Peter the Great ordered all of the stonemasons stop building anywhere else in Russia and that further only stone buildings could be built in St. Petersburg.

Many lives were sacrificed, as is consistent with history of these nations to build a new seaport city, which he did. There are modern buildings, but the zoning regulations in St. Petersburg require that the exterior surface of buildings be maintained in their original historic State.

Peter build many significant buildings in his day and then other rulers and starred dictators have continued to pay special attention to St. Petersburg. It is therefore a beautiful city of several million people with some amazing old historic buildings. I had one picture here but it went away during my dictation so I will bring it back page.