Saint Petersburg Russia

Just finished my first full day in St. Petersburg, Russia visiting my friends Yuri and Masha (Maria) who are lifelong residents here. What an incredible city! It's the fourth largest city in Europe founded in 1703 by Peter the Great and also Vladimir Putin is from here. Despite our media portraying Russia the way it does, I actually feel safer here than I did in Paris. It's north enough to not get completely dark at night this of year. As I type this it is 10:30pm and bright out. It's a vibrant city with lots of tourists and folks from all walks of life, like any other big European city. They like tourists here and are very friendly to Americans, and the Russian woman are as beautiful as advertised. Today Yuri, Masha and I walked all over the city and they both have a great historical perspective of the buildings and monuments. They reminded me that Russia lost 27 million people during WW2 mainly fighting the Germans and played a much bigger role in winning the war than we recognize and they are right. We went by the Hermitage, Summer garden, and Paul the First's fortress where he was strangled by his sons in the 1800s. The museums and history here are incredible. Tomorrow we are taking a boat cruise through the many channels in the city and by more sites, and going to the Russian ballet tomorrow night. So thrilled to be here.