I am in Saint Petersburg for the third time of six projected total visits this summer. I really had no idea how i would feel about going around and around the Baltic for two months, most of the time back and forth from Copenhagen to Stockholm.
Maybe I would be bored. I mean, how many times can I visit Tallinn, Estonia, and still feel invigorated about it?
All I can say is, I still pinch myself and say, “lucky, lucky me!”
Today, visit three to Saint Petersburg (this year), second day: I had for breakfast some perfect fruit someone else had cut up and cleaned up after. Then i went and did a little upper body at the gym. Reviewed and added a few of my own photos to my lecture on Stockholm. Had a light lunch of salads and my big splurge dessert, bread pudding. YUM!
Then, the day took on steam. I used my visa to get off the ship and take a six-mile walk through St. Petersburg, along the Neva, then across the river and on to the Hermitage and up the big shopping street, Nevsky Prospekt. Then I wandered back, past St. Isaac’s Cathedral and along a green strip, across the river and to the ship.
Walking back through the main bar (sort of the Grand Central for the ship), I ran across a family i had met briefly before and sat down and chatted with them. Of course i was immediately approached by a waiter who brought me some champagne which i had totally earned by then on my walk.
I went back then, took a shower, called Dan, and then went out to dinner with some lovely people in a beautiful restaurant, where I could eat and drink whatever I wanted, no charge. What i want at this point is very little, but it doesn’t matter. I have what works for me, no more.
On my way back to my room, I stopped in the bar and listened to a Ukrainian pianist play the slow movement of The Moonlight Sonata. Now, back in my room, i found myself wondering why anyone would ever ask if i am tired of this.
Let me explain in one word, if this description of my day doesn’t do it: No.
Sure, there are many things I am missing in this nomadic, cruising life: the powerful silence of nature, the humbling experience of great mountain peaks, the lovely affirmation of being truly alone. But really, what i have is so wonderful I simply cannot express how warm and wooly I feel to have found this life. Thank you, powers of the universe! I hope this photo of me and my visa, as i leave the ship, says how much i know I am truly blessed.
