P.S. to yesterday. I brought some cheese & dried fruit back last night to eat whilst finishing my book. I looked up and there was a seagull, as bold as brass, sitting on my railing watching the food. He didn’t get any!!! Not good for little birdies I told him!

Sunrise was at 3.36, so I once again braved the cold winds and got a few snaps of it. However, I came back to bed and a short nap before breakfast.

Waited for the tour group to assemble and then we had to make our way through Russian Immigration. Very, very slow! Then on to the bus. We had a drive into the central part of the city. Interesting changes in architecture. Lots of old flats, which had been built as not-quite temporary accommodation, but the tenants are happy in them as close to all the city infrastructure. The new apartments aren’t serviced enough for people to want to move out.

Great looking historical buildings though on the route. I was rather brave in my choice of tours this time, it was a walking tour. It was a little bit fast, but I did stay with them! Peter the Great had wanted the city to be like Venice and planned lots of canals, but after some serious flooding most of them were filled in and are now roads.

We had the obligatory stop at a souvenir shop, but way too crowded for me, so I waited at the park meeting spot instead, much more interesting.

Our final goal was the Church of the Resurrection of Christ also known as Church of our Saviour on Spilled Blood as it was built on the assassination site of Emperor Alexander II.

I don’t know what happened to the camera, but all the photos I took between the sunrise and the bus trip back to the ship didn’t save on the card. It isn’t full or I wouldn’t have got the last ones, and I took lots and lots. So you’ll have to wait until tomorrow’s tour to get some outside pictures. I used my phone for inside as a flash was not allowed and I know how to turn that one off!

The inside of the Church is full of mosaics. Done in the reverse method. The picture was drawn on linen, the mosaic attached to it, then stuck on metal and when hung the linen removed from the front and polished. A much quicker way of producing a mosaic than the usual method.

Bus tour tomorrow afternoon, so blog will be late. Hopefully weather like today, our guide said they only have 60 days of sun a year and today was one of them!

My visitor

 Mosaic granite floor Wall mosaicTiny part of interior