St Petersburg, Russia: Who knew it was the Venice of the North?

We have a friend named Yulia who goes out with Chase Fleming, son of our friends Mark and Diane Fleming. She was born in the Ukraine and was nice enough to give us some Russian travel tips before we started our trip.

I readily admit that my knowledge of St Petersburg was virtually zero. St Petersburg, Russia? Hell, I don’t even know anything about St Petersburg, Florida.

So I was most surprised when Yulia called St Petersburg “the Venice of the North”. I had no idea – absolutely none – that St Petersburg had canals.

But I can now report with great authority that there are, indeed, canals crisscrossing the city. We took a cruise on the canals and viewed all the remarkable buildings that grace the landscape.

Or waterscape, as the case may be.