Hello Everyone,

I`m back and I`m feeling much better. Not 100% but well enough. I`ve posted some photos of family in Russia and Slava and Jim`s visit to the lake ( I don`t recall the name of it) where they bought some smoked fish, the best fish I`ve ever tasted in my life. The lake is very special to the citizens of St.Petersburg because it`s the very place that the Russian army turned the tide on the German invaders and finally drove them out of Russia in WWII. It was 11.30pm when Jim took the photos but it looked like early evening. They took a leisurely walk along the beach with Roman happily playing in the sand, and his great-grandmother Luba walking alongside him. Roman forged a strong bond with her and they seemed to have a very similar sense of humour. There are no language difficulties for Roman, far from it. Slava speaks Russian to him a lot of the time anyway but we all taught him new words...well Jim and I had just learnt them too...lol! Roman`s favourite was Pa ka, ( Par car) which means Bye, and he just kept saying it over and over making everyone laugh.

While they were at the lake, Nadia, Julia, Kerry and myself went to the ballet to see Swan Lake and what a wonderful evening that was. The company were from the Kirov ballet and though they weren`t the star performers we thoroughly enjoyed the performance and I can`t wait to go again when we next visit...and to the opera too, Kerry`s been before and loves it as much as I do. When we got home we tucked into the smoked fish and fresh bread and like I said, it was delicious. Then we were treated to a cup of Nadia`s particularly good tea. I never thought I`d have to go to Russia for the best cup of tea ever! That night, like most others we didn`t get to bed until after two. It`s seems very late but because of the white nights it doesn`t seem late at all consequently we didn`t feel at all tired. Also because Russia is 3 hours ahead of us timewise, when we flew home it was the same time at landing than at take off, making it easier for our body clocks to re-adjust to our time again.

Jim and I are agreed in that we found many of the Russian people very unsmiling and even suspicious. Slava`s family are lovely generous but many people just didn`t smile. I don`t know why but Slava thinks it goes back to when people had nothing and they might feel deep down that it could happen again. I think perhaps he`s right, none of us have had to live that way. Another downside is the traffic and the way people drive....NEVER again will I complain about British drivers or our roads after what we experienced. Traffic lights, pedestrian crossing...PAH! Who cares!   Trust me, I must have aged 10 years after a weeks Russian road travel...lol!  On a more serious note, one day we were as usual in a traffic jam when three men jumped from a car and started beating the car in front with baseball bats!  I just couldn`t believe it and was more than a little bit scared. What was even more scary was that many people carry guns there and if the owner of the smashed up car had been carrying one......well, you can imagine.

Any, must go, Jim is on his way back from collecting Kerry and Slava from the airport and I hope to see them before they go home.  Have a great weekend and I`ll be back again soon. :o)