Wednesday, August 3
Nab Kanala Griboedova, St Petersburg, 15:30
The morning began with breakfast and checking out. We left our luggage in the luggage room while we left for some final sightseeing.
Yesterday we bought some Russian groceries in Stockmann and got given some stamps and a booklet to collect them in. When we got back to the hotel we realised we had enough stamps to get a frying pan half price. Irma had recently bee saying that our frying pan needed replacing. This morning we got the bus to Stockmann and got our cheap frying pan. We then caught a bus halfway back and walked down one of the canals looking for the Museum of Emotions.
When we got there we were very glad we had found it. It was an installation by a Russian artist called Alexey Sergienko in which a guide leads you through various tiny rooms, each representing an emotion.
Now we are walking round outside of the grounds of the Saviour on the Blood cathedral. At the rear I notice one of the ubiquitous coffee vans that we have seen around the city (and which Irma has used at least once). They are parked on many street corners and each one has a driver who appears to make little or no effort to hawk his wares but just sits or (like here) stands there sampling his own coffee.
We will get back to the hotel, catch the shuttle bus, and find that our de luxe cabin gives us priority service. We will have a drink in the small VIP lounge and be hustled straight through security and onto the boat and our waiting sparkling wine.