This is just a sample of the grandeur we saw in St Petersburg. This is the ceiling at the St Isaacs, once a church now a museum. St Petersburg was a planned city built in 1703. 5 million ppl live here. There is public ed and a great public transit system. It has served as the capital. St P consists of 41 islands, there are 350 bridges, twenty are draw bridges. Mid may to mid july they call the period of "white nights". It is similar to alaska that way.