August 1 - St Petersburg

August 1 – St Petersburg, Russia
Our last day before heading for Estonia. We booked a morning tour to Konstantine Palace, sometimes called Putin's Palace because it was built during his presidency. The original palace was in ruins after World War II, so it had to be rebuilt pretty much from scratch. I saw only one artifact that looked to be original. The cost of reconstruction was $168 million. It is a current working residence for the Russian president; the recent G8 summit was held here. We had to wear plastic booties to protect the wood parquet and marble floors. A prior tour guide said it was actually worse on the floors because of the slight abrasion from the plastic – rubber soles would be easier on things. Oh, well, they'll eventually get it.

At the end of the tour, we were shown to the wine cellar for a private wine-tasting. We were shown one of only 100 bottles of a wine that exist in the world (1940 something or other). I asked if they were going to serve that to us – a big laugh from everyone, especially the guide. We were told it was worth about 12,000 to 14,000 euros ($25,000). In the picture, the bottle is on the middle shelf on the right-hand side (shiny case). The wine cellar holds about 12,000 bottles of wine.

After we returned to the ship we were treated to a partial eclipse of the sun.

Later on, some local entertainment put on a show of local dancing and folk tunes. Very athletic.
Next stop – Tallinn, Estonia.