Russia-There's a lot of good things going on!

Stalin, Khrushchev, Dostoievsky, Perestroika, ABM Treaty, Sputnik, Putin, Glasnost, cold war, ally etc., etc., etc., where does it begin, where is it heading and how does it end? Russia is complex, enchanting, indescribable, and huge, one sixth of the earth's surface with 11 time zones, where does one begin in trying to fathom this country? Rather than jumping on a bus or train we decided to stay right in port and spend four days in St. Petersburg.

If Saint Petersburg is at all representative, this country has turned the corner and is on the right track for social and economic reform and recovery. If you allow yourself to get caught up in thinking that Russia will remain a two-tiered society with Ivan a fur capped bureaucrat or farmer at the bottom and the mafia at the top getting richer, you could be in for a big surprise. There is energy, drive and an enlightened younger generation. Marketing skills are being acquired and tourism is increasing.

The Bronze Horseman and downtown Saint Petersburgh are surprisingly upscale.

Matryoskha dolls and Church of the Spilled Blood.

The Hermitage and Katherine the Great's carriage, no wonder the peasants revolted!

Van Gogh's Lilacs and Rembrant's Diane, two of the 2.8 millionpieces of Hermitage art.

Russian ballarinas in Swan Lake and Tchaikovsky's tomb.

Daily 150 calory ration during 900-day siege and memorial mass graves of victims.