Swan Lake

After our bus tour of the city of St. Petersburg, we arrived back at the ship in time to rush in, eat a quick dinner, change clothes, and head back out to the ballet. We traveled to the Hermitage Theater where the ballet was held. The theater was fairly small, holding maybe about 300 people, and was very intimate, with every seat being located fairly close to the stage. We watched Swan Lake, which was composed by Peter Tchaikowsky.

After the ballet, we arrived back at the ship around 11 p.m. As we boarded, the main chef met us at the door to inform us that there was wine, sandwiches, soup, and cookies waiting for us in the Explorer's Lounge. We enjoyed a late night snack while we visited with Jack and Diane from Australia. We shared stories with them from our travels in Australia, and we learned that even though they've lived there all their life, we've seen more of Australia than they have. Diane told us about a trip she once took to Perth, and how there was an airline strike and she had to take a grueling 40 hour train trip to get back to her home in Adelaide. We told her that when we were in Australia, we did that for fun!

We finally got to bed after midnight, but had to set the alarm for 5:30, as the next day's all day tour had an early start. Man, this vacation stuff is rough!