Sweeney's in Sweden!

The other side of the Hermitage museum.
We saw about 2 weddings on Friday, & about 15 on Saturday! Thier tradition is to have the wedding, hop in a limo, & go around town to take pictures at the famous sites with family & a few friends.

One of the typical homes. They were awful!
The scenery was really pretty. It is similar to Sweden & Finland.

We noticed a lot of wrecks & crosses on the side of the road on our way to St. Petersburg. Later, we were told that Russia has no driving rules, besides maybe a speed limit & stop signs. Getting a driver's license simply consists of buying one. There are also permits you can buy that keeps the cops from pulling you over.

I usually get lost at least once in a new country. But I learn more from that than anything! One of the days the bus suddenly dropped us off & told us to walk back to the hotel whenever we wanted. In St. Petersburg though, I got a map & was ready for it. But then, my Canadian friend lost my map (I wasn't very happy). People did not want to help us. They would tell us to go away. So when we went to eat dinner she insisted that the waiter got out the yellow pages. He finally did, & we made it back to the hotel ok.

I didn't realize how different the Russian alphabet is. It's nice that Swedish has a similar alphabet to English so I can at least attempt to figure things out.

Our tour guide told us that people in St. Petersburg are rude & unfriendly because they are used to living in a very small apartment & sharing the kitchen & bathroom with other people & families. So when they get in public, they are just tired of dealing with people. She said these apartments aren't as popular as they used to be.