We were to have stopped next at Visby on Gotland another part of Sweden but due to rough weather the ships tender boats could not do the run ashore so this port was missed. Sad really as neither Sue nor I had been there before and I had to do an extra lecture to fill in the extra sea day.

So two more days we were at sea to get back to Russia and St Petersburg, all the regular sites, the Hermitage, the Ballet for Sue, Peter Hof palace and so on. Sue also saw a folk concert with a man who seemed to have the “biggest balalaika in the world”, makes a change from an aspidistra!

Day one was good but on day two, which was a Saturday I set off escorting a party and we arrived at 0910. We were hustled off the coach by our guide on our way to the palace in the pouring rain, only to find we could not get in until our allocated time of 0945. There was no shelter and no flexibility, “You have to wait!” We pointed out there was no shelter and it was raining cats and dogs but to no avail. This was the system and I had a lot of very angry wet passengers to mollify. Eventually we were allowed in, did the tour, “No Photos!” and emerged to look at the wonderful fountains. These are all gravity fed and very spectacular as you can see.