-Joe Muchlinski

On the first day’s tour we traveled to Peter and Paul’s Fortress which has a wonderful dock with a view of the city center. That gaping gap from the dock to the wall of buildings is the River Neva. Completely frozen, reminiscent of an ice desert rather than one of the largest rivers in Europe. It is almost completely crossable, however the city government has crews of icebreakers destroy gaps of it to make it dangerous enough to ward off people from simply crossing it on their own. Most years though they eventually give up as the water freezes too quickly and too often that their efforts are futile. This year actually being one of the warmest in the city’s history. I cannot imagine what a regular winter must be like.