Portraits by the Taj Mahal 2013

Sightseeing in St. Petersburg 2008

The view of the dome from inside St. Isaac's cathedral.

St. Isaac (aka the monk of Dalmatia and Confessor, died May 30, 383) is the patron saint of Peter the Great. This cathedral is the fourth largest in the world. 

The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood was built on the site where Emperor Alexander II was severely wounded and died in March 1881.

Hello, Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837). 

Inside the Catherine Palace.

A ballroom in the Catherine Palace. I don't remember much from this tour, except I do remember feeling overwhelmed at the extravagance. There was even a room that was made entirely out of Amber! 

Mama on a tour called "Everyday Russia," where we went around Russian supermarkets, had a vodka tasting in a cellar, and tried their public transport ("if you get left behind, you'll be lost forever" -our tour guide).

Papa, one of if not the tallest in the group, was our sign bearer.

From Wikipedia:
Saint Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia, politically incorporated as a federal subject (a federal city). It is located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. In 1914, the name of the city was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad, and in 1991, back to Saint Petersburg.

Saint Petersburg was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 27, 1703. Between 1713–1728 and 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the imperial capital of Russia. In 1918, the central government bodies moved from Saint Petersburg (then named Petrograd) to Moscow. Saint Petersburg is a major European cultural center, and also an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea.

Bel posto, Positano 2011

The resurrected Jesus in a courtyard.

Amalfi coast

The air in this sea-side place is lemon-scented. sigh.

Papa with giant lemons.

Famiglia pazzo

Where to? Dove?

From Wikipedia:
Positano is a village and comune on the Amalfi Coast (Costiera Amalfitana), in Campania, Italy, mainly in an enclave in the hills leading down to the coast.
Positano was a port of the Amalfi Republic in medieval times, and prospered during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, the town had fallen on hard times. More than half the population emigrated, mostly to America.

Positano was a relatively poor fishing village during the first half of the twentieth century. It began to attract large numbers of tourists in the 1950s, especially after John Steinbeck published his essay about Positano in Harper's Bazaar in May, 1953: "Positano bites deep", Steinbeck wrote. "It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone."