Peter & Paul

Today to the Peter & Paul Fortress and Cathedral.  We went first to the Museum of the Defence of Leningrad, where the tug on my arm of the babushka-guide, her intense desire that I should know the story, was as strong as anything on display.  Then we walked over the breezy Trinity Bridge; people were sunbathing standing up on the 'beach' and swimming in the Neva.  P&P is stunning.  The Romanovs (Nicholas & Alexandra, Olga, Tatiana and Anastasia) are buried in the cathedral, as are Peter the Great and Catherine the Great.  We took a boat trip across the Neva and up and down the canals.  St. P. is Venice on a large scale - less maculate and more 18th-century.