Cadiz reaches 20 degrees

But we went to St Petersburg where, as you will see, it was very cold indeed. However, it was nothing that a little Vodka couldn't improve and a very good time was had by everyone. Of which, more later.

For now,here is a view of Catherine's Palace at Pushkin, which we visited on Sunday, and where the redoubtable Empress spent her summers,entertaining her lovers and planning her reforms. The palace is spectacular, or at least those parts, including the famous Amber room, which have been restored after destruction by the Nazis, (the German Government paid for the restoration of the Amber Room).

And here we are too in its grounds with our friends, Greg and Clare,or Gregski and Clareski as they liked to be called after the purchase of their splendid Russian hats.

The painting at the top is By Natalia Goncharova, one of the many pre-Revolutionary Russian women artists. Strictly speaking it doesn't belong here as it was probably painted on her family's estates near Moscow, but we saw it in the Russian Museum in St Petersburg which houses the very fine national collection of Russian art. Small figures on vast white landscapes were our first and last impressions as we flew into and out of St Petersburg.