Mid Summer Night

I have got behind with postings because we have been so busy in St. Petersburg and when I have had a chance to do something, I've had internet challenges.  We start the cruise in 2 1/2 hours so I'll try to get caught up now.

We are close to the land of the midnight sun.  On the longest day of the year, the sun set at 11:26 PM and rose at 4:25 AM.  This is a big deal where we have been visiting.  In Finland it is a national holiday and everything was closed on Fri. when we left.  It dates back to pre-Christian times.  We heard various stories of what people do; like a girl will gather 7 kinds of flowers, sleep with them under her pillow and she will dream of the man she will marry.  We wonder if the Finns in Thunder Bay celebrate at the summer solstice.

In Russia it isn’t holiday but people celebrate and some take the day off.  We were wakened in St. Petersburg, long after we had gone to bed, by the sound of fireworks.