Soaring to Saint Petersburg, Russia

"The most abstract and intentional city on earth" - said Fyodor Dostoyevesky.

We arrived in Saint Petersburg, Russia earlier this afternoon and even though it's midnight it's still light outside. In fact, in a few hours, Benita and I are taking a stroll through the city streets to see the raising of the bridges. During the months of June and July the sun never completely sets and that's why it's called "The White Nights". I'll give you a more updated blog on the bridges tomorrow.

This city was founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built on the backs (or bones) of millions of slaves and hardworking peasants. It's absolutely stunning and suburbly built in every way, shape and form despite being built on a swamp. Earlier today we started our journey at the Palace Square where I shot amazing footage of the Catherine the Great's Hermitage Museum. Original works from the Masters of art, sculpture and architecture decorate all 12K of square footage. It's quite simply mindblowing and its scale alone can hardly fail to impress.

But before enjoying this European-like city Benita and I struggled to get our luggage into the airport from Moscow. So few Russians care to help or offer assistance when they see someone in distress. Men simply stand around puffing away on cancer sticks and women feign that they see you. Nina, our Soviet expat, told us that "old Communist attitudes die hard". Likewise in the airport hotel resturant. At the buffet, someone dropped a ceramic plate on the floor shattering into dozens of pieces but nobody cared to pick it up. We had to step around the glass and hope that nothing sprayed into our food.

Moscow can be a grim and gloomy place but St. Petersburg is bright, cheery and inviting despite the random deluges and colder temperatures. This city is immaculate, regal, rich and the living much more civilized. I want to stay longer than 2 days.