Let me tell you a little about the history of Petrozavodsk, the capital of Karelia. Karelia is one of the republics of Russia. Petrozavodsk was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great. He loved the sea, so he established the Navy. Petrozavodsk was his factory city where weapons and metal parts were made for his Navy ships. Now on with the tour . . .

We saw many monuments of Lenin and other historical figures. I think my favorite things were The Wedding Palace and The Wishing Tree. The Wedding Palace is a place where you can get married in a civil ceremony. You may also go to a church and have a religious ceremony. Some people do both. The Wishing Tree is a metal tree with a plastic ear on it. If you whisper your wish into the ear, it is supposed to come true. (To see my photo album of Petrozavodsk click on the camera.)

While we were looking at monuments, we also saw some women in bathing suits swimming in Lake Onega. They had cut a large hole in the ice and were playing in the water. Yes, I said ice. Remember, in Russia it is still cold in early April. Because of the chilly weather, I was not tempted to join them!

All of our walking soon made us hungry, so we went to a little café called Morozipko. It is a lovely place where they take your coat at the door and it seemed to be full of happy families. I ordered chocolate ice cream and they gave me vanilla ice cream with chocolate shavings. It was heavenly! I also drank a lemon Fanta. It comes in several flavors. My lemon one tasted like lemonade with carbonated water. It was delicious.