Day 7

Yes, all good things do come to an end. Yesterday was our last full day and just as packed as the others, so on we go:

Our day started with a stop at Finland Station to see the sealed train carriage that Lenin arrived in, when he returned to Russia 1917 from Switzerland. Then, we all went to a massive statue of Lenin doing a rather interesting pose, and the keen eyed among us spotted that Ethan Stacey looked uncannily like the Communist leader himself in the photo.

Another short journey on the coach took us to the Russian WW2 memorial for those who died in the 900 day German siege of St Petersburg. Once again Mr Dickens was there to give his blend of intensity and respect which had us all stunned, especially when we saw the kilometre wide park of mass graves full of just some of the 670,000 that died during the two and half years.

Very frantic lunchtime with everyone running around Nevsky Prospect looking for souvenirs to take back to England. The Winter Palace was next on the agenda with its massive, spectacular golden visuals and its fantastic Hermitage museum of art was a wondrous sight to behold. Spanning three building - every single exhibit that was there would have taken someone seven years to view all of it.

On our way to the Folklore show, we made a quick stop at a statue of Peter the Great, the founder of St Petersburg. The show was great fun with a Russian version of a barbershop Quartet. Much to the delight of everyone, Dickens' recommendation of sitting on the front row because 'that was where our seats were' lead to three of our boys, Harrison Costi, Elliot Ward and Lucas Crumb, going on stage and strutting their stuff with some Russian women.

To end a great trip, a classy five course dinner at the Palace where the show was held had been organised for us with live music, decorated chairs, the works! The food wasn't quite to everyone's taste but it was the experience that counted. The coach back was full of high spirits with sing-a-long chants such as 'One Pint Wardy' just as earlier in the week when we were singing Jerusalem.

Drinks back at the hotel finished a good day, along with Rob Parker, Jacob Sparrow, Ethan Stacey and Sam Grants own makeshift rendition of a ballet back at the hotel. And now we have half a day left then journey to England, see you there! We are going to miss you Russia!