Day 15 July 26th St Petersburg

Day 15 July 26th St Petersburg.
The day dawned hot and hazy. This morning I went on a bus tour. As we did yesterday I presented my passport to a customs officer. I smiled and said good morning; her face was sullen and she did not recognise my greeting; every checkpoint I have been through I have spoken a greeting and have had a smile or friendly gesture in response, but not here. The terminal although very clean and new looking, had a stale musty smell. We climbed on the bus and goody goody this one had a good air conditioner. We saw quite a few of the sights that I saw yesterday from the canals but from a different aspect; I was able to get better photos from the roadside as the bus stopped for photo opportunities.
Our guide said that everyone lived in apartments; they lined the street for up to about 200 meters with no gaps. There were entrance archways through which I could see some flower gardens and car parks.
I was disappointed with St Petersburg. I have always believed it to be a beautiful city. The part that I saw had a few parks and trees but to be fair there are some beautiful buildings and churches but they are scattered amongst many greyish apartments.
On returning to the ship I passed through customs for the fourth time with the same sullen look from the young female customs officer; she must lead a humdrum life.
We sailed at 6pm. The ship stirred the mud as she turned. The bay that we travelled through was several kilometres wide but it was shallow; our ship had to follow a narrow channel.
After about an hour we passed through an area of breakwaters forming small harbours in which Russian naval ships were moored along with 2 submarines. There were many navy buildings and far in the distance were large tall blocks of apartments. A little further on a long road built on both sides of the channel disappeared into the distant shore. It was built on a reclaimed strip of land. Just before the road reached our narrow channel it dived into a tunnel beneath our channel.
The sun rose at 5:27an and set at 10.44pm.
Russia 6,592,800 square miles in area, and has an population estimated in 2007 to be 144,377,752.