The "Midnight Sun" - turn off the lights!

St. Petersberg, Russia
Saturday June 10 - 3am

Bright and SUNNY Northern Russia

I'm dying to sleep, but....arrrgggggh! The manager of the hotel has obviously conspired with nature herself - the Earth and the Sun - to make certain that I get no sleep! Either that, or my jet-lagged brain is just starting to hallucinate a bit. No... in fact, I'm fairly certain of the conspiracy....

Entering my third day with no sleep, I laid in bed trying to avoid the sun's rays. Despite being 3 o'clock in the morning, the sun still shined defiantly through the room's cheap curtains. Yes, the sun. At 3 in the morning???

Of course! The "White Nights" of St. Petersburg! Located so far north (around 60° N lattitude) , that during the Summer Solstice the sun never sets. People will picnic at the beach, go boating etc, literally all night long. This time of year, it never gets dark here. By contrast, during Winter, they rarely see the sun's warm rays. All things considered, I'm quite happy to be visiting during the Summer!

Now, I'll just tuck my head under my pillow, and fight the conspirators by actually falling asleep.

Any minute now...

Yep... any second now...