Tropical Storm Arthur Blows Through Fredericton

We were up quite early to get to the St. Petersburg airport. One last picture of St. Isaac's Cathedral, which was across the street from our hotel. This was taken at 3:00 a.m. The park around the cathedral was full of young people enjoying the White Nights.

Goodbye St. Petersburg and goodbye Russia...we had such a wonderful visit.

Coming into Frankfurt, Germany to catch our next flight to Toronto...

Upon landing in Toronto, we learned about the devastation that tropical storm Arthur had caused. Fredericton was particularly hard hit, and we found out that we didn't have power at home, and it wasn't expected to come on for several days. No sense going home to no power...we decided to spend two days in Ottawa and reassess the situation then.

When the lady at the front desk of the Albert at Bay Suites saw our address, she sympathized because she knew the situation in New Brunswick with so many people without power. She gave us nice room as a kind gesture. She was from Newfoundland and was happy to see some East Coasters.

This church was near the hotel. It wasn't the Church on the Spilled Blood or St. Isaac's, but it was pretty.

Jim was at his night-time photography again...

This looks like a screen in front of our balcony but it was just sheets of rain. Our Russia luck was holding out...so far we hadn't been caught in one of these downpours.

Part of the government offices in Ottawa...

Our power was back on! We were some of the most fortunate. Our power was only out for two days; many others would go without power for 8-10 days.

Rush hour traffic on New Brunswick highways...gotta love it!

Storm Arthur took down more than 4,000 trees in Fredericton alone.

This monster tree must have scared the daylights out of the people in the house when it clipped the corner of the house coming down...

A new dent in the sidewalk...

NB Power crews were joined by crews from Maine and Quebec to repair the power system. It was a massive undertaking with more than 52,000 people in Fredericton without power and more than 140,000 in New Brunswick.

This is about a week after the storm...

No power crews had even made it to the area on Keswick Ridge yet. The tree was still resting on the downed power lines...

Which also took down the transformer...thank you to all the power crews who faced scenes like this everywhere.

This became a familiar sight...it looks like bushes at the end of every driveway, but it was piles of branches and small trees that people were clearing from their property and dragging to the street for pick-up. It would be almost three weeks before any pick-up would begin.

I wonder when someone will notice there is a concrete bench under here?

We were happy to be safely back home. Jim had a fantastic trip health-wise and we loved every minute spent in Russia. Here endeth this blog...