Saint Petersburg Off the Beaten Path Tips by kayekaye

St.Petersberg has been protected from the ravages of high-rises and intrusive modern development by tough planning laws and so retains the grandeur and style of Imperial high living. Built on marsh and swamp, the canals are a necessity more than a deliberate attempt to re-create Venice but repay a walk at dusk through the maze of waterways fronted by the former palaces of the nobility -and Imperial Mistresses. Mathilda Tchessinskaya, ballerina and lover of Nicholas II, once owned a beauty. It became a Pioneer Palace and I spent an afternoon inside with the arrayed Komsomol assembled to give us the correct impression of Soviet youth. Plans went happily awry when two of the girls suggested I deliberately miss the bus back, and for 2 precious hours we stole through the alleys and courtyards arm in arm.

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