"Exploring all seasons ..." a Saint Petersburg Travel Page by sennaya

9 of May coming !

New Year 2008 in Saint Petersburg!
The New Year includes Christmas customs in Russia and December is a month of lights and festivities. Between European christmas Dec. 25, Hanukah, and old Russian new Year Jan. 7 creates about two weeks of holidays. Temperatures are around freezing and occasional snow or rain, but mild. Real winter comes later in January or February. Canals are freezing over, bridges are closed for ships and people are out on the town in holiday spirits.

Halloween has become popular in Russia in the past 5 years. Many clubs and restaurants have special parties and you come in costume and get free entrance and see other fun-loving people celebrating this holiday.
The younger generation seems to like to dress up and have a fun holiday and a new tradition is started in Russia. Despite a ban on Halloween in Moscow schools by orthodox church and education oficials, it is growing.
And of course you can celebrate at home just as easily, you can find pumpkins and some decorations in big grocery stores.
Trick-or-treating where children go door to door is not done, but children can go to organized events at places like Krestovsky Ostrov and celebrate a fun time in costumes and get free candy!

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Things everyone must see in St. Petersburg:

The Hermitage, Palace Square and the Alexander Column, Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood, The Peter and Paul Fortress, Summer Garden and Mars Field, Rostral Columns, The Admiralty, St. Isaac's Cathedral, The Bronze Horseman (Peter the Great), Nevsky Prospect, Kazan Cathedral, Russian Museum, The Bank Bridge, The Lion Bridge, The Palace Bridge - White Nights, Monument to Catherine the Great.

The Peter and Paul Fortress during a long winter night across the Neva River. There is a magical glow from the dim l;ights across the snow and ice.

St. Petersburg was ordered out of the Neva River delta swamps on May 27, 1703 by Peter the Great. Everywhere are rivers and canals, making the city's nickname the Venice of the North.

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Things to see if you can:
The Cabin of Peter the Great, The Menshikov Palace, The Mariinsky Theatre, Gostiny Dvor, Smolny Cathedral, Academy of Fine Arts Museum,
The Applied Art Museum, Arctic and Antarctic Museum,
The Cruiser "Aurora," St. Nicholas' Naval Cathedral, Central Railway Museum, Museum of Artillery, Dostoyevsky Memorial Museum, Icebreaker "Krasin," Central Navy Museum, Alexander Pushkin Museum and Memorial Apartment, Russian Ethnography Museum,
The Stroganov Palace, Aleksander Suvorov Memorial Museum, The Yelagin Palace, The Yusupov Palace, Zoological Museum Natural History, KunstKamera, Alexander Garden, Botanical Garden, Leningrad Zoo, Park of Victory, Tauride Garden, Kirov Central Culture and Leisure Park. Krestovsky Ostrov, St. Sampson Cathedral, Trinity Cathedral, Catherine Garden, St. Sampson Cathedral, Transfiguration Cathedral, Vladimir Mother of God Icon Church, Monument to Fiodor Dostoyevsky, Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad, The Narva Gate, The Moscow Gate, Monument to Peter the Great Rastrelli, abstract Monument to Peter the Great Shemiakin, The Tsar Carpenter, Monument to Nicholas I (St. Isaac Square), Monument to Alexander III, Statue of Goethe, Statue of Gogol on Malaya Konyushennaya, Chizhik Pyzhik - the smallest monument, Statue of Turgenev, Statues of Mikhail Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolley, Mikhailovsky (St. Michael's) Castle, Piskariovskoye Memorial Cemetery, Alexander Nevsky Bridge, Anichkov Bridge, Blue Bridge, Egyptian Bridge, Leutenant Schmidt Bridge, Lomonosov Bridge, Trinity Bridge, Exchange Bridge, Italian Bridge, American Bridge, Trinity Bridge, First Engineer Bridge, Tuchkov Bridge, Volodarsky Bridge, Lower Swan Bridge, Alexander Nevsky Monastery and cemetary.

Any time of year is fascinating in St. Petersburg, the cultural capital of Russia. The most famous time is the White Nights of June and July when the sun barely sets and the weather is mild.
After midnight the bridges are raised and there is a festive atmosphere each night as the birdges rise and the islands of St. Petersburg are separated for some hours. Make sure you stay on your own island if you want to get home to sleep!

You can squeeze two days into one. In winter you are wise to reverse the secnario and squeeze two nights into one :)

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Must see sights outside the center:
Peterhof, Palaces of Pushkin Tsarskoye Selo), Gatchina Palace, Pavlovsk, Lomonosov-Oranieumbaum, Cottage Palace in Peterhof / Petrodvorets, Vyborg, Finland Gulf...

There is so much to see, try to spend 6 months if you can!

Here is a clip of some walls in St. Petersburg on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FKVCwQ9O98