Monday, June 06, 2005
St. Petersburg impressions
I enjoyed St. Petersburg thoroughly. It has everything: first-rate museums and palaces, a great ambience and a host of activities outside the city. It isn't nearly as opulent or hectic as Moscow, which you can see as either a shortcoming or an asset. It's the Boston to Moscow's New York.
Everyone I've met who has been to St. Petersburg raves about the European character of the city. It's true that the city is European in appearance, but it's soul is Russian. There may be Italianate architecture and outdoor cafes, but the leisurely atmosphere of crowded squares is missing—people would rather work or rush along Nevskiy Prospekt to their next appointment. The center of St. Petersburg is like the Bund of Shanghai: a striking legacy of an attempt to bring Europe into a land that could never be part of it.
There are many places in St. Petersburg I did not get a chance to visit. I could have went to St. Isaac's Cathedral, the tallest point in the center, to get a view of the city. I missed the Russian Museum and the Mariinskiy Theater. My timing was also a bit off; I came just before the start of White Nights, the time in late June when the sky never darkens and the city celebrates all night long. I suppose this gives me a reason to return next summer!
