A Night With Tchaikovsky at the Mariinsky in St Petersburg

Seeing Swan Lake at the Mariinsky Theater in St Petersburg, Russia was such an amazing experience, especially since we had the Tsar’s box directly over the stage, we sat so close that you could see the sheen on the ballerina’s necks. Amazing choreography in a setting that stunned, it put me back in time to the Imperial days of Russia. The theater was built in 1860 and was the starting point for many of today’s best loved ballets by such as Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky. The place sparkled and the show amazing, a must even if ballet leaves you cold, you will not regret it!

A Visit to the Hermitage, St. Petersburg

It is said that if you spend a minute seeing every picture at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg it would take you nine years to finish. Every period of art is covered and treasures by masters on display. The Hermitage was also known as the Winter Palace or home of the Tsars. It was from the balcony that Nicholas II announced Russia’s entrée into WW I, almost four years to the day, he and his family were murdered.

St Petersburg, an Icy Night

An icy rain falls from my EMS hood of a thin jacket, all around me the people of St Petersburg scurry as I walk down the Nevskiy Prospekt, towards my temp home. Hard faces softened by neon and that cold rain. Smiles appear under hoods and umbrellas, the American also walks.

It is with fear that trudge further on after knowing I have been sated with a meal fit for a Tsar, caviar black and rich, placed back in the shell of an egg, forgotten times these days. No other faces have a caviar glow.The scruffy boots over rule the dress pants, we all smile, I walk in the icy rain.