    |
Speaking of Russo-French relations, one of the closest and most enduring was between Turgenev and Pauline Viardot. It lasted over twenty years and only death parted them. Pauline was the wife Turgenev never had – never because she was already married to Louis Viardot. But, not a problem. Turgenev also became Louis’ best friend, even buying [...] Louise writes to Michel in 1910. She sends a fond greeting and a picture of the Troitsky Bridge. She has just been visiting the Hermitage . . the Manege. Troitsky bridge was built at the height of the very cordiale entente between Russia and France. A little known fact: this could have been the Eiffel Bridge [...] The famous cat market women of St Petersburg are always good for a tourist snap. Wouldn’t you just love to take one home? (I mean, one of the kittens.) Of course. But, supposing you need more cats? I read that it takes around 23 cats or 10 -12 dogs to make the kind of coat you need [...] One of the cheapest ways to get to St Petersburg from the UK is by Easy Jet to Tallinn and then a Eurolines bus. Conveniently, the bus will drop you right here in town, at Baltic Station. It’s worth a visit. It was built in 1857 and modelled on the Gare de l’Est in Paris. The [...] It’s normal for Royals to have their own train but Nicholas II wanted it all – stations, track, bridges, the works. The Russian Treasury was fairly meticulous in those days and recorded the final bill as 4,164,621 roubles and 3 kopeks. In 1900 that was a truly stunning sum, especially for just 18 kilometres of track [...]
Just to prove that St. Petersburg is the art capital of the world, these pictures are from a live art installation at the Peter and Paul Fortress. These were captured by Laurichka. Such a shame she has just left St. Petersburg because her photos are really cool. I blogged in an earlier Copydude that the Fortress has [...] Faithful commenter, Aleks, reminded me about St. Petersburg’s Kresti Prison. This dovetails neatly with an earlier post about Anna Akhmatova. The Kresti is one of Russia’s oldest prisons and it’s where Anna’s first husband and son Lev spent quite some uncomfortable time. In this video you can see it on the opposite bank from the Sphinx. [...]
Unmissable among St. Petersburg’s 300 odd bridges is the Anichkov bridge, which crosses the Fontanka on Nevsky. In fact it was a fairly ordinary bridge until, in 1851, Nicholas 1 installed its series of four bronze sculptures, ‘The Horse Tamer’. The sculptures were the work of an arty Baltic German, the Baron Peter Klodt von Urgensburg, (no [...] Ciniselli in St. Petersburg is where Russian Circus came of age and developed into art form. The extra was extravaganza: waterfalls, fireworks and as many as 150 horses would make the show. Tango dancers, actors and wrestlers were drafted in alongside the traditional lions and clowns. Alexandre Benois remembers: ‘Trained horses were a speciality [...] St Petersburg has several museums devoted to the Siege of Leningrad. Probably the most evocative is the cemetery at Piskariyovskoye. The only tombstone is a concrete arch, yet beneath your feet lie buried half the city’s population. With more than 6,000 people dying each day, there were neither the means nor the able-bodied capable of [...] |
    
 |
|
Copyright © 2010 St Petersblurb - All Rights Reserved |
||
