heaven and hell, part I

A lot has changed in St. Petersburg since I last lived here four years ago. Putin has poured money into his hometown, repairing crumbling sidewalks, posting helpful tourist hints in English, repainting buildings. I can't believe the number of restaurants and cafes that have sprung up, or the new Armani/Gucci outlet on the street where I used to live. Still, St. Petersburg remains a city of contrasts. It's these contrasts that dominate literary treatments of the city: St. Petersburg as heaven on earth, a metropolis sprung from a swamp, largely by the will of one man, Peter the Great; and St. Petersburg as hell on earth, an infernal, uninhabitable, diabolical city literally built on the graves of those who perished building it; a place subject to terrible winds, frosts, downpours, and floods. Likewise: the gorgeous, sunlit nights of summer vs. the constant darkness of winter... etc., etc. Despite all the changes in Russia, the manic quality of life here remains.

Here are heavenly pictures, things so gorgeous that they literally take your breath away.

St. Isaac's Cathedral. And flowers, which are now all around the city.


White Nights sunlight


Beautifully renovated building


White Nights cruise. Taken on a boat with 50 drunk historians, which is another story altogether. You see the Winter Palace (now Hermitage), St. Isaac's, and the Admiralty spire.