Busk Away

St. Petersburg is a city of artists, a city of lovers and a city that is painfully beautiful. In every park there are people with easels or sketchbooks on on every train there are people reading books. And not just the most recent Dan Brown. But real books - Pushkin, Hesse, Dostoyevsky.

Even the buskers have culture. So far I have seen a flamenco dancer, a flautist, a trumpet player, a tap dancer and, the most special of all of them, a saxophone player in the square of the Winter Palace at 5.30am playing requests from a single Russian girl who loved Kenny G. It was magic.
I will leave, I promise. I'm going to book my ticket to Moscow today. I just have to keep telling myself that I will actually leave this magnificent place.

I haven't only been in the 'Burg. I went for a two day trip to Kizhi, an island on Lake Onega with a fabulous cathedral and ancient building museum. There aren't really words that can describe this place, so here's a pic.
And, I've spent many days out in the suburbs of SPb checking out the cool palaces and monuments built by the Russian nobility. Peterhof was a dazzling display of gold leaf, cascading fountains, beautiful gardens and the deserving title - the Russian Versailles.


Tomorrow it's off to Moscow. Unless I get stuck here. Again. Plus, the cute boy left today.