The Leningrad Zoo was first found in August of 1865 as the private collection of Sophia and Julius Gebhardt. Although a small zoo, its history has been incredibly dramatic, surviving wars, revolutions, economic and political collapse and, perhaps most notably, the 872-day siege of Leningrad, when the whole city had to survive bombing and potential […]
Bookstores in St. Petersburg are numberous and diverse. The city has a prominent literary history and bears associations with Russian literary giants such as Pushkin, Gogol, and Dostoyevsky. It makes sense, then, that it is also bursting at the seams with both hip and traditional bookstores. After spending a semester here as a literature major, […]
Saint Petersburg is an incredibly walkable city. Throughout any season, you will see the streets full of people strolling around, and appreciating the beauty of the city. This makes it great for a pastime of time – planning out scenic walks that highlight some of the city’s loveliest sights. The tour I describe below will […]
By far one of my favorite pastimes is taking pictures of flowers. I love capturing their temporal beauty, as well as appreciating their many varieties in species, size, and color. Below are just four of the many places flowers thrive in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. VDNKh (Moscow) I first noticed the beauty of the […]
In Anna Melikian’s 2015 film Pro Lyubov (About Love), a film divided into vignettes focusing on modern love ala Love Actually, one of the vignettes focuses on a young woman from Japan who comes to Russia due to her love of Russian literature. While in Russia she hopes to find a Russian boyfriend. She goes […]
New Holland Island dates to the 18th century, but today is a compact and beautiful center of modern culture and international food in St. Petersburg. It’s a great place to grab some food and relax. It’s very similar to any brewery district in a hipster city – and was right up my alley. I visited […]
In the last few years, coffee culture has exploded across Russia, with new, local coffee shops popping up everywhere from Moscow to Vladivostok. However, perhaps the hippest and most intellectual take on coffee culture can be found in St. Petersburg, a city that stands apart in its reverence for art and culture. Here are ten […]
St Petersburg is the center of Russia’s rich museum tradition. Museums here are as pletiful as they are diverse. Art, history, literature, music, and science – all things that Russia is known for – can be found in St. Petersburg’s museums – and often with several subjects presented at once. The famously ecclectic Kuntskamera, for […]
St. Petersburg abounds in museums, historic sites, and places that appear in Russian literature. At the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, there is one more unique way to experience history – by visiting the final resting place of some of the city’s greatest names. Located next to the monastery are four cemeteries – Lezarevskoe, Tikhvinskoe, Nikolskoe, and […]
