St. Petersburg: My Imperial Dream

We arrived at dawn and the city was already glowing – the Peter & Paul Fortress spire catching first light across the Neva. We arrived at the Hermitage early and had the Gold Room almost to ourselves – Fabergé eggs and Scythian gold glittering in perfect silence. The Church on Spilled Blood at 9 a.m. was empty enough to hear the mosaics whisper – every inch covered in biblical scenes that look wet.

In the evening we took a canal boat ride under the bridges while the sun set at 11 p.m. – white nights turning the sky lavender and gold. We had dinner at a Georgian restaurant – khinkali soup dumplings and khachapuri that ruined cheese bread for life. The pros: the most beautiful city ever built by autocrats. The cons: visa bureaucracy and crowds later in the day, but early entry solves everything.