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St. Petersburg In Your Pocket

St. Petersburg In Your Pocket

 Today the first snow fell. Over the past few days everyone’s been discussing the rumour that this winter will be a really cold one. I for one hope it will be, I love the crisp feeling of winter in the air. Give me a clear day, some snow and ice and I’m happy.
Icy winters always remind me of my childhood. In December I wouldn’t be waiting for Santa, but for the rivers and canals to be frozen so I could go skating all day long and finish off the day with a nice hot cocoa. In Friesland, the Dutch province that I’m from, skating is our local tradition. It was in our province that the 11 cities speed and leisure skating tour was first held. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a 200km long tour connecting 11 Frisian cities by frozen canals, rivers and lakes.
My dream when I came to Russia was to skate on natural ice. Most of us live in the city centre. Now just imagine walking from your front door to the Fontanka, putting on your skates and whizzing around the city in a big circle, just like you do in summer by boat. It would really put the city into a new perspective. For now it remains a dream. St. Petersburg’s canals don’t seem to be suitable for skating on and so we have to stick to one of the many skating rinks in the city instead. However, many Russian painting from days gone by do show how the Tsars organised skating festivals on the frozen Neva in front of the winter palace, so who knows? Maybe one day…
And as for Russian skating traditions. I’ve been told that in Russia skates have been found that date back to almost 3000 years BC. Who knows, maybe in the future skating will be considered a better means of transport than sitting around in a probka (traffic jam)!
We wish all of you a white Christmas and a serious Russian winter!

 Bonnie van der Velde, publisher In Your Pocket, russia@inyourpocket.com



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