St Petersburg: Breathtaking Beauty on an Ice-Cold City Break圣彼得堡：冬访冰城赏绝胜美景

罗丝琳·迪伊 译/杨树锋

It’s dark and cold—very cold—when we leave the warm embrace of our hotel， walk across the square past St Isaac’s Cathedral1， and make our way along the river until we can get close to the water’s edge.

Even in the darkness of a late winter’s night， the sight is breathtaking—great ice floes， massive sheets the size of flattened double-decker buses， are all drifting gradually towards each other in a slow but mesmerising2 ice dance.

All around us the city is silent， so what， then， is that strange noise？

We drop our heads closer to the river to listen; ah， there it is again; the sound of the ice itself as it grinds its way to a halt， gradually fusing into one massive slab， until the whole river is covered in a thick， white， winter blanket. On this late November night， just a few hours after we arrive into the city of St Petersburg， the River Neva freezes over， its flowing water now stemmed until spring comes around again.

“You’re going to Russia in the depths of winter？” That was the “are you mad？” implication of the question that our imminent departure prompted from friends when， some years ago now， my husband and I announced that we were off to St Petersburg， just a few weeks before Christmas. Aware that most people visit the city for the ‘White Nights’ in June when daylight hours give the place a 24-hour party appeal， we were contrarily3 determined to go in winter.

So we booked our flights （via Helsinki） and our hotel （the historic Astoria）， sorted our visas， and off we went.

And what a magical experience it was to visit that stunning city in winter. The most northerly of the world’s large cities， St Petersburg lies only 800km south of the Arctic Circle， so little wonder， then， that it was cold. But how cold？ Well， whenever we walked in silence for a few minutes and my husband then turned to speak to me， tiny icicles cascaded4 out of his moustache. Yes， that cold. But so very， very beautiful.

I’ve been thinking back in recent days to the wonderful time we had in St Petersburg. Walking the streets again in my head， remembering the old lady who sat begging on a bridge near our hotel， herself and her two dogs wrapped together in mountains of blankets， and recalling also how the city simply bowled us over with its beauty.

But why now， I have been wondering—why， right now， have all my St Petersburg memories invaded my head？

The time of year is obviously part of it， but also because I have such a yearning in these lockdown times for somewhere new， for somewhere to surprise me， bowl me over， and stick in my memory for ever. And when I think like that， it’s always St Petersburg that I see in my mind’s eye.

What I remember most clearly are the blue skies， the white-frosted pavements， the ice-covered canals， the sudden snow flurries5 when the clouds gathered—and a biting， almost crackling， cold like I had never experienced before. With our breath steaming ahead of us as we walked and talked， the ice-cold air rendered our faces virtually numb. It was utterly exhilarating.

Against this wintry backdrop， the beautiful coloured buildings that so distinguish St Petersburg stood out in stark relief， emphasising both their scale and their colour， and creating an almost fairy-tale effect.

There’s the green of the Winter Palace， stormed by the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution of 1917， a massive building which houses the world-famous Hermitage Museum， standing resplendent6 and beautiful， on the shores of the white-carpeted Neva; there， in another part of the city， overlooking the Griboedov Canal， is the pale blue of the beautiful naval church of St Nicholas， while the mustard-yellow of the Mikhailovsky opera house jumps out at you on Arts Square， the blue of its more famous competitor， the Mariinsky （better known abroad as the Kirov） doing exactly the same on Theatre Square.

For real jaw-dropping ‘wowness’， however， it’s the stunning， multi-coloured onion domes of the extraordinary Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood7 that remain so vivid in my technicolour dream of St Petersburg in winter.

A stroll along Nevsky Prospekt， the 4.5km-long artery that runs through St Petersburg， is a must-do. The commercial hub of the city， with its shops， cinemas， churches， hotels， hawkers and high-life， it’s also along here that you’ll find such highlights as the huge colonnaded Kazan Cathedral， the Literary Café from where writer Alexander Pushkin left for his ill-fated duel in 1837， the beautiful Grand Hotel Europe （where afternoon tea is a real treat）， and the massive shopping emporium8 known as Gostiny Dvor.

So what memories still linger of this winter-wonderland city？

Unquestionably the ‘morzhi’， for how could you ever forget these so-called ‘walruses’， the men we stand and watch in disbelief on a Sunday morning as they break the ice on the river near the Peter and Paul Fortress before plunging into the holes， straight into freezing water of unimaginable temperature. And without a wet-suit in sight. The Peter and Paul Fortress， located on the northern banks of the river and the place where the original city sprang up in 1703， is an extraordinary complex.

Here you’ll find the rather grim Trubetskoy Bastion Prison， the place where Leon Trotsky and the writer Dostoevsky were incarcerated and also where the son of Peter the Great met his death.

The gleaming， 122m-high， needle-thin spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral can be seen from all over St Petersburg and the cathedral itself is beautiful—all chandeliers， wood carving， and pink columns—and bursting with history.

A final resting place for almost all of the tsars， it was also here， to a lovely side chapel， that the remains of the last of the Romanovs were brought and re-interred in 1998; Nicholas， Alexandra and their five children， finally laid to rest in the city of the tsars some 80 years after being executed at Yekaterinburg in the summer of 1918.

Just to stand there in the silence of the chapel and read the names and ages of those children is a deeply moving and unforgettable experience.

On our final night in the city， the opera beckons and off we go to the Mikhailovsky Theatre to see Borodin’s Prince Igor.

After the wonderful music， the spectacle of the performance， the sumptuous9 surroundings， and a glass or two of Russian sparkling wine， we float out into Arts Square to head back to our hotel.

The icy night air snaps at our faces as we walk along frozen pavements， noticing the beauty of the city’s trees as they stand sentinel10 like white， ghostly skeletons against the night sky.

Yes， it’s freezing cold. But wandering through this historic city in all its muffled11， winter silence， it’s also nothing short of magical.

離开酒店温暖的怀抱，我们穿过圣以撒主教座堂广场，沿着河流前行，直到接近水边。此时，黑暗而寒冷——非常冷。

即使在冬季深夜的黑暗中，景象也令人叹为观止——大块的浮冰，像压扁的双层巴士一样巨大，都在缓慢而迷人的冰舞中逐渐朝彼此漂移。

我们周围，城市是寂静的，那么，那奇怪的噪音是什么呢？

我们低下头，凑近河面听：啊，又来了;是冰块自身的声音，它们隆隆向前碾过，慢慢停下，逐渐融合成一块巨大的冰板，直到整条河覆盖上厚厚的白色冬毯。11月的这个深夜，就在我们抵达圣彼得堡市区几小时后，涅瓦河完全封冻了，流水冻结，直到春天再次来临。

几年前的现在，圣诞节前几周，当我和丈夫宣布马上要去圣彼得堡时，从朋友们那里得到的反应是“你们要在隆冬去俄罗斯？”，言下之意是“你们疯了吗？”。为体验“白夜”，大多数人都在6月造访这个城市，那时的24小时白昼会给此地平添举行一整天派对的吸引力——明知这一点，我们却反其道而行之，非要在冬天去。

所以，我们预订了（通过赫尔辛基中转的）航班和（历史悠久的阿斯托利亚）酒店，办好签证，然后就出发了。

冬天造访那个迷人的城市，真是何等神奇的经历。圣彼得堡是世界上最北的大城市，位于北极圈以南仅800公里处，因此，天气寒冷就不足为奇了。但是有多冷呢？这么说吧，每当我们默默地走了几分钟，我丈夫转身跟我说话时，就有微小的冰渣从他的小胡子上扑簌而下。……