white nights of st. petersburg

best representation of russian architecture: church of our savior on stained blood. this place has the most mosiacs of any church in the world. it's super impressive and you know pictures really don't do it justice.

must dining for an audrey fan: tiffany's cafe. it ain't breakfast, but it's a kinda wannabe chic restaurant that in my opinion is overly decorated for a place that should represent audrey. anyhoot, i got as gussied up as i could and they park me in a window spot. i didn't have my little black dress, but i was wearing a dress (my j crew navy swiss dot-fontana wrap dress). i basically took everything from there: the table mat, which features retro news article on ms. hepburn, toothpicks that have the tiffany's cafe name and a business card of course.

best place to feel like anastasia: the coat of arms room (aka white hall) in the winter palace. with chandeliers dangling, all i needed was a fancy ball gown. i had "once upon a december" in my head after leaving the room and basically throughout my tour of the hermitage. yup, that's right! i love me some cartoony goodness, especially since they fashioned anastasia of audrey hepburn's my fair lady. in fact, if anyone has a copy of this flick to lend me, i'd be uber grateful.

must activity for the white nights: strolling the fontanka after dinner. it's still light until 11 and never fully becomes dark. i walk along the river as russian hipster couples enjoy brews by the banks and cruise tour ships whiz by. it's the perfect white night for my last evening in st. petersburg.

travel hiccup survived: no show sibelius finnish train to st. petersburg. upon conclusion of the russian jaunt, our tour guide drops us off at the train station only to realize that it is not coming. an hour later a replacement train is produced from the russians. seems as the finnish train's brakes were broken. the russian train is older with compartments that have overheard beds. it totally reminded me of backpacking through europe for the first time.

top 3 soundtracked moments:
3.) sam cooke's "i'll come running back to you" at lunch in the adamant restaurant. anytime i hear a tune from mr. cooke i can't help but smile.

2.) sia and the smiths serenading my white nights walk along the fontanka.

1.) grand archives and headlights in my ears while i admire the sunset in rural finland from the window of the train. this is one of my all time travel moments. the window on the train was open and we choo choo by farms of open fields and trees as the horizon paints a violet orange swirl amongst the clouds.