Midnight tour of St Petersburg. 22/08/2016

At 11 at night the 41 of us sat off on a 3 hour tour of the city.We travelled along the bank of the Neva River,crossing draw bridges,passing Vasilievsky Island's Rostral Columns and Peter and Paul Fortress,had a photo stop at the Palace Square,with views of the Baroque Winter Palace,the residence of the Russian Royalty,lit up like a Christmas tree.Standing there in all its majesty so remote from the turmoil of 1917 when it was set on fire and looted.I closed my eyes and visualized Doctor Zhivago,the beautiful Julie Christie [She had a house in Linden Gardens, London,once,often I would see her wearing scruffy clothes ,black sweater covered in hair,once with an ugly tear in a stocking,looking very much her age] and Omar Sharif.The music of a street performer.Young people sitting on the cold ground,swaying to the sound of the song,singing along, some dancing.We took photographs of the Spilled Blood Church,quite magnificent even at night,a large limousine parked outside,a group of people walking with guards, obviously a very important cargo.We had another stop by the Smolny cathedral.A car stopped with two young couples beautifully dressed,they came to see the magnificence of the bridge being raised to the sound of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker.Quite surreal.We drove off heading towards the ship, with the,a slip of a girl, pointing to various buildings.Palaces and more palaces now made to serve the people as museums or exhibition halls or hospitals or a part of St Petersburg University. The next morning  the sun shining as if it had to make up for previous day's gloom. I couldn't tear myself away from the balcony,but at 2 was on a bus setting off for a "Walk along Nevsky Prospect with shopping".Nevsky Prospect is something akin to London's Oxford street,only wider and longer,4 miles long, in fact.I had a plan.At No 108,Natura Siberica,Russian[?] made products.predominantly bio,No 51 and 151 clothes designed by Russian designers.In the heat the mile to No 108 took almost an hour.Having purchased numerous items I made my way across the road to look for No 51,Tatyana Parfionova.Through the windows I could see the shop was empty.And to get inside you had to ring the bell.A young girl,quite plain,in plain clothes opened the door.I have never been inside any shop so exquisite.I wasn't prepared for this Haute Couture.There were some items hanging on the rails.I loved a skirt,a flimsy netting to die for.The price to die for with fright.But  do I need another skirt I will wear once in a blue moon,as all the other  adorable skirts I have ?I went to drown my sorrow in the loveliest place in St P to have coffee-The Grand Hotel Europa just a minute or so from the bus meeting point.With twenty minutes to spare I remained in the lobby bar.Latte a bit weak,but the presentation, oh the presentation! Petit fours, silver tray,silver everything.At 420 rubles,£5 to you and me,it should have been gold-plated!But I loved it and left the grateful waitress 5 euro tip.The nice guide,must have been 70 if a day,was given 10 euro and a shower cream and a body lotion in a cosmetic bag [the bag and various potions I got in Stockholm].The night guide I gave the bottle of bubbly waiting for me in the stateroom as it was mine to do with as I wished. And the guide to Tsarskoye Selo also got 10 euro and a set of shower cream and body lotion. Giving a little thank you presents makes me happy.