Saint Petersburg

St. Petersburg - the "Paris on the Neva" - escapes all attempts to label it. Perhaps the most appropriate definition of the city is "a dream come true." The capital of Peter the Great is the most aristocratic and elegant city in Russia, and the northernmost metropolis in Europe; it uses every imaginable spell to win the hearts of those fortunate enough to visit it. A bestiary of sphinxes and lions guard its riverside embankments, Neptune and his Nereids look down from roofs and pediments, and, from the top of the Admiralty spire, the golden three-masted nacelle resembles the trident of the god of the sea. St. Petersburg is the city of the Hermitage, the palace and museum that holds three million masterpieces; it is the city of magnificent, noble palaces that house treasures of art; and it is the city of gardens in which white marble statues bring heroes and gods of classical mythology back to life.
The creation of Peter the Great is also revealed in the writings of Russian's most famous authors and poets, in the music of great composers, whose notes are played under the sky-blue vault of the Marinsky Threatre, but, most of all, it is to be seen in the eternal and immortal spirit of art.