View - Orient-Express

The grand boulevard of Nevsky Prospektsweeps through the centre of St Petersburg, carryingall the city’s romance and heritage with it. One of theworld’s great thoroughfares, lined by palaces andswanky stores, it passes over canals with glimpses ofgolden griffons and domed cathedrals on either side.The writer Nikolai Gogol described it asSt Petersburg’s “be-all and end-all”, declaring “itpositively gleams and sparkles”. If that was true inthe 19th century, it is even more so today now thatfanciful historic buildings have been restored andjoined by contemporary glass façades.On its journey towards the Hermitagethe Prospekt intercepts Arts Square,where café society joins high culture.Lining one side of a Parisian-style park isthe Russian Museum, a fabulous formerpalace that houses paintings rangingfrom venerated icons to constructivistworks. To either side sit the MikhailovskyTheatre, a pastel jewel-box dating from1833, and the Philharmonia concert hall.And at the hub of all the action,overlooking both Nevsky Prospekt andArts Square, sits Grand Hotel Europe,where le tout Russia has always gatheredto see and be seen. Since its opening in1875 everyone from Tchaikovsky to “madmonk” Rasputin has visited. Its Lobby Barremains the ultimate place to touch thecity’s soul in one swift slug of vodka, andto really get under its skin in two or more.Stay here and the city comes to you(as many guests appreciate when snowswirls around outside). Check into anHistoric Suite, named after a previousfamous guest, and you’ll be surroundedby artefacts associated with their lives.For a real frisson, combine a night inthe Stravinsky Suite with a performance of The Riteof Spring under the baton of a maestro like ValeryGergiev. Or opt for the Dostoevsky Suite, from whereENJOY A GLASS OF VODKAOR A WARMING WINTERDRINK IN THE LOBBY BAR.Clockwise from opposite page: the Dostoevsky Suite; thehotel’s entrance and the Lobby Bar. Previous page: GrandHotel Europe, near the domed Church on Spilled Blood.45