The gallery was closed today, and the Dialogi team organised a city sight-seeing tour for us. Anna Spiridonova, who is in charge of the PR for Manege and is a trained tour guide, gave us a brilliantly comprehensive commentary that has added a new dimension to our understanding of the city. We started at the Manege. It is 200 years old and is quite close to the Hermitage, or the Winter Palace. During Tsarist times it was the Imperial Army Riding School, although the horses weren’t actually stabled in Manege. For the past thirty years it has been an art gallery.
The Cruiser Aurora is famous for having fired the first shot that signalled the start of the Russian Revolution. Pictured here on the Aurora are Stephan Potengowski and Peter Hooger, artists from Germany and the Netherlands, alongside Anna and Susan.
The River Neva as seen from the Aurora.
St Petersburg is known as Venice of the North. In this spot several canals meet. Altogether there are thirty canals and 300 bridges in the city. Peter the Great originally planned for each person in the city to have a boat.
A clothesline outside the cafe at Pushkinskaya 10, the Art Centre that was founded by a group of artists and musicians.
A cat on the doorstep of the bookshop at the Art Centre.
Tec Style is a Creative Atelier of design students and recent graduates who design clothes and make art objects from re-worked and recycled textiles. We read about them in the St Petersburg Time Out in an article about their new line of soft toys that have a slight retro feel. Although it seemed like we'd never find them because the street seemed endless, we were well rewarded. Their work was utterly charming, quirky and desirable, while we thoroughly enjoyed the air conditioning and delicious Mövenpick icecream in the Neptune Shopping Centre. We had an extra bonus when the waiter gave Roxane a 'long' espresso as a gift. You can find Tec Style on the Internet at www.tecstyle.ru
One last surprise – the Dialogi poster on the road opposite the Neptune Shopping Centre.