White Days, White Nights

November 29, 2007 at 9:07 am · Filed under hotels, international travel, russia, tourism, travel and tagged: St. Petersburg, Winter Palace

By Linda Tancs

Are you dreaming of a white Christmas at the Winter Palace? If so, start packing your mukluks (leave the stilettos home) and ushankas and head to St. Petersburg’s Hotel Astoria for their special White Days package. Valid now through March 31, 2008, the 3-day package includes buffet breakfast each morning, a ticket to the Hermitage and a Russian Table (no, not roulette) in the Davidov Restaurant.  As you sample from eighty or so vodkas and dine on the finest caviar on earth, enjoy the hotel’s view of the gilded cupola of St. Isaac’s Cathedral, which dominates the city’s skyline. Also nearby are the Winter Palace and Hermitage, Peter and Paul Fortress and Mariinsky Theatre. Be sure to buy your matryoshkas at Nevsky Prospekt, the main shopping mecca.  After your 3-hour tour of the city’s highlights, you’ll be ready for your complimentary Russian classical leaf massage at the spa.  Chances are, you’ll never look at an oak leaf the same way again.  The Mongols managed to conquer Russia in winter.  In great style, so can you.

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