Watched the sun rise this morning perched on the roof of an apartment building in Saint Petersbug with some Russians and English folk. Had one of the most interesting, memorable and utterly random white nights on the solstice, the shortest white night of the year. First rode around in a tram driven by Dostoyevsky's great-great grandson Alexei with a German film crew from ZDF who were taping a special on the white nights for "Heute in Europa", visiting the streets which Dostoyevsky refers to in Crime & Punishment as well as some city landmarks significant to the family. Then ate, got some dry red wine (this was the label on the box) and went up on the roof to toast the day.

So, I guess this qualifies as a "peak" experience, right? I have pictures...wish I could show them to you, but I will just have to be content with whetting your appetite. The roof was metal and very sturdy. It had quit raining by the time we got up there, so it was only mostly wet. First we snuck into this building and took this really scary little elevator. Then we traipsed on these boards they had laid over the insulation pellets in the roof and went out this window, which had stairs installed for this purpose. (Evidently this is not a rare occurence, rooftop sitting).

This really lovely Russian girl helped me (because I'm obviously not the most coordinated) get out the window and across to this level place by the chimneys where we could sit (actually quite comfortable, except for the damp part). Had a lovely conversation with the two brits...students from Edinburgh, one of whom I teased because he says "brillant" just like Jamie Oliver from Food Network. He gave me the Jerry Springer news, which I will share later. They also both remembered Dr. Who and sang the theme music for me. Oh, and for the record, it was not a telephone booth, as we dumb Amerikanskis thought. It is a POLICE INFORMATION BOOTH. Important info, I know.

The night was actually organized by Peter of Peter's Walking Tours, a guy who has been doing walking tours in Piter for 9 years. He normally does Dostoyevsky tours, but this was a special occasion for him, because of Dostoyevsky's great-great grandson. We had the tram because of the German film crew, who worked out a deal with the city to get the exclusive use of one of their trams for the night.

For those who don't know, trams run EVERYWHERE in St. Pete's (literally - Peter told me that in the old days, they even ran them across the Neva in the winter since it freezes). Trams are one of the hallmarks of the city. People use them and love them. Peter told me a moving story about how during the siege of Leningrad, one of the important things they did in the spring after the first winter was to get the trams running again, as much for the people's morale as for transportation. (Saw a lot of info on the siege in the Museum of Political History...did you know that it lasted 900 days? That is over 2 years! No wonder they have the big sign in Plosschad Vosstannia "Hero City Leningrad". They also refer to the German-Russian part of WW2 as the Great Patriotic War, because it was the time when Russians defended their homeland against Hitler.)

The Dostoyevsky tour was interesting, and his descendant was really very sincere and friendly, though he spoke no English, Peter translated for us. He is very proud of his family, and (interesting to me) especially of Dostoyevsky's wife, who was Swedish and worked very hard to preserve and publish editions of Dostoyevsky's work. (I didn't know that Crime & Punishment and The Idiot and several others of Dostoyevsky's novels were serials...can you imagine...writing this psychological novel in installment form, unable to alter your previous writings? Insane!) It was really amazing to hear him talk about his family. He showed us the cathedral where they were married, and then Peter took us to the neighborhood and house by the canal from C & P and to Haymarket Square, which, in its modern form, is still a busy square with outdoor markets but also has the metro and a McDonalds. (I actually got lost there on my first day, it is a teeming mass of humanity at the intersection of Sadovaya and several other major streets).

The film crew were a bit obnoxious, although of course they were friendly in a film crew kind of way. The cameraman kept complaining about being exhausted and 58 years old and that he should really retire and had been working 9 days straight. (The Russians had no sympathy for him. They were also irritated because the main anchorwoman seemed not to understand the significance of what the night and Dostoyevsky meant to them and kicked us off the tram so they could finish filming.) The Russians - Peter, his girlfriend, Alina, and Dmitri - were very, very nice and so interesting to talk to about the city. They are all fairly young (20s,30s) folk and seem to really love doing the tours and are proud of their city.

Well, I am out of time, but lastly, the Springer News, courtesy of the guy from England (actually he is Scottish)...did you know that in London they have Jerry Springer the Opera? Evidently it is a high-class satirical (well, obviously) opera that people actually pay good money to go see. I didn't believe him, so I checked this out on the Internet. Here is the proof:

"The West End needs Springer"
-- Nicholas De Jongh, The London Evening Standard

All in all, I think this may be the strangest, most surreal day/night/day of my trip. At least, I can't imagine what would top it, but then, I never thought I'd be on a rooftop in St. Pete's!