Winter magic in St Petersburg

Every day I discover another magical feature about St Petersberg in winter, and I am going to share this one with you.

Outside our window on the 9th Floor of Novotel, we look down on to a park area, which we understand is part of a school. It is always covered with white snow, and is lit up with round lights (Balls) on top of posts in neat lines. There are also black trees covered with white snow. Not matter what time of day of night I look out, there are always black figures there, sometimes with children, sometimes alone, sometimes with dogs.

Last evening at about 10pm. after dining at a local Russian Restaurant,I decided to check the park out. On the slightly crunchy, but powdery white snow, there were several foot prints, many of which led to the middle of the park.

In the middle of the park stood about 15 people, in a large circle, each with a dog. Each dog was different - an alsation, a small dark terrier with black pointy ears, oblong face with moustache to describe a couple. Two of the larger dogs appeared to be playing soccer, under the instructions of their owners. A couple of other dogs spotted me and rushed over in the snow, but were quickly called over by their owners. It looked to me, to be dog school!

The night was black, the smally white snowflakes had stopped swirling, and the surrealness of this winter scene made me want to pinch myself, was this winter magic in St Petersburg acutally real?

Wait til I find out how to post photos......