News. Russian St.Petersburg Tours

In St. Petersburg: Saturday, July 31st, 2010, 5:11 am (GMT+3) Weather Temperature: C (32° F) • Barometer: 30.03" Hg C • (32° F) • Lo 18° • • Sunrise: 5:37 AM (939 mmHg) • Feels like: 17° • • •

December 1st, 2009
Ticket sales are launched for high-speed Sapsan train
On 18 December 2009, the high-speed Sapsan train service will be launched on the
Moscow – St Petersburg – Moscow route. Ticket sales for the Sapsan trains are now open.
The first journeys will begin at 06:45 in the morning, when two trains will depart simultaneously
from Moscow and St Petersburg. The journey time will be 3 hours 45 minutes.
The price of a first class ticket includes hot food (passengers will have a choice of meals), reading materials,
internet access, travel packs (containing ear plugs, eye masks, and slippers) and children’s packs. Passengers
in second class carriages can order hot food from the bistro carriage for additional payment, use the internet,
order taxis, and watch and listen to video and audio programmes. In addition, while travelling on the Sapsan,
passengers can purchase tickets for other trains.

November, 2009
The Grand Hotel Europe is the leading luxury hotel in the world
The Grand Hotel Europe, St Petersburg’s oldest luxury hotel, has been named the Leading Luxury Hotel
in the world by World Travel Awards – travel industry’s equivalent to the Oscar’s (quote by Wall Street Journal).
The Grand Hotel Europe has added yet another prestigious award to its collection of accolades. World Travel Awards,
an international organisation that stimulates innovation and creativity and encourages hotels to strive to provide travellers
with the best price-quality ratio has declared the Grand Hotel Europe the winner in its key category, “Leading Luxury Hotel
in the World.” The awards ceremony took place on 8 November, 2009 in London, on the eve of the World Travel Market.
On 17 October, the Grand Hotel Europe was named “Leading Luxury Hotel in Europe” by the same organisation, as a result
of which the hotel was nominated for the world’s top tourism award.
“Our hotel is a truly historic and cultural landmark of St. Petersburg and Russia, and we work hard to ensure that our guests
enjoy a level of comfort and service appropriate to a hotel with such a history,” said Thomas Noll, the Managing Director
of the Grand Hotel Europe. “I am happy to see that our clients and partners appreciate our efforts and work aimed
at improving the hotel’s infrastructure and perfecting our service standards.

October 30th, 2009
New number in the Federal List of Russian Tour Operators
Due to the amendments made in article 17.2 of the Federal Law # 123 dated by June 28, 2009 "About the fundamentals
of the travel industry in the Russian Federation", Parallel 60 Ltd. was given a new number MBT 001743 in the Federal List
of Russian Tour Operators starting from September 28th, 2009.

The valuable exhibits of the State Hermitage Museum are protected not only with modern security systems but also with rather unusual guards - an army of cats. Their deployment is the only way to deal with dangerous saboteurs who can do more harm than human vandals. The mini-criminals that have kept the museum in a state of horro for centuries are rodents.
The tradition of the guard-cats has its roots in the early 18th century. The first cat was brought to the Hermitage from Holland by Peter the Great. Some years later, his daughter Empress Elizabeth ordered a whole carriage of cats with developed hunting skills to be delivered from Kazan.
Since then, St.Petersburg's main museum has been inhabited by cats. They rule the underground floors, in the so-called Cat's Cellar, where every door has a special cat-flap. The feline custodians prevent all rodents from entering the ceremonial halls above.
"Cats are nice, gentle, soft and, most importantly, they never have a negative word - it's as if they are psychologists," said one of Hermitage staff. One of cats, Vasya, proved to be something of a mascot for the museum. Life in the cellars wasn't to his liking, and he would find routes only known to him to reach the upper floors. "Vasya preferred to hang out in the Throne Room and in the 1812 Gallery. He would stand up on the benches and study the pictures", one of the museum attendants once said. (St.Petersburg Times).

October 6th, 2008
Russian VODKA Room #1 - New restaurant in St.Petersburg!
Russian Vodka Room #1 is the first place in St.Petersburg to present Russian cuisine from different historical periods. Here, you can try pre-Petrine dishes such as "oven-cooked buckwheat porridge with chicken hearts and porcini mushrooms"; dishes featuring cuisine of the merchant and aristocratic classes, such as "pike perch rissole with mashed potato"; and Soviet cuisine such as "chicken Kiev" or "Russian salad". The restaurant's premises comprise two spacious rooms with a capacity of 160 guests. Next door there is a well-known Museum of Russian Vodka which presents fascinating exhibits dating back to the appears of vodka drinking many-year traditions in Russia and running right through to the present day. The restaurant also has a "rumochnaya" (a "standing-room-only" cafe) decorated in the 20th century style where you can sample a variety of vodkas with traditional Russian "zakuski" snacks. The restaurant is located at 4, Konnogvardeysky Boulevard, open 12.00-00.00. Tel. 570-6420

"Gorkovskaya" metro station will be closed from October 6th, 2008 untill November 30th, 2009. The main reason is the crawler repair works and hydroisolation. The station was planned to be closed at the end of 2007 but the metropolitan administration made decision to postpone the closure due to the State Duma Elections.

For your information, the following touristic and cultural places and hotels are located near "Gorkovskaya" station:

- Peter and Paul's Fortress,
- Music-Hall,
- Baltiysky Dom Theatre,
- mini-hotel "Zlatoust",
- mini-hotel "Kronverk",
- mini-hotel "Aurora Petrogradskaya".

In June 2008 in the lower park of Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna several wonderful fountains were launched. These fountains were actually planned to be built by Peter the Great back in the XVIII century, when he was going to have a fancy sea Residence with a big park and lots of fountains. A brand new canal system was constructed by the fountain masters in the lower park here but then it was found out that Petergof is a more appropriate place for such Residence due to the better land altitude differences for making natural waterflow in fountains. So masters had moved to Petergof.

Nowadays Strelna visitors may enjoy a Classic French park in the style of XVIII century. 8 fountains operate here during the summer season: "Water-lily", "Roses", "Gladioluses", "Lilies of the valley", "Tulips" and others. You may go there on your own or book an excursion "Russian versalia" through us. Please ask managers for more details.

February 27th, 2008
We have launched our special interests group "parallel 60" on a newly made popular Russian portal VKONTAKTE.RU (more than 8 mln. visitors as of today). Just to remind you - parallel 60 is the latitude that St.Petersburg is on, so welcome all who love St.Pete, who have something to say or share..... 39 photos have been uploaded already. Come on and send yours :)))

Grand Express train - First class compartment

Have you ever travelled on a train which looks and feels like a 5-star hotel? Grand Express train operating between St.Petersburg and Moscow is changing the existing stereotypes of comfortable traveling by railway.

You will be impressed by the level of serviceon Grand Express Train

Grand Express - it is indeed a real hotel on wheels. It is Russia's first privately owned luxury passenger train, offering overnight trips from Moscow to St.Petersburg and backwards. Only 'Grand Express' can offer you spacious sleeping carriages with toilets, shower cabins and air-conditioner, with wide sofas and LCD-TV sets, with DVD-players and Wi-Fi Internet access.

The train has 14 cars:
- two cars with Grand de Luxe class suite-compartments,
- two cars with Grand class room-compartments,
- two cars with Premium class room-compartments,
- seven cars with First-class room-compartments.

Prices start from 4800 RUR p/ticket. For more details and pictures of Grand Express please go here.

On December 1st at 6pm an opening ceremony of the he largest temporary skating rink in Europe, the area of which amounts to about five thousand square meters, took place in Palace Square in St. Petersburg. Nearly 1000 people came to try the ice of the new skating rink. Amongst the guests of the opening was the Mayor of the city Valentina Matvienko, Olympic figure skating champions and showmen.

The skating site in St Petersburg has its own infrastructure: an office of skates rent, changing room, a shop, cafe, and a first-aid post. The organizers claim the skating complex to be safe for Palace Square and the neighbouring Alexander Column and Hermitage. A waterproof podium will protect block pavement.
Pyrotechnics shows will be forbidden.

On the day of opening there was organized a TV-link-up with Muscovites who also came to Red Square in Moscow to see the opening of a skating rink on Saturday. The Skating Rink on Palace Square will be open from 10 am till midnight, adult ticket will cost from 200 to 300 rubles depending on time of day, and children will pay 100 rubles. War veterans and children preschool age will be able to skate for free. Skates rental office will be at everybody’s disposal.

Today on December 19th a figure skating stars show will take place here. In addition to the rink itself three hockey pitches will be arranged, and on January 18 a hockey match with participation of players of the National Hockey League and Russian players will come about here.

The rink will also host events on the occasion of New Year, Student’s Day, Defender of the Motherland Day, and the Pancake Week. If you plan to visit St Petersburg by the end of this winter and to stay at one of its hotels, do not lose the chance to skate near the Hermitage.

Spoil yourself by celebrating New Year's in the luxurious, exclusive and unique atmosphere of Europe's landmark hotel, the Grand Hotel Europe in the city of the Russian tsars. See our New Year 2008 package here

St.Petersburg Open 2007, the World-famous XIII International Tennis Tournament, will take place on October 22-28. A few days before the start, on Nevsky prospect, the main avenue of St.Petersburg, near Gostiny Dvor, you will see an unusual installation -3-meter tennis ball will be cut into the ground early in the morning and will be removed only late at night….. Spoil yourself by celebrating New Year's in the luxurious, exclusive and unique atmosphere of Europe's landmark hotel, the Grand Hotel Europe in the city of the Russian tsars.

For the last 13 years the tournament has lived through many grand changes – the main was about the Prize Fund, which has grown from 300 000 to 1 000 000 USD, the level of participants, the tournament partners and sponsors. The only thing that has remained – passion towards tennis and energy that it creates.

The audience of the tournament includes the directors and owners of the biggest St.Petersburg companies, well-known politicians, public figures, foreign countries representatives. The President of the Organization Committee is mayor of the city – Valentina Matvienko.

At different times the St.Petersburg Open winners were Evegeny Kafelnikov, Magnus Gustafson, Tomas Yuhansson, Richard Kraychek, Mark Rosse, Marat Safin, Sebastian Grozhan, Gustavo Kuerten, Mario Anchich. (http://www.spbopen.ru)

Dear Friends, our summer with all those warm days and romantic white nights is over. But this is not the reason for sorrow ))).
St. Petersburg looks great at any season and waits for its guests at any time. Our golden autumn is just beautiful – you may see that in parks of Pushkin, Pavlovsk or Petergof – the peaceful atmosphere there lets you feel relaxed and well-minded. It is of course not only about the positive atmosphere but also about the lower prices - now the off-season rates are set in, which in some cases are twice lower than those during the summer. You are welcome to check it out yourself.:))))

Different cultural events will be organized due to this reason. The official opening ceremony will take place on September 11th by starting two photo expositions: One of Jussi Tiainen photographer - in the Atrium of Komendantsky House of Peter and Paul’s Fortress – it is dedicated to the modern architecture of Helsinki.

The second photo exhibition, called “Helisnkin street fashion” – made by photographers Liisa Jokinen and Sampo Karjalainen – will show interesting, not typical people on the streets, squares, in cafes and shops of the Finnish capital. Days of Helsinki also include musical arrangements. Cantores Minores’ boys choir of the Helsinki Cathedral will perform in the Finnish Church of Saint Maria on November 10th. The Helsinki Festive orchestra will give a concert in Academic Capella of St.Petersburg on October 6th.

The most striking event of the Days of Helsinki will be the concert of the Helsinki Philharmonic orchestra (which, by the way, celebrates its 125th Anniversary this year) in the St.Petersburg Philharmony named after Shostakovich on November 13th.

St.Petersburg has in its turn prepared a musical present for Helsinki. On November 10th for commemoration of 140th Anniversary of K.G.Mannergeim’s birthday for the first time in history a new musical work – cantata, written by the Russian composer Y.Falik will be performed in St.Petersburg Philharmony.

The Annual fireworks show “Fountains Festival” will take place on September 15th 2007. It will take place as usually on Big Cascade in the lower park of Peterhof. The show starts at 21:30 and will last for about 45 minutes. We are to inform that regularly on this day fountains of the lower park are open until 15.00 and then they get turned off because of the preparations for the evening event. Tickets for “Fountains Festival” are available from 19.00.

Today, 7/7/07, provides a great opportunity for superstition and marketing to come together: starry-eyed happily looking couples are tying the knot, casinos are over-booked and Live Earth concerts as well as the proclamation of the world’s seven new wonders take place this day. “Number 7 has a magic sacred side and the reputation of bringing luck,” said numerologist Jean-Daniel Fermier. So several sevens could bring an extra dose of good fortune. “Number 7 is the union of 4, symbol of matter, and of 3, symbol of the spirit,” said someone else. No matter what people say, we will keep thinking that number "7" will simply bring good luck to us, today and hopefully tomorrow too. Numbers and numerology are fascinating, aren't they? :))))))

Due to the Federal Russian Law #12 from February 5th, 2007 all Russian tour operators are obliged to have bank guarantee in the amount of 5 000 000 rubles or have insurance for the indicated sum in order to be included into the Federal List of Touroperators.

Full list of companies included into the Official List of Russian touroperators may be viewed on the website of the Federal Tourism Agency of the Russian Federation here (in Russian)

Yesterday Russians all over the country celebrated Maslenitsa, a famous traditional holiday, indicating the end of winter and start of the Lent - a forty-day religious fast. The pancake week, lasting from February 12 till February 18, ended with an open-air merrymaking - burning of a straw man, climbing the post to get presents, round dances and fights between groups of men. We had maslenitsa celebrations in several places of St.Petersburg: Arts Square, Krestovsky island, Yunona market.

Where and by whom was the first Theatre in St. Petersburg built?
The very first theatre was opened by Peter the Great’s younger sister – Natalia Alexeevna and it was located on Nevskaya embankment, not far from the Liteyniy yard.

Restaurant "RESTORAN" (V.O., 2, Tamozhenniy Per., tel. 327-89-75) welcomes you for HANG-OVER DAYS starting January 1, 2007. The menu includes: Russian schi (sauerkraut soup), pirozhki with cabbage and beef, pickled and marinated vegetables, hot potatoes, cucumber brine, ice Vodka, home-made Vodka with different flavours - horse-radish, cranberry, nut.

The Official Declaration of the New 7 Wonders of the World will be in Lisbon, Portugal on July 7, 2007 - 07.07.07. The parallel 60 team have voted for St. Basil’s Cathedral and 6 other relatively young historical masterpieces. The Moscow Cathedral on Red Square is unfortunately the only Russian sight, included into the list. Anyone may vote on www.new7wonders.com

Two St.Petersburg hotels have changed their names recently - former Pulkovskaya hotel**** became Park Inn Hotel**** and former Sovetskaya hotel*** is now Azimut hotel***. We have written both names for your convinience.

September 09, 2006
Many business people coming to St.Petersburg look for those hotels which have Wi-Fi Internet connection. We have marked the ones that do have Wi-Fi. Please check in the hotel description, top line of the table.

We have launched our new website. The advantages of this website are in its simple navigation and fast page loading. We have tried to construct it as if we were potential customers – the service description, price and booking procedures are presented very conveniently. Please e-mail us if you encounter some difficulties or have suggestions.

Actually, the news of St. Pete have better coverage on the web site of St. Petersburg Times - http://www.sptimes.ru

The leaders of the Group of Eight nations wave outside the Konstantinovsky Palace on July 16, 2006. The summit concluded July 17, 2006, after a weekend designed to raise the international profile of St. Petersburg, although its political outcome was mixed.

The Festival will take place on April 27 to May 10. As it was last year, Valery Gergiyev, art director of the Marrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, will be the art manager of the event. This Easter Festival in Moscow is a sequential of European tradition to hold musical forums in Easter week, and at the same time special emphasis will be placed on preservation and augmentation of rich musical traditions of Russia itself. The festival program includes performances of world most famous soloists and philharmonic orchestras. (RTN News)

From now on, applicants for multiple Russian visas will be checked by the Federal Security Service. Before, the control was carried out only on the base of a check-list, the documents were not sent to the FSS, visas.ru web site announces. Besides toughening the order of visa document execution, a list of so called "dangerous countries from migration point of view" has been approved. The list contains 21 countries including Afghanistan, Algeria, Vietnam, India, Iraq, Iran, China, Nigeria, Pakistan and North Korea. Residents of these countries can execute Russia entry documents only on the territory of their countries. If the office to get an invitation is in the third country, the applicant is to have a residence permit of that country. (RTN News)

Peter the 1-st will take the St. Peterburg governor's place for the festive days

Peter the 1-st will be elected in St. Petersburg in May. The elected tsar will be a live symbol and carnival ambassador of the jubilee city to all countries till the end of the year. The best emperor will be elected on May 25, in the course of a carnival. A column of 1000 Peters will marches on along Nevsky Prospect (St. Petersburg central street). The participants of the carnival procession - representatives of 40 Russian and 6 European cities - are given free hands in choosing a costume and appearance of the Saint-Petersburg founder, the Russian News Service reports. (RTN News)

On April 21, a ceremony of presenting 1000 young plants of sacura-trees (Japan cherry-trees), a gift of Japan to St. Petersburg, was held at the green-house of the city Botanical Gardens. Specialists from the city Garden-and-Park Economy Board and the Botanical Gardens of the V.Ya. Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences will look after the saplings brought from Japan. (RTN News)

The restoration of this famous room at the Ekaterina Palace in Tsarskoye Selo (Tsar's country residence in suburb of St. Petersburg) will be fully completed on May 13. At the same day an expert commission will approve the work done. Independent experts from Russia and Germany will form the commission. On may 31, the restored room will be showed to heads of countries that took part in the summit. The official opening ceremony of this unique amber room will be held on June 3. (RTN News)

A new investment project of oil industry workers provides for construction of an artificial island, Yugra by name. The construction of this single in Russia artificial island in the Black Sea will cost 4 billion rubles. According to the plan a tourist centre with beach and hotel is to be placed on the island, the Novosti Russian news agency reports. (RTN News)

Russia and Germany intend to settle bureaucratic visa problems in the immediate future

The Foreign Ministries of Russia and Germany are willing to polish up the visa issuing procedure. "President Putin and I are unanimous in this decision", Gerahard Schroeder, Federal Chancellor of Germany, stated on April 11 at plenary session of the Russia-Germany Forum "St. Petersburg Dialogue". He expressed his hope that the problem would be settled quickly and effectively, the Rosbalt news agency reports. The German Chancellor is also sure that special consideration should be given to youth exchange since "young people are concerned with the future, and this is what our countries need".(RTN News)

The festival is being arranged by the Pavlovsk state museum-reserve. It will be held on July 6 to 13, the ABN news agency reports. For the first time an event like this took place last year, and was successful. Then, about 600 music fans gathered in the Pavilion of Roses to listen to waltzes of Strauss. The Mariinsky Theater and Hermitage take part in organization of the forthcoming festival. According to the organizers' idea the festival will start the rebirth of traditional Strauss seasons, rather popular in the 19th century. The Admiralty Brass Band Orchestra and soloists from the Mariinsky Theater and the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society will take part in the event. The festive program includes musical compositions of different epochs, including ones of present-day masters. Thus, Sergey Slonimsky, a St. Petersburg composer, composed a new waltz purposely to the festival. (RTN News)

In 2002, the total number of tourists that visited the city of Veliky Novgorod increased by 26.6 percent, as compared to 2001, whereas in the previous years the growth was not more than three to four percent a year. These figures were reported by the Veliky Novgorod.ru news agency.(RTN News)

About 12 to 14 thousand guests are expected to come to St. Petersburg for the jubilee days

As Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, deputy minister for economic development and trade, told journalists on April 4, this figure, apart from members of official delegations from various countries, includes maintenance staff and body-guards. The most numerous delegation is expected from the USA - over one thousand persons. Over 300 people will number each delegation from China and India. Vladimir Strzhalkovsky also noted that the Department for Tourism of the RF Economy and Trade Ministry had recommended to limit the number of comers to St. Petersburg. Recall that according to the Russian government decision Pulkovo airport will be closed on May 29 to June 1, 2003; no plane of any foreign or Russian airline carrying out scheduled, charter, ordered or extra flight would take off or land during these days. The airport will serve only special flights delivering official delegations and VIPs having permits of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (RTN News)

Provincial tourism in Russia may become one of the most preferable ways to spend leaves this-year holiday season. Against a background of falling demand for tours to Turkey, Egypt and countries of South-East Asia the interest in Russian tourism is growing and particularly in active holiday-making in some out-of-the-way places, the New Region news agency reports referring to the Department for physical culture, sports and tourism of the Sverdlovsk region. Fishing on finny natural reservoirs, environmental tourism (rafting down the Chusovaya River) and seeing cultural and historical sights of Ekaterinburg are among the most attractive Ural itineraries. Taking into account the demand for such tours, travel agencies of Ekaterinburg hired instructors, experts in fishing, to accompany and train tourists. (RTN News)

April 12th

28 trains a day to run between Moscow and St. Petersburg during 300th anniversary celebrations

Russian Railways Minister Gennady Fadeev has approved a final version of the timetable for train services between Moscow and St. Petersburg in the period between May 23 and June 10. The Railways Ministry predicts that the volume of passengers during this period of St. Petersburg's 300th anniversary celebrations will increase from 10,000 a day to 18,000 a day. For this reason the ministry is altering the routes of goods and container services in order to leave the main route free for passenger services.
'An additional 15 trains per day will be added,' said Deputy Railways Minister Hasan Zyabirov. 'This will mean that a total of 28 services will run between Moscow and St. Petersburg each day - 18 night services and 10 day services. As well as these services, a further 2 trains will depart from and arrive at the Vitebsk Station in St. Petersburg.' The Repin service, which operates between St. Petersburg and Helsinki, will also be lengthened during this period from 5 coaches to 18. (www.peterburgcity.com)

Mariinsky Theatre and Hermitage Museum to Celebrate
St. Petersburg's 300th Anniversary Together

SAINT PETERSBURG, April 11. The State Hermitage Museum and the Mariinsky (Kirov) Theatre yesterday signed a cooperation agreement. Mikhail Piotrovsky and Valery Gergiev, the heads of two of Russia's most famous cultural institutions, put their signatures to the document, which sets out a programme of joint events to celebrate St. Petersburg's 300th anniversary.

The cooperation agreement includes a series of large-scale joint events in St. Petersburg, other Russian regions, and abroad. According to Piotrovsky, the main joint project will be a free ballet performance by the Mariinsky's stars on Palace Square in St. Petersburg on May 28, 2003. From July 5 to 13 the Mariinsky Theatre and the State Hermitage will take part in the 'Grand Waltz in Pavlovsk' festival, before attending the city of Pskov's 1,100th anniversary celebrations. The Mariinsky Theatre's stars will feature in a gala concert devoted to the Hermitage Theatre's 220th anniversary. In return, the Hermitage will take part in an exhibition devoted to the Mariinsky Theatre's 220th anniversary. (www.rosbaltnews.com)

Italian-Language Website on St. Petersburg Launched
SAINT PETERSBURG, April 11. An Italian version of the daily St. Petersburg online publication www.300online.ru was officially launched yesterday. The project is aimed at Italians with an interest in St. Petersburg and the city's upcoming 300th anniversary celebrations. It is oriented towards tourists, particularly from abroad, and business representatives interested in working in or with St. Petersburg. The project is supported by the Italian Consulate General in St. Petersburg.

The website features city news, information on the anniversary celebrations, and a programme of celebratory events for May 2003. The site also contains articles on famous Italians in St. Petersburg, and a list of the best hotels, cafes, restaurants and clubs for tourists. A catalogue of Italian companies working in St. Petersburg will shortly appear on the site.

The www.300online.ru site is an official information partner of the 300 Years of St. Petersburg International Press Centre, which was established with the support of Sergei Yastrzhembsky, the Russian President's assistant for publicizing preparations for St. Petersburg's 300th anniversary celebrations. The 300online.RU project is being carried out with support from the Presidential information department. (www.petersburgcity.com)

From 8:00 p.m. on May 29 to 8:00 p.m. on June 1, 2003, the St. Petersburg airport will be closed for regular flights to and from other countries (including those of C.I.S.) and other Russian cities.

According to a telegram sent by the Center of Air Navigation Information of the Civil Aviation of the Russian Federation to all Russian and international airports, “Since many VIP airplanes will arrive in St. Petersburg, and since the landing place is limited”, “it is necessary to ensure flight safety and free movement of airplanes, so the Pulkovo Airport will be opened only for flights organized for official delegations”.

At that time, a great number of famous visitors will come to the city: only the number of arriving presidents of other countries (without considering the accompanying persons) will be about 50. (www.peterburgcity.com)

Fast train line between St. Petersburg and Helsinki will probably be opened in 2008

The time to cover the distance will be two hours less. According to preliminary estimations the work will cost 450 million euros for Finnish party and about 10 billion rubles for the RF Railway Ministry, the Ministry news-service announces. The parties agreed to prepare a package of documents necessary to conduct international tenders for development and production of a rolling-stock. A procedure scheme to pass the trains through the border on their way to and from St. Petersburg and Helsinki is to be developed and approved by April 1. (RTN News)

Large Russian airlines haven't cut down traffic volumes to Middle East countries because of the USA war actions against Iraq. According to the Novosti news agency quoting the Transaero press-service, none of the flights from Domodedovo airport was canceled. On March 20 a regular flight to Tel-Aviv scheduled for 10-40 a.m. from Moscow was carried out on time. To other countries of the region the airline carries out only charter flights. Because of war no order for a charter flight was made, so there was nothing to cancel. Routs of many flights to the Middle East run through territories of countries contiguous to Iraq including airspace over Turkey. Besides, an official from Aeroflot confirmed that from Sheremetevo airport none of the flights to countries of the Middle East was either canceled. Vnukovo airport administration also said that all flights to the Middle East are carried out in strict accordance with the schedule. (RTN News)

International flights from Berlin, Hanover, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Munich and Frankfurt (Germany) and Prague (Czech) carried out by Pulkovo air-enterprise will, beginning from March 30, fly off from Pulkovo-2 terminal again. This news was released by the press-service of the company. Until now and from the time when reconstruction of the airport began, international flights to Germany, Czech and Bulgaria were transferred to Pulkovo-1 terminal. This allowed the company to avoid cutting down the number of flights and carrying capacity.(RTN News)

The new monument will blend well in the Sennaya square architectural ensemble", - said Dmitry Lovkachyov, chief architect of Torgproject institute, in his interview to the Rosbalt correspondent. According to Lovkachyov there is no need to politicize the situation arisen round the project. He envisages that from all town-planning and design criteria this 17.5-meter Stella will be a good decorative element in the centre of the city. He says that there is a properly approved general plan to erect the monument on the square. Recall that in accordance with the Peace Tower project the column is to be set up on the Sennaya Square. It will be covered with slightly curved greenish screens on which the artist Klara Halter will engrave word "peace" in 32 languages and spelled with 14 alphabets. The project is a private one, not governmental, though it is a part of the French event package dedicated to the city anniversary. The committee on preparation to participat ion of the French party in the St. Petersburg jubilee is headed by Marec Halter, journalist and writer.(RTN News)

Stamps of the series came into postal circulation from March 4. A presentation party on the occasion took place in the Patriarch residence at the St. Daniil Monastery upon the bless of Alexi II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. According to the Novosti news agency, one of the stamps is dedicated to Saint Moscow Prince Daniil of the Orthodox confession of whom the 700-th anniversary the Russian Orthodox Church marks on March 17. Besides, the new series includes stamps dedicated to Yaroslav the Wise, Vladimir Monomachus and Ivan the Red. The name of the artist who created the series of stamps dedicated to Russian history is Leonid Zaitsev. The series is issued in 250 thousand copies. (RTN News)

In commemoration of the St. Petersburg jubilee the Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree of institution of the memorable medal. The medal is made of brass in the form a circle of 32 mm diameter. A laurelled profile effigy of Peter the Great (founder of the city) is on the face of the medal. (RTN News)

Discount system EURO-26 for young people to be put into operation in Russia by the St. Petersburg anniversary

According to the Youth Policy Committee of the St. Petersburg administration, the project is timed to the 300-th jubilee of the city. The main idea of introduction of the discount system "EURO-26 Youth Card" is a social support of young people through creation and development of a discount system and granting privileges to the youth in buying consumer goods and services on the territory of Russia, the ABN news agency reports. The "EURO-26 Youth Card" is an individual plastic discount card for young people aged under 26. The card is valid for a year and renewed annually at the holder's will until he/she reaches 26. A similar discount system is operated in 35 European countries and 43 cities of Russia. (RTN News)

After the reconstruction of Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg has been completed the time a passenger spends to pass through a passport check-point will shorten up to 30 sec, the airport's press-service announces. The reconstruction is timed to the 300-th anniversary of the city. Thus, works on installation of new passenger registration bars began early last February. The number of the bars will be increased from 16 to 20. This is due to additional 200 sq m of the registration hall. Works on changing of old-type passport control cabins for new ones is still going on. This measure will also allow the airport administration to substantially reduce the passport check time. (RTN News)

A number of rock groups, such as "AuctIon", "Torba na Kruche", "Mit'ki", "Scang", will take part in the final gala concert of the youth rock festival. Group-winners will be awarded with special prizes - "Big-eared fishes". A news-conference dedicated to the event took place on March 4. A compact-disk with songs about Saint-Petersburg was represented at the news-conference. (RTN News)

February 3rd
First International Musical Festival "Seasons of the year" will be held in Shostakovich Philarmony in St.Petersburg from February 5th till February 8th. Some famous musicians are expected to come to the northern capital: Magnus Anderson (guitar) and Yorgan Peterson (saxophone) from Sweden, Elizabeth Vastengolts (piano) from Denmark.

January 28th
Festival of ice and snow sculpture "Europe-Asia" in Ekatherinburg has just started today and will be open for public till February 1st. Among the participants there are teams from Russia and CIS countries. The works are named in conjuction with the coming 280th anniversary of Ekatherinburg.