I took the overnight train from Moscow to St. Petersburg so that I could meet up with my friend Laurien this evening. That left me the morning and afternoon to wander about the city, taking pictures of how beautiful Russian cities can be with snow. That’s right, St. Petersburg has snow right now and Moscow doesn’t. There’s something of a White Sox / Cubs rivalry between the cities and I’m sure this snow is a point Petersburgers would claim for their scorecard.

In downtown Petersburg, the architecture is much more unified than that of Moscow’s center. Very European. But it’s so cohesive, it almost feels like the set of a period film. Add to that fresh snow and the city is even more charming.

I spent the afternoon at the Russian Museum then met up with Laurien for dinner. I also got to meet her father, a delightful man.

So far the hostel I’m in is pretty much empty—quite different from the last time I was here with our whole study abroad group. I guess that the longest days of the year aren’t the peak tourist seasons for places as far north as St. Pete.

I do have one unpleasant moment to recount. Walking down Nevsky Prospekt today I was passing a metro entrance when something caught my eye. I didn’t break pace and barely turned my head but the fragment I saw was enough for my mind to recreate the full scene. I saw two or three men in uniforms crouching over a body bag. All I saw of the person in the bag were the tips of worn black boots before the zipper closed over them but it was a potent glimpse that replayed and expanded in my mind for the next blocks.

I know intellectually that the Russian winter, even one as mild as we’re having so far, must be very hard on the homeless, but I’ve never before seen someone who died alone in the cold like that. All the blame I lay on these people in my subconscious (I try not to judge without knowing the full story but if that were actually the case, I would feel deep sympathy when I walk past a beggar rather than passing them and hardly noticing their presence) vanished and I felt only an aching pity. No one deserves to die that way.