White Nights

Some people have asked about how dark it gets and my taking pictures late at night, so here's a brief explanation.

St. Petersburg is the northernmost city in the world that has a population of over 1 million people. It sits just below 60 degrees latitude, which puts it almost as far north as Anchorage. Other cities that are as far north, like Oslo, Helsinki, and Anchorage, do not approach 1 million people, while St. Petersburg has between 4.5 and 5. million. Because it is located so far north, from about mid-May to mid-July it never gets completely dark. Today, for example, the sun will set at 11:24 pm and will rise in the morning at 4:39 am. For the five hours between sunset and sunrise twilight persists, which is why I am able to take pictures late at night where it appears to still be light out. It is light out. You can see examples of these pictures here. It's pretty great, actually. I don't have any problem sleeping with a little bit of light, and the fact that it's never dark means people stay out really late. It adds a sense of security to being out on the street at night.

In St. Petersburg they celebrate this time by having a festival called the White Nights. The festival is not the traditional kind where streets are closed all the time, etc.; instead, they step up their arts programming for a couple weeks at the end of June, and some nights there are concerts and things going on in the Palace Square. The ballet I went to was a part of the "Stars of the White Nights" festival, and the event that I skipped out on with the ship with the scarlet sails is the crowning moment of the festival.

I don't have a lot to update you on from my activities during the week. I went to Institute on Wednesday for a class on Teachings of the Living Prophets, I got my hair cut, and I went to The Other Side (pictured below) to watch some world cup.

Mostly just a quiet, normal kind of week.