"Come on in," instructs director Nonna Lipovetskaya of the Vita
Center of Apparatus Cosmetology, beckoning me into her cramped office. I enter
and take a seat facing a wall decorated with a large picture of Jesus and a
poster of a bare-breasted woman with a bouquet of flowers.
"You smoke? Light up, if you want," she says, pulling an ultra-slim " cigarette
out of a leather cigarette packet emblazoned with the face of an Egyptian
pharaoh. "Want some coffee? Also there's some sausage and bread here. Help
yourself."
Cigarettes, coffee, sausage -- did I get the address wrong and come to some
newspaper office by mistake? This is not exactly the usual reception one might
expect at a health and beauty center. Then again, as soon becomes clear, very
little about the Vita Center is what one might call usual.
Riddle of the sphinx is broken. (Photo)
The latest St Petersburg sphinx is a memorial to the victims of political repression and has been fittingly placed just across from the former KGB building where the victims of Stalin's repressions were taken for interrogation.
Beauty and the beast... (Photo)
Just the mention of the word shark inspires terror into the
hearts of most people. After all, who in their right mind would jump into
shark-infested waters as if they were paddling in a tank full of guppies?
RESTAURANT REVIEW: Delights from Neptune's table
If you're tired of eating good food in a gaudy, affected restaurant or tolerating mediocre food in an over-priced eatery, take a stroll down to Polonaise for a quiet, enjoyable meal at a very reasonable price.
MUSEUMS & GALLERIES
Where Rasputin had his last supper. (Photo)
The murder room is off-limits. To see the murky basement enclave
where Grigory Rasputin allegedly nibbled poisoned pirogy (the first act of
conspirator Felix Yusupov's farcical if not strictly factual account of the
bogus holyman's murder, or holyman's bogus murder), you must sign up for an
excursion, pay a modest 2,000 roubles and return another day.
MUSIC
Countdown to ten. (Photo)
It is the second annual Ten City Fest, which will feature ten of the best
groups that play regularly in this highly regarded live rock music club.
Dedicated to and coinciding with St Petersburg's City Day, the festival will
start on Friday, May 26.
Davidic dances revived
A festival of traditional Jewish and Israeli dance will
take place at Park Pobedy's Sport and Concert Complex on Tuesday and Wednesday
of this week.
