NEVSKI PROSPEKT St... by SirRichard
NEVSKI PROSPEKTSt Petersburg's 'Champs Elysées' is the famous Nevsky prospekt, which runs west from the Admiralty 4km (2mi) to the Alexandr Nevsky Monastery on the banks of the Neva. It's lined with fine buildings and thronged with people - a good place to feel the city's pulse, particularly during the midsummer White Nights. The list of former residents who lived on and around the famous thoroughfare reads like a veritable Who's Who: Gogol, Tchaikovsky, Turgenev, Nijinsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Dostoevsky. While strolling, don't forget to look up and around at the wealth of architectural details. Sights you'll pass include the many-columned Kazan Cathedral (home to the Museum of Religion), the Art Nouveau former premises of the Singer sewing-machine company (now a bookshop), the arcaded Gostiny Dvor department store and the huge square dominated by the statue of Catherine the Great surrounded by her numerous lovers. Many of the shops are worth browsing for their interiors alone. They range from 19th-century palaces of merchandise to amazingly opulent Art Nouveau and Art Deco extravaganzas.