Beaches Last Chance - Travel

Now imagine that same beach next summer destroyed. May be eroded as there is hardly any room to spread out a towel. Perhaps a colossal concrete hotel is under construction, where the sand dunes used to be. Maybe it was covered with a layer of oil spilled. Hope your little corner of paradise will remain well preserved. But to many beaches around the world, like those nightmares come true (just ask someone who lives on the Gulf Coast).

We selected six beach destinations around the world in danger of disappearing forever because of forces such as erosion, pollution, sea levels, reckless overdevelopment, and sand extraction. But there are hundreds more. If we do not stop global warming, insisting on sustainable development and protect the beaches in the world against pollution and mismanagement, the idyllic shores that we cherish will be kept only in memory.

The Maldives

With ready postcard beaches, coral reefs without spot, and some of the most luxurious resorts in the world, the Maldives is a destination for many times in a lifetime. Own life but the island nation can itself be cut drastically short: all levels of the sea, but unfortunately this chain of 26 atolls in the Indian Ocean, unless the world acts quickly to slow-warming climate.

With an average altitude of only four feet, the Maldives, may, depending on the model of scientists' being overwhelmed by the end of the century. Other geologists believe that the coastal islands, which are composed mainly of coral, can regenerate faster than the rise in water level, and wave action can build up in the islands. But another ocean temperatures-up symptom of global warming inhibit the growth of corals, and few Maldivians seem ready to sit down and take that risk. President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives has committed to become the first carbon neutral nation in 2020, the construction of a wind farm to meet 40 percent of electricity demand, the installation of 5 million square feet of panels solar, recycling of agricultural waste such as fertilizer and asking visitors to buy carbon credits. Valiant that these efforts may be, they are unlikely to stem the tide (literally), while Nasheed is also looking for a new home in the case of the entire population is forced to move.

If you go: The Marine Lab in Vabbinfaru Banyan Tree resort do serious scientific research on marine ecology, recovery of corals and endangered species. You can visit the lab and join the biologists dives.

Great deals on Europes seas - Travel

Building on the strong demand for travel in Europe and the Mediterranean this summer and fall cruises to additional ships to the region in hopes of capitalizing on the heavy bookings. Then high fuel prices sent prices soaring, making a European cruise suddenly more expensive for Americans, and forcing cruise lines cut prices to fill ships.

Royal Caribbean, which sent half its fleet of 22 ships in Europe this season offers some of the cheapest rates. Hotwire.com recently listed a seven-night cruise from Venice Mediterranean Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas in late June for as little as $ 499 per person for an inside cabin, about 30 percent of the normal price at the end of June

At the high end, Crystal Cruises has two-for-one rate of $ 7050 per person on summer cruises to northern Europe. His fall in selling prices of 10 trips from southern Europe shows the rate of $ 4,235 per person, a saving of up to $ 8,000.

"The rates on summer cruises in 2011 for Europe and the Mediterranean are the best we've ever seen," said Rich Tucker, director of business development for CruiseDeals.com in Charlotte, but travelers must act quickly to get a discount. Already, he added, "we saw the cheap hit and begin to bounce back."

Indeed, some of the cheapest rates, including a seven-night sailing on Norwegian Cruise Line has been marked down to as low as $ 349 per person a few weeks ago, have already been snapped up. Celebrity Cruises has recently ended a "fly and sail" promotion it ran with reduced rates on airline tickets (from $ 999 per person) and 10 nights from $ 1199 per person cruise Mediterranean. Another outcome of the application moves to the decision to ship passengers 3114 Royal Caribbean, Navigator of the Seas, originally scheduled to sail in the Mediterranean this winter in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he will sail in the Caribbean from November. As part of the switch, the line is the cancellation of a series of 14 night Mediterranean voyages will take place in Barcelona between November and April.

But there are still many bargains. Recent research on the site Cayole.com cruise business has up to six nights Eastern Mediterranean cruise with Royal Caribbean in July from $ 549 per person (originally $ 1.519), and a night cruise on the seven Mediterranean Norwegian Cruise Line in June from $ 749 per person for a balcony room (originally $ 1,799).

Even without discounts, all-inclusive nature of cruising - with the ship to provide meals, lodging and transportation between cities - can offer savings and relief of the complications of assembling a complex path Europe, which normally involves intra-booking rates in Europe, train tickets and hotels.

The biggest obstacle facing the cruisers of negotiation, is to find discounts that may be reasonable to get last-minute cruise. The average rate was the lowest round-trip from New York to five European cities is $ 1,198, up about 8 percent of $ 1,105 for the same period last year, according to Travel Bing.

To bring prices down, consider sailing in late August, when rates are often lower, recommended Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor of CruiseCritic.com, which tracks the industry. If you are flexible on dates, you can also consider cash in your frequent flier miles.

"Whatever you do," she says, "not to succumb to the temptation of Europe without a great deal to ensure that you can get affordable air in advance."

To help negate the high cost of airline tickets and keep booking the trip, some packaging lines are also in their offers of tickets. Last month, put Oceania Cruises 18 cruises on sale, including eight Mediterranean voyages from September to November of $ 1,999 per person, including round trip coach - over 60 percent off brochure prices.

And the luxury line Regent Seven Seas Cruises offers round-trip ticket in business class for $ 999 per person per trip and reduced rates of $ 10 000 per couple for several European departures. This brings the cost of a 12-night sailing from Istanbul to Athens, for example, $ 5,999 per person, 40 percent less than similar cruise last year.

Other cruise lines are cutting rates so low that the savings will help balance the high cost of the plane to Europe. Holland America Line has completed a sale of the European cruise with rates of $ 599 per person on seven-night departures to Scandinavia, $ 699 per person on cruises that visit Italy and the Riviera, and $ 899 in other parts of the Mediterranean.

One way to reduce the cost of your cruise vacation is to work with an experienced travel agent can find the best deal for you. Cruises are always one of the few categories in which travel agents have an advantage over DIY online booking.

Even better to combine your own research with the expertise of an agent. CruiseCompete.com, for example, allows you to select the cruise you want to, and independent travel agents to offer you the best deal. You compare offers from your account, contact the agent with the best prices by phone or e-mail for reservations.

Expanding the Cultural Realm in Singapore - Travel

ON a balmy evening last Saturday was near Dhoby Ghaut Singapore, a few hundred people - residents and in-the-know tourists - were standing or sitting in rows of plastic chairs taking sips of Tiger Beer extracted from a child ice-filled inflatable pool.

The crowd had assembled to see 10 local artists - photographers, a painter, a fashion designer, a filmmaker - to present their work, with a wall standing in a white projection screen.

The biennial gathering, named for the Rojak Salad inventive Singapore and Malaysia, is one aspect of a recent effort to raise the cultural profile of Singapore. While the government is luring international artists and architects to Singapore, gallery owners, artists and entrepreneurs are finding innovative ways to nurture the art and fashion here and at the same time, the challenge of image of a buttoned Singapore, better known for its gleaming towers and a center of culture independent art scene.

Called "cultural desert" too many times to count, the Lion City has never been associated with the burgeoning art and design scenes of places such as Jakarta or Bangkok. Rather, it is considered a stronghold of the sanitized, the effectiveness of chewing gum without, admired for its modernity and order to otherwise chaotic in South Asia. It is a place where creative expression was not cultivated. In efforts to protect its power, the People's Action Party, which has dominated politics since the founding of the republic in 1965, applied the strict laws that affect everything from speech freedom of the press performance art .

These stodginess cut, critics say, came at a price of authenticity. The Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas infamous Singapore used to illustrate the term "generic city" in a 1996 interview with Wired, and even Lee Kuan Yew, former prime minister, said that the culture of Singapore was likely to emerge from soon, according to an article in The Straits Times in 2006.

Ten years ago, visitors interested in art and design have been mostly limited to contemporary art-shy commercial galleries and exhibitions in foreign cultural centers such as the Goethe-Institut and the French Alliance . There were - and still are - the institutional options as the National Museum of Singapore, the Philatelic Museum and Singapore Art Museum, which became the first city-state of the Visual Arts Centre since its opening in 1996 (and remain as such until the National Art Gallery opens in Singapore two years). As for the local fashion design, it barely existed, most people shopping in malls brand obsessed.

In keeping with its practice, the centralized nature, the government believes it can change that image. With the stated goal of transforming Singapore into a "city of the arts world" by 2015, it has invested over a billion dollars over the past 20 years in new museums and cultural institutions such as the $ 487 million performing arts center, Esplanade and 8Q SAM, a space dedicated to pioneering work at the Singapore Art Museum. He drew starchitects as Moshe Safdie and Norman Foster to build new hotels like the glittering Marina Bay Sands and the Capella Singapore, and has recruited art world icon Lorenzo Rudolf to organize the art scene in Singapore, an event like Art Basel, which began in January. Some 32,000 visitors were to see works artists such as Anish Kapoor, David LaChapelle and Takashi Murakami.

Meanwhile, many of those involved in independent cultural scene - including the founder of 34 years Rojak, Torrance Goh architect - working on a basic level to create an authentic cultural identity of the city-state.

"Many Singaporeans are playing with new ways of examining themselves, and I wanted to create a platform for that," said Mr Goh. "The system does not allow for spontaneity, so we are bypassing the network of patronage and make ourselves overlooked, public spaces." Other recent locations of the event six years have included offices an advertising agency and an alley in the district of Little India.

Chun Kaifeng, 29, an artist whose complex assembly facilities mundane domestic scenes earned him the Prix Singapore Art Exhibition in 2009, recently participated in a group exhibition organized by Valentine Willie Fine Art entitled "In- Beyond LKY ", which examined life after Mr. Lee, the most powerful of Singapore. Organized by the gallery Valentine Willie, one of many contemporary art spaces that have recently erupted in a warehouse in the Tanjong Pagar Distripark, the exhibition includes works by 20 artists from Singapore, both emerging and mid- career. Paintings, drawings, installations and photographs exploring controversial topics like the death penalty, immigration and national identity, the object can result in fines and prosecution by the government.

"I expected the Media Development Authority to attend," said gallery owner Valentine Willie, referring to the government agency that oversees public content. "But nobody came."

Anchors Gallery recent Singapore Arts, which has expanded to include a half-dozen galleries in recent years, including Ikkan International Art and Light Editions, which displays regional photography. Located in a busy warehouse that serves as a container port neighbors, but only ten minutes by taxi from the central business district, no-frills space with freight elevators and exposed pipes is certainly right for the part of center 'avant-garde. Visitors can easily spend several hours looking at art that goes from the work of young artists from the region to Aboriginal teacher before slurping a bowl of the famous bak kut the spicy soup (pork-rib) to the Outram Park Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha coffee shop, a five minute walk.

Visual art is not the only cultural field is booming. A group of young Singaporeans is striking out on his own to start fashion boutiques and independent labels to prove that there exists a distinct identity in Singapore, far from shopping.

"In Singapore, creativity is no longer frowned upon," said Kenny Leck, who became one of the pioneers of the movement when he abandoned a career as an accountant and BooksActually opened in 2005 with Karen Wai, his business partner. Filled with the collection of the pair of vintage typewriters, cameras, accordions and toys, the store is the kind of place that can not keep magazines like Monocle and Granta on the shelves. In order to foster an atmosphere of room type, BooksActually regularly invites emerging artists, authors and playwrights to organize events and readings at the store, recognizing that many of them have nowhere to go . The events are advertised on the Facebook page of the shop and the blog, hellobooksactually.blogspot.com. With its slow but steady success, the store has recently moved to Yong Siak Street in back-and-coming residential Tiong Bahru, also home to the White canvas art gallery whose exhibitions are accompanied by discussions led by artists and dinners, and strange quarks, a design store where you can choose offbeat lamps crystals Ice-inspired radio and MP3-friendly retro style wood.

Naples: Must-Sees and See-What-Happens - Travel

Rome has the Coliseum, Florence Michelangelo's David, "Venice canals, and Naples a... pickpockets and uncollected waste?

Nothing attracts me in a city as much as an exaggerated generalization, but everywhere that discourages people shy, keeps prices low and short lines, and makes people like me very happy.

But I am a novice in Italy, and this was my first time in Naples. So even if I like wandering and discovery, rather than passing established sites, I wondered if I could I ignore most famous pizzerias and churches in the world? Exemption from Pompeii? Miss Capri, the island that shorts and a salad of tomatoes, mozzarella and basil are appointed for?

My solution: make unavoidable, and some see-what-happens.

When I left the subway near the historic center of Naples, it took about 10 seconds cacophonous for me to fall in love. A football passed me with the children run after her jaw and waved pedestrians on street corners like overacting extras on a film set; motorcycles larger by chance, and drying clothes fluttering in the breeze from almost all the old balconies. Like cities without dryers.

Things got even better when I found I Fiori di Napoli, my € 35 a night bed and breakfast, hidden in a building without a street number, much less a sign. Going up marble steps to the third floor of this 18th century building that comes from the ridiculously narrow streets of the Spanish Quarter, I was greeted by Manuela Colosimo, one of the owners. Manuela, who spoke in English but experienced fluid-Naples, give me suggestions endless (and maps and guides, and strong coffee) during the week.

His first suggestion: Trattoria Nennella, just two blocks one way, where a two-course dinner with a bottle of wine (note: a bottle just for me) and a bottle of water, a cup of cherries and cries , servers merengue-dance cost me 12 euros.

Manuela ripped my clothes dirty too, thank you God (I'm out just about everything), but rain delayed their return for several days. So much for my soft spot for laundry draped cityscapes.
Inside the National Archaeological Museum.Seth Kugel for The New York TimesInside the National Archaeological Museum.

I decided to spend my first day wandering the historic center bombing € 7 to see Giuseppe Sanmartino the "Veiled Christ" in the Museo Cappella Sansevero, a sculpture surprising that even atheists can find God. I tried the pizza at the famous Di Matteo (3-6 euros) and the calzone Pizzaiolo del Presidente at (named after Bill Clinton's visit there - 4 euros). Both were finely executed in the best Neapolitan style, though crusts tend to be a little soggy in the center if you ask me, and Di Matteo tried to transfer an additional euro to the bill, an error may be embarrassing so honest. I saw the National Museum of Archaeology and the overwhelming concentration of stores in the Nativity scene on Via San Gregorio Armeno.

Standard stuff. But I also ventured into a hair salon in the Spanish Quarter of having my hair cut by a barber of 73 years named Ciro, who had been his trade on the same corner for 50 years. What has me 8 euros, and we chatted all the time, which is impressive because it does not even know the word "cut" in English and I can barely fettuccine Alfredo for the Garden.

But the Italians have the means to make themselves understood. Ciro is not the only (or even the only Ciro). There was the old lady who I sat next after taking one tower popular tanks Greek and Roman aqueducts world tour shelters War II bomb. She told me stories about when his family take refuge during the war when she was 8. (I think). And the man who caused me until I walked in narrow alleys of another residential neighborhood, he directed me to a small rustic trattoria named Mom apparent e A. Cucina, with breakfast € 7 special. All conversation stopped when I entered, a sure sign that it was not a common tourist. (I could not find a link in English, so here's the address:. Fario Via 101)

Mix well beaten and least explored was a good strategy on my first venture outside of Naples: I went to Pompeii, who lived up to its reputation as a nightmare tourists crowded and where they inexplicably run out of cards to accompany the audio tour I paid € 6.50 for. (Silver Linings: Pompeii is beautiful, and marking as well as groups of cruise ships is a great way to get a free guide.) But I also went to the business much more manageable, less crowded and better victim retains the Vesuvius Herculaneum. In a move to save money, I bought a three-day € 27 Artecard this morning. (The card is both a pass commuter and a reduction of 50 percent for most of the cultural attractions of the region. The first two sites are free, so it makes sense to visit Pompeii and Herculaneum first , which at 11 euros are the most expensive.)

How to Avoid Credit Card Problems Abroad - Travel

Like many Americans who have tried to use their credit cards in Europe, Elliot E. Porter, a historian at San Francisco, has encountered its share of headaches payment. Perhaps the most aggravating circumstances occurred some months ago in Amsterdam Centraal Station, where he learned after the queue to buy train tickets than any of his credit cards, including MasterCard, Visa and American Express is accepted. The problem? They rely on technology rather than magnetic stripe embedded microprocessors, which are increasingly common outside the United States.

"It's a big deal when traveling," said Porter, who traveled back to his hotel for the money, which then had to exchange local currency before returning to the station to wait in a long line of pay for his tickets. He has encountered similar problems in railway stations in Belgium and Great Britain. "I just got super frustrating," he said.

There may be some good news on the horizon for Americans like Mr. Elliot. Some banks have begun experimenting with smart cards and newer technology, known as EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) and are beginning to offer cards to select customers. Wells Fargo has issued cards with embedded chips to about 15,000 customers in the United States-based international travel, which in a test program. JPMorgan Chase offers maps of some of its customers with high net worth this month. Meanwhile, Travelex, a currency exchange company major, began selling a year preloaded EMV debit cards last. Some credit unions have also begun offering credit cards or debit with chips, including agents of the State Credit Union in Raleigh, NC, and the United Nations Federal Credit Union in New York.

It was time. During the last decade, such cards (commonly known as smart cards and PIN-because users punch in a personal identification number instead of signing for purchases) have been widely adopted in Europe as a way to reduce credit card fraud, the information stored in magnetic tapes used in traditional maps can be easily stolen. EMV smart cards, which requires a PIN for authentication, are more difficult to counterfeit and are becoming the norm in other regions, including Canada, Latin America and Asia Pacific. More than a third of payment cards in the world (about 1.2 billion) are EMV capable, with about two-thirds of the terminal box (18.7 million), according to EMVCo, the standards body owned by American Express, JCB, MasterCard and Visa.

But the U.S. has been slow to embrace technology, mainly because of the expense and traders have to take banks to convert to EMV enabled cards and cash registers. U.S. banks also stress that fraud credit card magnetic stripe was not as widespread in the United States as in other countries. (Smart cards and PINs are different from the radiofrequency chip in some American credit cards like American Express Blue card, which allows customers to pay by waving their card at a checkout scanner, instead of swiping it. )

Until companies change their minds, U.S. travelers continue to face problems of payment abroad. The problem is twofold. Even though most European cash registers are equipped to handle U.S. charts, some cashiers just do not know how to treat them. And a lot of automated ticketing such as those currently in train stations, petrol pumps and garages simply do not accept cards without chip and PIN. (ATMs generally recognize and accept the cards of many wonder if they have a chip or magnetic strip.)

So what's a traveler to do? Since the cards are tested by Chase and Wells Fargo have offered only a limited number of high-end customers for the most part, the best option for the rest of us is to make a couple of cards in our wallets and politely insist that the cashier kept trying to drag each credit card as the card reader may be able to recognize the tape and approve the purchase.

That's what Richard Brill, a senior public relations Wilmette, Ill., learned last month while vacationing in Portugal. "In some cases they had to redo it," he said, referring to traders who were able to get their machines to accept his Visa card. When those attempts failed, he tried using his American Express card, which was accepted a number of times, although it also lacks the special chip.

For backup, also consider making a debit MasterCard preloaded called Chip and PIN Travelex Cash Passport, available in pounds or euros, which is equipped with the chip. But use it only when you can not use other cards. Although it costs nothing to use the card, the exchange rate you get by loading with money are not large. For example, in late May, the exchange rate at the down payment on a chip and PIN online Travelex card was about $ 1.50 to the euro. (It may be higher in real stores Travelex.) However, the spot exchange rate, charged by most banks, was about $ 1.42, according to Bankrate.com, a financial research Web site. Even after adding the tax to 3 percent normally changes imposed by the major card issuers in America, it was more expensive to use a Travelex chip and PIN card.

That said, there are transactions - like buying train tickets at newsstands - which you'll need a card from Travelex, the remaining funds can be converted into dollars after your trip.

Naples: Must-Sees and See-What-Happens - Travel

Nothing attracts me in a city as much as an exaggerated generalization, but everywhere that discourages people shy, keeps prices low and short lines, and makes people like me very happy.

But I am a novice in Italy, and this was my first time in Naples. So even if I like wandering and discovery, rather than passing established sites, I wondered if I could I ignore most famous pizzerias and churches in the world? Exemption from Pompeii? Miss Capri, the island that shorts and a salad of tomatoes, mozzarella and basil are appointed for?

My solution: make unavoidable, and some see - what happens -.

When I left the subway near the historic center of Naples, it took about 10 seconds cacophonous for me to fall in love. A football passed me with the children run after her jaw and waved pedestrians on street corners like overacting extras on a film set; motorcycles larger by chance, and drying clothes fluttering in the breeze from almost all the old balconies. Like cities without dryers.

Things got even better when I found I Fiori di Napoli, my € 35 a night bed and breakfast, hidden in a building without a street number, much less a sign. Going up marble steps to the third floor of this 18th century building that comes from the ridiculously narrow streets of the Spanish Quarter, I was greeted by Manuela Colosimo, one of the owners. Manuela, who spoke English in Naples - but experienced fluid, provide me with endless suggestions (and maps and guides, and strong coffee) during the week.

His first suggestion: Trattoria Nennella, just two blocks one way, where a two-course dinner with a bottle of wine (note: a bottle just for me) and a bottle of water, a cup of cherries and cries , servers merengue dance - cost me 12 euros.

How to Avoid Credit Card Problems Abroad - Travel

Like many Americans who have tried to use their credit cards in Europe, Elliot E. Porter, a historian at San Francisco, has encountered its share of headaches payment. Perhaps the most aggravating circumstances occurred some months ago in Amsterdam Centraal Station, where he learned after the queue to buy train tickets than any of his credit cards, including MasterCard, Visa and American Express is accepted. The problem? They rely on technology rather than magnetic stripe embedded microprocessors, which are increasingly common outside the United States.

"It's a big deal when traveling," said Porter, who traveled back to his hotel for the money, which then had to exchange local currency before returning to the station to wait in a long line of pay for his tickets. He has encountered similar problems in railway stations in Belgium and Great Britain. "I just got super frustrating," he said.

There may be some good news on the horizon for Americans like Mr. Elliot. Some banks have begun experimenting with smart cards and newer technology, known as EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) and are beginning to offer cards to select customers. Wells Fargo has issued cards with embedded chips to about 15,000 customers in the United States-based international travel, which in a test program. JPMorgan Chase offers maps of some of its customers with high net worth this month. Meanwhile, Travelex, a currency exchange company major, began selling a year preloaded EMV debit cards last. Some credit unions have also begun offering credit cards or debit with chips, including agents of the State Credit Union in Raleigh, NC, and the United Nations Federal Credit Union in New York.

It was time. During the last decade, such cards (commonly known as smart cards and PIN-because users punch in a personal identification number instead of signing for purchases) have been widely adopted in Europe as a way to reduce credit card fraud, the information stored in magnetic tapes used in traditional maps can be easily stolen. EMV smart cards, which requires a PIN for authentication, are more difficult to counterfeit and are becoming the norm in other regions, including Canada, Latin America and Asia Pacific. More than a third of payment cards in the world (about 1.2 billion) are EMV capable, with about two-thirds of the terminal box (18.7 million), according to EMVCo, the standards body owned by American Express, JCB, MasterCard and Visa.

White Nights of St. Petersburg, Russia - Travel

The launch motor sailed to the Hermitage, the former Winter Palace of the tsars, passing under an arch bridge low that I feared would graze my scalp that we slipped under him. Just before a noisy wedding party on the deck of a cruise ship timber full of air with vodka-fueled cries of "gorko!" Which means bitterness, an encouragement to the traditional Russian wedding and groom to kiss, and so the guests provide the opposite of what was proclaimed.

Then, the channel has spread into the wide Neva River, and all of St. Petersburg spread before us. clouds pink, peach and purple-streaked horizon. On the other side, on the island Zayachy - one of a multitude of small islands in the Neva River that fall within the Greater Saint Petersburg - are SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral, burial place of Peter the Great, Alexander the three and, more recently, Tsar Nicolas executed, Tsarina Alexandra and their children. Cathedral inspired gold sparkled in the sunlight fading. I breathed the sea air - a zesty blend of gasoline and the river smells ripe - and looked at my watch. It was 23 hours, and the sky was still as bright as that of an early summer evening in New York.

In St. Petersburg, the great city of the czars, they are called the "White Nights": the 80 evenings from May to late July, when the city comes out of months of cold and darkness and celebrates brief return of the light of day by day and night. Inhabitants of the cultural capital of Russia - just a few lines of latitude south of the Arctic Circle, at the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland - have been welcoming the summer with relief and celebration since Peter the Great founded the city in the early 18th century. (The name of the new Tsar capital after its patron saint, Saint Peter the Apostle.)

For most of the 20th century, however, the celebrations were muted by wars, revolutions and dark imperatives of the Soviet state. The Russian Revolution broke out here in October 1917 when the city was called Petrograd. Only a few decades later, between 1941 and 1944, as much as 800,000 people died of hunger, disease and exposure during the siege of nearly 900 days of the Nazi city the Bolsheviks renamed Leningrad. Under Joseph Stalin and his successors Communists, White Nights were disciplined business, limited to a handful of classical music concerts. Even after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, was in St. Petersburg remained low, the economy has deteriorated so suddenly, after decades of mismanagement that many people have become dependent on food rationing . For a time, St. Petersburg, which has regained its original name in 1991, was even forced to accept humanitarian food aid from foreign donors - just the economic environment in which to stage all night , orgies in the city.

During the last decade, however, the booming economy of Russia has rejuvenated St. Petersburg, and sleepless nights have become increasingly fierce. Russian entrepreneurs have poured money into new bars, restaurants and hotels. A growing number of visitors from abroad, as well as the wealthy Russian tourists - their wholesale petrodollars - and members of the head of an increasingly mobile middle class Russian here for the summer holidays. The city fathers have taken the initiative, pumping city and state funding on events.

long summer days exist elsewhere in Russia, of course, from Moscow to Yakutsk Yekaterinburg, but the sleepless nights have become an integral part of the identity of St. Petersburg - a celebration of the unique beauty of the city and its role as the country's artistic epicenter.

No other city in Russia has such a breathtaking place. St. Petersburg was built on what were originally over 100 islands formed by a lattice of rivers, streams, rivers and natural canals that flow into the Baltic Sea at the mouth of the Neva River . The Neva River, the main thoroughfare through the city, snakes its way east-west through St. Petersburg, essentially dividing it in two. The southern half, the most thought to Venice or Amsterdam, is cut by a grid of channels and includes many familiar sights of the city. Among them: the Hermitage, the largest museum of Russia and the former Winter Palace of the tsars and the Palace Square and Alexander Column, the Kazan Cathedral, modeled on St. Peter's Vatican and the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood, a monument marks the spot of the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881. Here, too, turns Nevsky Prospekt, the main commercial street.

On the other side, the northern part of St. Petersburg is composed of a group of islands, including Vasilievskiy Petrogradsky, and Dekabristov Krestovsky. Four drawbridges on the Neva River connecting northern and southern parts of the city, while 342 small bridges, built over four centuries and made of materials ranging from wood to brick iron cross canals of the city and its tributaries.

You will find celebrations of St. Petersburg Nights in white almost every corner of this vast metropolis water. Dance clubs and "beach clubs" - including the most exclusive Royal Beach Club on Krestovsky Island, a forested park that attracts many wealthy city youth - remain open until at least 6 hours White Nights weekend. Throughout the night, Nevsky Prospekt is full of revelers. There is a wealth of cultural events, one-day festival of Dostoevsky on July 3 - a celebration any time of the local author that many regard as the greatest novelist of Russia - at the White Nights Festival, a combination of classical music, opera and ballet from May to late July. The "Scarlet Sails," a city largely high school diploma from the end of World War II, takes place at the end of June and attracts partiers of all ages. The celebration includes an hourlong fireworks display on the Neva and the river crossing a graceful three-masted schooner modeled after one used by the imperial family in the late 19th century. And it does not even include the variety of street theater, jam meetings and gatherings along the banks of the Neva, just before 2 hours each day watching the four major drawbridges, all lights, mounted at an angle of 90 degrees to allow barges and other vessels for wholesale pass. This happens throughout the year, of course, but the hot weather and the sky still light to show the White Nights celebration of a special feeling. "When you have only 80 days of sun, you have to take the best of them, "I was told by Sergei Bobovnikov, an antiquities dealer from the Soviet era and the art of propaganda that was born in Kursk, a city near Moscow, but moved in St. Petersburg to attend college three decades ago.

Mr. Bobovnikov maintains two apartments in St. Petersburg: one on the island of Petrogradskaya Storoni, the other on the Neva River, one block from Nevsky Prospekt. This means that, unlike many other partygoers stranded on the wrong side of the river after rising drawbridge, it is always the best place to sleep. (Mr. Bobovnikov hired me and my traveling companion Petrogradskaya Storoni his apartment for the duration of our stay the weekend.)