Well what do you know — Another prazdnik

...I bet no one saw that coming.

I'm fairly certain none of my faithful blog followers check weather.com for hours of daylight for various cities as compulsively as I do, so some of you might have missed the information that June 20 and 21 were the longest days of the year in the northern hemisphere. In St. Petersburg, this meant 18 hours and 51 minutes of "official" light, but no full darkness at any point in the night.

June 20 also happened to be the celebration for all the high school graduates. Not about to pass up any chance to party, the rest of the city joins in: the metro runs until 4, the bridges don't go up, Nevsky Prospect is closed to traffic, and the entire population drinks in the streets all night long.

As it turns out, this holiday, Алые Паруса,is somewhat like a Russian Mardi Gras in that literally everyone is out, drunk, and celebrating. It differs in its absence of flashing (too cold), religious base, and following 40 days of fasting/deprivation. Instead, the high school graduates party on Palace Square, while the rest of the city — old and young alike — celebrate the graduates' celebrating on bridges, parks, and side streets.

Gostinii Dvor at 4 am.