Petrikirche

It’s always the things I’ve been passing by for years that end up striking me most. This month, it's the Lutheran Church of St. Peter and St. Paul on Nevsky Prospect. My friend and I joined a guided tour there as part of the Night of Museums, and it immediately became the highlight of our sights-hopping adventure. At the first glance, the church looks as it should, except for the aisle seats resembling tribunes for sports fans. That’s until you’re being told the history of the building. During Soviet times, the church was repurposed into a swimming pool, a deep one with a diving tower. Later, the building was restored, but the original pool basin still lies beneath the area where services are held. The tour took us into the catacombs, and we got a chance to stand on the bottom of the pool – now used as a modern art gallery! For me, it’s a great example of how history layers itself, sometimes in the most unexpected ways. – Elizaveta

Bite-size reads

This May, I had two discoveries battling for the title of *the* discovery of the month. I can’t help sharing the yummiest ice cream ever I found in Bashkortostan (if you ever are there, definitely try it – it’s much like a local Venice ice cream but on a stick), but what has been indeed a world shaker for me lately are short-form books, ones up to 300 pages long.

As a devotee of weighty tomes, novellas feel like a breath of fresh air lately – they’re easier and faster to digest, which is especially nice when you’re on the go or travelling (or have a short attention span), while also lacking no depth or substance. For now, my choice fell on Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea (4.5 stars), John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, Albert Camus' A Happy Death – one finished, one halfway in, and one to go – but there’s plenty of other great books in the sea. – Marina

Marzipan

I always believed marzipan wasn’t for me because every kind I’d tried was unbearably sweet and I’m not really a sugar kind of person. Also, I could never get why you would cover something so overwhelmingly sweet with coats of bitter dark chocolate – this combo, loved by many, just never seemed to work for me. Recently, I had the chance to try some Kaliningrad-made marzipan on a weekend trip to the city – and now my world will never be the same. Who knew that this confectionary can actually be moist, crumbly, and doesn’t have to be covered with chocolate; it can have a subtle, gentle sweetness and even an almond taste. I only took two small pieces home, just to “give it one more try,” but now I think I’m addicted and regret not purchasing more (luckily – or, perhaps, not, this particular brand I liked is sold on Ozon, so I’ll have to learn to practice some restraint). – Catherine