Victoria

Being a guide is not just about showing the city from a presentable side. It is much more important to be able to listen to his breathing, to look into his eyes.

I have been in tourism for 7 years – and I try to delicately guide each of my guests through the veins of St. Petersburg. I also often go on excursions along new and old routes, because no two narrators are the same. In my excursions, I try to focus on the way of life of local residents.

I would say that going on excursions and conducting them is my hobby.

I was born and raised in the historical center, I find inspiration in the granite of the shores and the chilly wind, in the reflection of the facades of houses in puddles and the high sky, if it deigns to appear. And I like to show St. Petersburg exactly like this. Imperfect, but alive. The dates will not remain in memory, but the smells, sounds, and sense of presence will remain.

My excursions are a little bit about me, and about Dostoevsky, and about everyone who now shares the kitchen of a communal apartment.

I don’t like it when it’s cloudy. Then you need to go out through the force and look for the beautiful in the details, in the faces, in the story. It turns out that you have to be strong every day, but the need for creativity is completely closed.

I would like to live in pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg. I would like to meet Tchaikovsky and tell him that nothing man-made in the world can compare with his “pas de deux” from the ballet The Nutcracker. And I would like to be friends with Akhmatova. Share poems, sorrows with her and believe in the best together. If I had lived for a century, I would also have enjoyed a glass with Dovlatov and visited Tsoi’s apartment building.

For a walk around St. Petersburg, I would recommend adding Splin songs to the playlist, the city opens up from the other side to it. But if you do not want to fall into a lyrically apathetic mood – to match the indigenous people – then the cheerful “Girl walking around the city barefoot” Butusova will set the necessary rhythm to walk just to the gathering place for our tour.