St. Petersburg uses its midnight sun to celebrate the arts with its White Nights Festival from May to June. Classical ballet, opera, and music events run throughout the city, and the festival culminates with the Scarlet Sails, a high-production fireworks and water show on the Neva River. For Northern Light viewing, head north to the Russian Arctic and Murmansk, the world’s largest city above the Arctic Circle along the Kola Bay from November to March. For an evening away from the city lights, take a snow mobile excursion to the Russian Lapps, where you’ll zip across flat, white fields in search of the aurora. ~Text courtesy of Leigh Crandall July 2013 |