06. What does the name of this blog mean (part 2)?
St. Petersburg is the most northerly large city in the world at 59 degrees 57' North - roughly the same latitude as Oslo, Helsinki, the southern tip of Greenland, and the Kenai peninsula in Alaska. All those places have a similar seasonal variation in sunlight, but St. Petersburg is the only one with millions of people.
"White Nights" refers to the period in May, June, and July during which the sun is out most of the time - just about 24 hours a day in late June. There are always tons of people out and about until late at night on Nevsky Prospekt, the main street in the center of town which is a few blocks north of my apartment. As we get closer to the solstice, there will apparently be an increase in musical performances, festivals, and events celebrating the perpetual daytime - so I'm definitely looking forward to that! In early May, it seems that it's only dark from around 10:30 pm to 3:30 or 4:00 am. Fortunately, my apartment has heavy curtains on all the windows to keep the sun out when I'm trying to sleep.
Of course, the flip side of this is that in the dead of winter, there will be very little sunlight for a period of several months. I think the timing of my stay in St. Petersburg is fortuitous - I started my life here when the weather is nice and there's plenty of sunlight left in the evenings after work, and I will have time to get used to everything before it's mostly dark every day six or seven months from now.
So, during most of the time that this blog is up and running it will not technically be the White Nights, but as this period coincided with my arrival in town (as well as my planned departure in 2018), the name seemed a good fit.
"White Nights" refers to the period in May, June, and July during which the sun is out most of the time - just about 24 hours a day in late June. There are always tons of people out and about until late at night on Nevsky Prospekt, the main street in the center of town which is a few blocks north of my apartment. As we get closer to the solstice, there will apparently be an increase in musical performances, festivals, and events celebrating the perpetual daytime - so I'm definitely looking forward to that! In early May, it seems that it's only dark from around 10:30 pm to 3:30 or 4:00 am. Fortunately, my apartment has heavy curtains on all the windows to keep the sun out when I'm trying to sleep.
Of course, the flip side of this is that in the dead of winter, there will be very little sunlight for a period of several months. I think the timing of my stay in St. Petersburg is fortuitous - I started my life here when the weather is nice and there's plenty of sunlight left in the evenings after work, and I will have time to get used to everything before it's mostly dark every day six or seven months from now.
So, during most of the time that this blog is up and running it will not technically be the White Nights, but as this period coincided with my arrival in town (as well as my planned departure in 2018), the name seemed a good fit.
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