The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul

This cathedral has an incredibly tall spire.

                                          The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul

                                                                                   Saint Petersburg, Russia
                                   It took two saints to inspire such a tall steeple
                                   to reach nearly half-way to heaven with its own
                                   impressive, ungainly elegance – like the awkward
                                   grace of a giraffe or the absurd dignity of lofty Russian
                                   army hats that make the soldiers on the street look so
                                   large and official – and so much like kids playing at war.

                                  The golden spire has been hit and singed by lightning, but
                                   escaped the German bombs during the nine hundred day
                                   blockade of what was then Leningrad, despite being
                                   at the bull’s eye center of a fortress and a prison.

                                   Now the city is saintly again since Communism has fallen
                                   or has put on a different mask. Saint Petersburg once more,
                                   as its namesake founder had intended – but, then again, not quite
                                   the same: McDonald’s, cafes, and sex shops interspersed among
                                   the palaces, churches and museums. A TV tower now stands
                                   taller than Saints Peter and Paul, making the unseen
                                   even more visible.