St Petersburg, Russia
Devoushkas are a breed unto themselves, which I much enjoy reading about on this blog dedicated to all things Devoushki. It will explain to you all about Devoushkahood.
The Russian word for young woman, being a Devoushka is more than just that. Being a Devoushka is a serious matter, not to be taken lightly. I was on a bit of a Devoushka hunt to prove my point, yet they were somewhat elusive to the camera.
They are beautiful young girls, often with fancy hair baubles, and fond of wearing co-ordinating colours such as lime green.
The Devoushka wears heels at all times of the day, often stomping holes in the pavement such as this one:
An elusive Devoushka waves at me as I nonchalantly take her photo.
Sometimes I am mistaken for one, and perhaps with practice I could become one. But I know I am not worthy of Devoushkahood - because stilettos are a must.
And what happens in the end to these Devoushkas?
These are all different girls, seen on the same day. It is a tradition here to get your wedding photographs in front of all the famous monuments of the city.
Equally elusive as the Devoushka photo are clean public Washrooms. Even though you might pay to go inside, there is no garuntee of cleanliness.
Somehow I found the comfort/degree of cleanliness was inversley proportional to the entry price payed.
Of course, I used the first ones I saw. 15 Roubles for whiffies and a square of paper.
Then I walked by the next ones. 13 roubles!! D'oh!
And then again. 12 Roubles!!! NO!
Finally, I found a nice one in a real building for 10 Roubles. Luckily I have could take advantage of the deal.
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36 minutes ago
5 spoke up:
I love it! All the famous landmarks AND the toilets! :)
I seem to remember there is something special about the first Wednesday of the month for those wedding photos too...but only if it's your first time getting married!
Oh - and the toilets! Oh my, the memories!
Are you for real...about stomping holes in the pavement???
There seem to be quite a few of those devoushkas around here too!
Being one to make contingency plans, I've often thought that if I ever get stranded at the altar, I'm going to subsequently tour the world's famous monuments in a verge-of-torn-to-shreds, bedraggled wedding dress - all inspired by the photo tour circuit the SPb brides do.
Sometimes I would be walking from my place on Liteiny Prospekt to the Neva and see the same sovietskoye champanskoye swigging wedding parties time after time (Church on the Spilt Blood, Hermitage, and there would be no rest if I was passing the Bronze Horseman too on my travels!)
Love this post... I've created a link your stiletto aftermath photo on my blog - hope you don't mind!
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