The New Year's celebration of 2012 on Palace Square (Dvortsovaya Ploshad) will start at 11 pm December 31, and continue until 4 am January 1st. The celebration will be held in a form of a New Year's ball. Giant chandeliers, magic lanterns, moving platforms, and enormous panorama screens showing magnificent ball room interior of St. Petersburg and Europe- all promise to make the Palace Square the biggest ball venue ever.

The Atlantic cyclon Patrick hits Russia's Northern Capital.

Even though the dam was closed in St-Petersburg to protect the city from flooding, experts say that there is still risk that the water can overflow, bringing serious damage to the historic buildings in the city, including the Hermitage, the Russian Museum and others. 

The wind speed is estimated at 21 meters per second.

The opening of Admiralteyskaya - the 65th station of the ST-PETERSBURG METRO - is going to take place tomorrow, Dec 28, 2011. As it is designed to relieve congestion at the Nevsky Prospekt and Gostiny Dvor stations and provide a more direct link to the Hermitage, Admiralteyskaya will be especially useful during the New Year's celebrations!

 Tonight. December 25. Ded Moroz's Parade

• 17:30 - 18:40 Ded Moroz's parade along Nevsky Prospekt. Starting point: Ploshad Vosstaniya, Destination: Dvortsovaya Ploshad (Palace Square)
• 18:30 - 19:10 The ceremony of lighting the New Year tree on Dvortsovaya ploshad  
• 19:10 - 20:30 Ded Moroz's New year ball at Dvortsovaya ploshad

FREE HUG FLASHMOB is going to take place in St-Petersburg on the National Hug Day January 21, 2012. National Hug Day was founded in the Unites States of America in 1986 and is now celebrated internationally on January 21 each year.

Here is a list of the best ice skating rinks in St-Petersburg:

For the 1st time in history, the parachute jumping off the Peter and Paul's spire turned out a reality and not a myth. As a proof, the base jumpers has uploaded the provocative video on youtube.

Every country has its own unique Christmas and New Year's traditions. Some of them are quite strange, but rather amusing. For example, Vietnamese meet on New Year's in the dark. They prepare delicacies made of rice.

Thais are out of luck - they celebrate New Year's in such a heat that they have to pour water on each other when they meet. This is a wish for happiness.

The YUSUPOV GARDEN on December 10 and 11 will host the most joyful open-air winter in ST PETERSBURG − the Seasons Christmas Fair, which will give happy anticipation of good New Year holidays for adults and children. Guests will be able to choose gifts themselves, their loved ones and families, listen to good music, drink mulled wine and, eat gingerbread, watch cartoons, and participate in charity. This is the best time to learn to juggle with mandarins, participate in master classes on New Year floristics or prepare a quick dish for the holiday table, under the guidance of a chef.

St Petersburg LANTERN LAUNCH, 2011. Date: December 10 Time: 7:00 pm Venue: Yuzhno-Primorsky Park. Flashlights can be purchased  directly at the event (200 rubles)