ENROUTE TV   ENROUTE FM   MEDIA KIT   AIR CANADA   LINKS   WRITERS'   GUIDELINES	ST. PETERSBURG vs HAVANA Text: SHAWN BLORE Illustration: BRUCE ROBERTS 1. Soft Drink/Beer Ratio Russians have always loved to drink, and beer – always warm – is available at outdoor kiosks and consumed in public everywhere. A half-litre bottle of Nevskoye (named for St. Petersburg’s Neva River) costs 24 rubles, three more than a 500-ml Coke. In Havana, a 350-ml can of Bucanero beer sold in a U.S. dollar-denominated shop costs 60 cents, versus 45 cents for a can of Tukola, Cuba’s revolutionary substitute for Coke. Drinking is tolerated outdoors, though Cubans generally prefer rum. In a perfect world, 1:1 or a score of 100; anything lower is sobering. St. Petersburg   97.5 Havana               80 FORMULA > 2. Carbohydrate Comparison St. Petersburg’s carb is the bliny, a tiny foldable pancake – like a crepe, only thicker and heavier (like everything in Russia). Among caviar, jam, ham, Nutella and bananas (and 17 other fillings and toppings), the most delicious combo is smoked salmon, sour cream and dill. Finding food in Havana is a bit of a search, even for a common street carb. We settled for fried banana chips, which are neither terribly good nor terribly healthy, served in a greasy wrapper. A Parisian croissant is a baseline 100; other carbs must rise to the challenge. St. Petersburg   100 Havana               19 FORMULA > 3. Babe and Hunk Index St. Petersburg’s quota of the beautiful and stylish was sampled near the Winter Palace, on Palace Square; on the Nevsky Prospect, near Kazan Cathedral; and outside the Moscow station. They were an uninspired lot, with fashions and physiques that put them back in the USSR. Havana’s much more babely and hunky population was tallied at the Plaza de Armas in Old Havana, near the Capitol building; on the paseo público, close to the Malecón; and just outside the Coppelia ice cream parlour, which yielded some lickable specimens. Summed average of stylish head turners in a crowd of 100. St. Petersburg   21 Havana               40 FORMULA > 4. Street Life Indicator A Sunday morning walk down St. Petersburg’s Nevsky Prospect yields beer, water and Coke; stands selling cheburok pastries; flowers from babushka-clad ladies; sketch artists and souvenir art; and a beggar with a pot. A stroll near Havana’s Capitol building turns up fewer offerings: small cups of coffee; ice cream and mechanically peeled oranges; flowers; offers of cigars and women; old men selling the newspapers Granma and Juventud Rebelde; and beggars asking for milk or money. Percentage of goods and attractions available on a busy street or square. St. Petersburg   71 Havana               57 FORMULA > 5. Public Order Index Both Havaianos and St. Petersburgers showed a healthy tendency to step out into the street. In St. Petersburg, a ride in an aging Zhiguli sedan from 3rd Sovietskaya Street to the Finland station covered 8 km in exactly 10 minutes, with a bonus view of the sunrise over pretty canals. In Havana, the 4-km taxi ride from the Hotel Nacional de Cuba in Vedado to Old Havana might have taken less than 15 minutes in a car younger than a 1959 Plymouth Fury, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun. Average number of jaywalkers in a crowd of 200 people (low score, low fun factor). St. Petersburg   19.25 Havana               9.25 FORMULA > Conclusion A last bastion of communism proves no match for Czar Peter’s pretty Window on the West. St. Petersburg   308.8 Havana               205.3 ----- STANDINGS: Rio 383.3 Rome 380.3 Paris 353.5 Mexico 346.1 Amsterdam 343.2 Buenos Aires 331.8 Zurich 325.8 Berlin 325.3 St. Petersburg 308.8 London 294.1 Mumbai 289.5 San Francisco 283.8 Tokyo 283.8 Hong Kong 281.5 Moscow 277.9 Shanghai 259.2 New York 255.1 Toronto 249.1 Washington 242.0 Montréal 233.9 Los Angeles 220.6 Vancouver 213.1 Havana 205.3 Chicago 197.1 Next Match : Watch for a Civilization Index finale in January 2005. [ ] St. Petersburg vs Havana Rome vs Buenos Aires Washington vs Moscow Mexico vs Tokyo London vs Mumbai Chicago vs Berlin San Francisco vs Shanghai Toronto vs Zurich Hong Kong vs Vancouver Montreal vs Amsterdam New York vs Paris Los Angeles vs Rio de Janeiro STANDINGS Top   |   Home
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