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Bookmark & shareSt Petersburg isn't exactly gym crazy, but there's plenty of ways to keep active. In the summer, drift through the canals in a rowboat; in the winter settle in for some serious banya (bath house) action, try a couple of games in the city's numerous billiards joints or head out of town for some cross-country skiing. If you're the right kind of masochist, there's always ice swimming.
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relaxation
Forget the gym, Russians like to de-stress in a banya : a furnace-hot steam room in which they beat themselves and their friends with bundles of birch branches.
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swimming (outdoor)
You can also try ice swimming - yes that's swimming (in icy water, the Neva when it's frozen), if you want to go really local.
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skiing
Winter can be just as active if you, like the Russians, enjoy cross-country skiing - Toksovo is a popular resort just north of St Petersburg.
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boating
In summer, a lovely way to while away a day is paddling through the canals and lakes on Yelagin Island. You can rent a row boat at the northern end of the moat around the Peter & Paul Fortress. Or, for an adventure, take a yacht up to the Gulf of Finland and plant your parasol on the beach.
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football
St P's team were a shameful lot in the early 1990s but under coach Anatoly Davydov's leadership, they won the 1998 Russian Cup, and made it to the nationals in 2001; you can watch them at the Petrovsky Stadium.
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