Nevskii Prospekt, St. Petersburg

On a map of the city center, this grand-scale thoroughfare forms a spine with the many canals appearing as spindly but graceful ribs. On the ground "Nevskii" is the city's vital artery, heaving with people from well before dawn until well after dusk. The street's western end lies at The Admiralty, and from there it runs three miles all the way to the Alexander Nevskii Monastery . The street is a dizzying and sometimes exhausting mix of hectic traffic, street poverty, high fashion and eye-turning architecture.