HISTORY students and staff from Southend High School for Girls spent five days in Russia.

The trip to St Petersburg was centred around Russian history, particularly the last years of Imperial rule and the 1917 revolutions to supplement studies on 19th and 20th century Russia.

Students from the school, in Southchurch Boulevard, Southend, visited the Hermitage Museum and the formidable Peter and Paul Fortress.

The highlight of the trip however, was a snowball fights in front of the Winter Palace.

Year 12 student, Eleanor Davis, said: “Flying snowballs aside, a particular highlight was Catherine the Great's magnificent palace. The massive exterior, the most beautiful shade of blue, decorated with pure white pillars and gold leaf, was stunning enough. However, the interior was something else.

"Whilst only 36 of the rooms in the huge palace had been restored, every one that had been was meticulously and ornately decorated. The ballroom was by far, everyone's favourite. White walls with gold leaf everywhere you could possibly look and an uncanny amount of mirrors, a mythical King's most luxurious chambers could never hope to compare. The Croatian choir that spontaneously broke in to song was the icing on the cake."