Wednesday Walk from Vasilievsky Island to the Peter and Paul Fortress

Hello friends! On this beautiful sunny winter day ... oops, no - not winter, spring day! - I decided to walk to Peter and Paul Fortress. The day before there had been heavy snowfall, and it seemed that December came again. But the bright April sun peeked out the next morning and accompanied me on my walk.

I started my walk in a small garden on the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island. The central building of the architectural ensemble is now under restoration, but the enclosing structures are so well covered in snow that they are hardly a distraction.

The garden is shaped like a semi-circle, and below, below the vertical wall of the terrace, is the pier. I walked to the edge of the terrace to admire the views and take a few pictures.

The view of the bridge and the Peter and Paul Fortress opens up from this spot. I have to cross the bridge. I could take a bus (the green bus can be seen in one of the previous pictures), but the weather is too nice and I prefer to walk. The air is very clear after the snowfall, as if washed with snow.

I walk past the Rostral Column. The two columns, adorned with rostra of ships, once served as lighthouses. This was the site of the city's first port. The tops of the columns were lit by lanterns at night and in foggy weather. The port in this place existed for a short time. Small wooden ships could enter the Neva, but it was not a good route for large merchant ships. The port soon moved west, closer to the bay. Now the lanterns on the columns are lit during city holidays.

An ice drift is underway on the Neva. The solid ice cover has already broken up and the ice floes are slowly drifting downstream. I notice a small workboat in the middle of the ice. Perhaps it is keeping an eye on the passage of the ice and making sure there isn't an ice jam. Or maybe it has a different task - these hard workers are doing a lot of important work in the Neva.

I cross the bridge and approach the fortress. I notice there's an event going on near the sunny wall. There are quite a lot of people in brightly coloured clothes and some constructions are set up.

I get closer and find out what's going on. There's a gathering of amateur gorodki players. This is an ancient folk sports game. A bat is used to break different shapes made of wooden blocks. A bit like skittles. There is a training session now and the participants are breaking down the simplest of shapes.

I'm wondering whether I should stay to watch the competition... but then I hear the announcement that in ten minutes there will be a general formation of competitors and an introductory speech. I don't like the official parts of events - I guess I'd better get on with my walk.

I enter the grounds of the Alekseevsky Ravelin. An office building with a semi-circular façade encloses the old fortress wall. The porch of this building offers a beautiful view of the spire of the Peter and Paul Fortress. The angel of the weathervane on the spire of the Peter and Paul Fortress is turned at an acute angle. I get as close as I can to the wall of the building to capture the view in its entirety. The view from this side is not a classic postcard view, but I really like it.

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Smartphone	Google Pixel 3a
Location	Saint Petersburg, Russia

This is my entry for the #WednesdayWalk challenge by @tattoodjay.