Wednesday Walk in the garden at Anichkov Palace

This small garden is a very pleasant place for a walk. The Anichkov Palace Garden is located on the city's main street, Nevsky Prospekt. This garden is separated by a fence from the street and seems like a quiet place, despite the busy city life just around the corner.

I turned off Nevsky Prospekt near the palace complex's service buildings. I have to walk around the palace building to get to the garden. The two symmetrical buildings form a short street, which would take me to the Fontanka River embankment. But I have to go in the other direction.

On the way I admire the bas-reliefs on the walls of the buildings and the huge spruces. The spruce paws are covered with snow. It may seem like winter is still on, but the sun is shining very brightly, you don't get this much sunshine in winter.

I walked around the palace building and the service buildings and entered the garden. The gate to the garden from the side of Nevsky Prospekt is always closed, so I had to take such a difficult route. At the end of the walk, I'll go to this gate to see the bustling life of Central Avenue from the side of the quiet garden.

Anichkov Palace was built in the mid-18th century. It is a monument of architecture in the style of classicism. The St. Petersburg Municipal Youth Creativity Palace now works in this building. I used to go to different clubs in this palace when I was a child, and I remember it very fondly. The school curriculum seemed boring to me, but additional education opened up new horizons and helped me look at the world from an unexpected angle.

The gardeners look after the Anichkov Palace garden very carefully, you won't see a tractor or specialised gardening equipment here like in the big parks. In large parks the alleys are cleared in winter specially for strollers, but this is not done here. Paths in the snow are trampled by visitors like me. That's why some of the garden's alleys remain inaccessible unless you put on tall boots and are prepared to make your own path through the snow.

At first it feels like I've entered the realm of winter. Everything around is white, the snow glistens in the sunlight. But I notice a dark stain on the path near one of the garden pavilions. The snow has melted there, and the tree trunks and a sliver of blue sky are reflected in the small puddle. And if you look more closely at the structure of the snow, you begin to notice that the snow has become a bit like sugar, ready to melt in a cup of hot tea.

I walk along the far path of the garden, along the wall that separates this garden from the street. Beside this wall are two garden pavilions, built in 1817-1818 by architect Carlo Rossi in the style of classicism. The pavilions are part of the complex architectural ensemble of the square on the opposite side. The distant pavilion is situated at the corner of Nevsky Prospekt.

The garden of the Anichkov Palace is separated from Nevsky Prospekt by an openwork lattice. It seems that all noise of the lively street should penetrate unobstructed through that openwork barrier. But for some reason it does not. The garden remains a very quiet and cosy place for quiet walks.

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Smartphone	Google Pixel 3a
Location	Saint Petersburg, Russia

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