Wednesday Walk to the sandy beach on the Gulf of Finland

This walk was unplanned. It went like this. In the morning I had to go to one of the northern parts of the city. When I was free, I decided to take a short walk. I looked to see what sights were nearby, and one of those sights turned out to be the train station building. It is one of the train stations built in the early 20th century by Finnish architect Bruno Ferdinand Granholm in the Art Nouveau style. I was going to walk around this building and go inside to take a close look at all the architectural details and interiors.

The first thing I saw when I went inside the railway station was an electronic scoreboard with the departure times of the nearest commuter trains. In three minutes a high-speed train to Zelenogorsk was to leave. The high-speed express train passes through all the small stations without any stops, and it only takes 20 minutes to get to Zelenogorsk. Just 20 minutes - and I could walk not on the city streets, and on the shores of the bay! I made the decision immediately. In a minute I was standing on the platform with a ticket in my hand.

And 20 minutes later I got off the suburban train at Zelenogorsk station. I photographed two electric trains on the train tracks at this station. The train closer to me is the high-speed train "Lastochka". Next is a regular train, which doesn't go as fast, and stops at all the small stations along the way.

The first thing I did was to go inside the train station building to clarify what I could hope for on my way back. I hadn't been to Zelenogorsk in a long time and didn't know what I could count on here. I'll probably get tired and hungry during the walk. Is there a cafe here? Can I buy a bottle of water? I also checked the schedule of the electric trains in the opposite direction. My smartphone has an app that shows the schedule of suburban trains, but it's more convenient to study the schedule on a large stand. If you looked closely at the pictures of the station, you noticed that the clock showed different times - indeed, the clock near the entrance to the station did not work, but the other clock, inside, showed the correct time.

When I came out to the station square, I saw a fountain with dolphins. Their smooth, wet backs glistened in the sun and set me up to meet the sea. Looking around, I noticed a shopping complex nearby. Inside was a large grocery store, a pizzeria, and a few other stores and cafes. I finally calmed down on the subject of infrastructure, and headed towards the bay.

It was about 2 kilometers from the train station to the bay. One and a half kilometers, to the beginning of the seaside park, you can take a city bus, but I preferred to walk. I walked down a sunny street, in the shade of dense trees. The street had a slight slope toward the sea. I passed a few low buildings with offices and stores, passed a residential neighborhood, and ended up at the entrance to a park.

On the way I came across some unusual sculptures. On the shore, near the entrance to the beach, there is a sculpture of a fisherman. Interestingly, it's not just an abstract fisherman, but a historical figure - a fisherman Antti, who lived in this area in the middle of the 16th century. His name was mentioned in the official correspondence about the conditions of trade in this area.

Another unusual sculpture is a sundial, at the same time a geographical pointer. In order to tell the time by the sun, you have to become yourself or ask one of your friends to be the gnomon of the sundial. You have to stand in the center, and then your shadow will show the correct sundial time. The hands of this clock count not only the hours - they also show the direction and distance to different geographical objects.

Part of the park is occupied by small wooden houses, this is a recreation center. Around the coast of the Gulf of Finland there are many different recreation centers and sanatoriums, but they all look too modern. This place is unique in its own way, it has changed little externally in recent decades. If you are nostalgic, you can rent a room here and everything will be like in your childhood. I looked at pictures of the interiors online... it's almost a time machine.

At the exit of the park there is another sculpture, which is impossible to pass by. This is a monument to the legendary Soviet actor George Vitsin. The actor is depicted as Balzaminov from the movie "Balzaminov's Marriage". I took this picture from the back - in the opposite direction I would have had to photograph the monument against the bright sun.

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Smartphone	Google Pixel 3a
Location	Saint Petersburg, Russia

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