We continue our walk. To remind you, in the previous album
we came up to the arch of the General Staff.
We pass under the arch.
We're at Palace
Square. We have bumped into the paving stones. Unfortunately, everything
around us is covered in scaffolding, both the General Staff arch (on the
Square side), and the column. Preparations for the tourist season.
However, there are some things to see.
This is one of the lamps by the Alexander Column. As I discovered
recently, in the Apraksin Yard (inside, in a side-street going out on
Fontanka), a few lamps of just this kind are attached to the wall of a
house.
Here you are, this is actually a building
without scaffolding. It's hardly ever photographed. In fact, during
holidays a large billboard covers it.
This is the staff of the Corps of Guards (1840-1848, architect: A.P.
Bryullov). Just after the Revolution, the Petrograd Military District
had its headquarters here.
The view from Palace Square.
From left
to right: a part of the General Staff building (nowadays, half of it is
given over to the Hermitage, and Leningrad Military District (or
whatever it's called now) is left with the other half); in the distance,
the cupola of St. Isaac's Cathedral; in the centre, the Admiralty spire.
Further to the right, the Admiralty building itself, and, lastly, a part
of the Winter Palace.
A picture just like this already appeared
in the 85th album. Since then,
the lighting of St. Isaac's Cathedral has been changed. Now you can
compare :)
The entrance to the Winter Palace on the
Admiralty side...
...and in the other direction.
(the entrance is now behind us).
The exterior of the Winter Palace from
Dvortsovaya Embankment. The shadows turned out well (rather
uncharacteristically for a digital camera).
We cross over to the Strelka by the
Dvortsovy Bridge.
On the bridge, there is a small
observation platform. From there, one gets a view of the Exchange
building and the Rostral column.
Snow and ice float on the water, but the long exposure time makes
this imperceptible...
...we turn around to the Winter Palace
And here is the Strelka, or spit, itself.
We descend to the water. More accurately,
to the ice with snow on :)
The view from here isn't bad either:
Dvortsovy Bridge and the Adminiralty.
I haven't decided about the next album yet, but there will be more
winter night photos of the city.
