Wednesday Walk along the Neva River embankment

Greetings, friends! The first day of summer has pleased us with excellent sunny warm weather, and I decided to go for a walk along the Neva River embankment.

As you probably know, St. Petersburg is built on the banks of the Neva River, and you can find many embankments for walking, for all tastes and moods, but one of the most beautiful, cozy and favorite is the embankment of Lieutenant Schmidt. It is located behind the last bridge, and at the piers of this embankment gather ships that are waiting for the night opening of the bridges to pass from the Gulf of Finland to Lake Ladoga.

I like the fact that this quay has ordinary working boats moored there, not expensive yachts or luxury liners. Such ships remind me of the romance of distant wanderings, of boys who ran away from home to become youngsters, of pirates hunting for merchant ships loaded with silk and tea, of distant islands that are not yet charted... Hardly any of these ships has ever really ploughed the ocean, but for some reason I have such associations.

I began my walk from the Annunciation Bridge. The dome of St. Isaac's Cathedral and the spire of the Admiralty remained behind me, but it was enough to turn around to see these classic cityscapes. I will be turning around all the time: the position of the sun in the sky forces me to do so. The sun is shining in my face and I have to either turn my back to it or wait until it's blocked by a cloud to take a picture.

You've probably already noticed that there is no granite fence parapet on this promenade, the wooden ramps go right down onto the granite slabs. The chain that separates the part of the promenade adjacent to the water looks more like a decorative element than a real barrier. Some of the gangways are wide and sturdy, with railings for safety; others are simply narrow planks, which only sailors used to this method of crossing would be able to use.

Did I tell you that work boats are docked here? But suddenly I see the passenger cruise ship Viking Ingvar. After two years of the pandemic I am not used to seeing cruise ships on the Neva.

Particularly interesting is far side of the quay. It goes down smoothly to the water. Along the embankment stretches a long pier, on the opposite bank of the Neva River is not the usual city buildings, there is the Admiralty Shipyard. Along this bank of the embankment, the usual houses still stretch, but ahead of me grows a forest of harbor cranes and ships at the quay walls of the shipyard.

Сейчас - Now

It's a good place to sit by the water (perhaps with a fishing rod in hand), feed the pigeons and seagulls, or just listen to the sound of the crashing waves.

I've reached the end of the waterfront - it's time to get back from the romance of the sea to regular city life. I go upstairs and walk down the street to catch the bus to go home - I've gone quite a distance from home during the walk. I don't immediately finish taking pictures - the streets and yards along the way are extraordinarily picturesque. Bird cherry and apple blossoms and lilacs are in bloom. The end of spring and beginning of summer are the best times of year in our city.

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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.