This weekend became a bit special for us -- it was planned a while ago, and finally came true ;) two families united for one day in order to walk out our kidz together ... The problem is that we live in different cities, and my daughter really wanted to meet her best girlfriend in real life, not through the phone or chat. (A noble wish that my wife and support in every possible way!) Our daughter is not yet at the age to let her travel to another city alone, so this Sunday my wife and I kept her company and had a trip to the town of Pushkin (it is about one hour drive from St. Petersburg, not very far - can be considered even a suburb).
Town of Pushkin is known for the summer residences of Russian emperors and beautiful historical parks were located there (and they still are). While our kidz were having fun with their iPhones making selfies, I was having fun with my (bigger) toy: photographed reflections, mushrooms, and misty autumn landscapes. The sun did not kissed us a lot on that day, as you can see in the pics.
This is not the first photo I took, but it is characteristic and well represents the local architecture; many buildings were built here in the 18-19 centuries and survived
until today, although of course they require care and tireless repairs. This building - once belonged to the imperial greenhouse ... now there is no greenhouse in it, but there is an institute of something agricultural that belongs to the state. The building was restored literally a year ago, the money was spent ... but most of it (obviously) was stolen along the way, according to the unkind Russian tradition, so now the building again needs investment and new repairs - see the photo below. It's hard to believe that this building was restored only last year?...
Yes, this post could easily be addressed to the Rant&Complain community - walkers had a lot to complain about on that day...
Me encountered a squad of young cyclists and their grown-up parents, and had some nice eye contact. Ofc I could not resist the temptation to add some #streetphoto to my story... actually it was what I was after (after the primary goal to entertain the kidz, of course).
Soon we approached to the park - you can see its fence and the arrows pointing at the tickets offices.
Actually there are two different parks at the site: Yekaterininskii Park is a regular one, and Alexanrovskii Park is a 'natural' one.
Below: ticket offices, and different souvenir/merchandise kiosks.
Firstly we headed to Yekaterininskii Park ... but we absolutely did not expect that the entrance was not free: after all, the summer season have already ended a while ago, and the summer schedule (calculated for tourists) as well... it should have ended, by this time. (The actual ticket price is not too high - 170 rubles per person, but since there were five of us ... we just didn’t want to pay for a 1-2 hour walk, especially since we could walk for free!)
Thats why we skipped this option.
Here one can admire the gates of one of the Empresses Palaces - clearly visible from the outside, and totally for free, hehe.
So, we walked hundred meters to the entrance to the Alexanrovskii Park. Open! Come in!
Actually, the whole park, its essence is in this certain frame: paths, alleys and "wild" untrimmed trees, canals and bridges between them; several kilometers of paths for pleasurable hiking. Of course, there are many ducks, birds, squirrels in the park that have long been accustomed to people and are not afraid to accept food from his hands ... although we did not meet squirrels this time, there are a lot of them here. But I still didn't have a telephoto lens with me to take advantage of such a meeting, so I'm not complaining :)
This is an artificial 'mountain' named Parnas. (We did not visit it this time).
The park is 'natural' but still have a lot of artificial stuff. Of course, it is not like a forest at all. In the 19th century, one of the emperors "arranged" part of the park in an oriental style - Chinese gates, bridges, and even a separate Chinese pavilion were built.
In this photo you may see said Chinese Bridge - guarded with Ancient Chinese lions. Only three of them were present (one went out for restoration procedures). Awesome pieces of art to watch and enjoy the beauty of orient, and the beauty of aging too.
A close-up version.
One could see, touch, photograph, enjoy them in any way... but the Chinese pavilion - alas!... - was sold, privatized, left the balance of the park a few years ago - for some silly money - went to one of Putin's gangster friends.
Now there is a warning tablet: "private property" on its fence and a bunch of cameras :(
And now lol: while we were standing nearby, we stumbled upon a trespasser - and I even managed to photograph him. This cat can go anywhere he wants, and he surely can (if he wants) to see more Chinese beauty than us, park visitors, are allowed. Se la vie.
Our kidz played catch-up around the trunk of a giant mighty oak...
Of course, I could add much more beautiful captures of the autumn nature, but basically they all would be the same. And I took a decent amount of fungi we encountered, but I better present them at FungiLovers community :P
But that was not the very end of the day.
Of course, after such a long walk with a lot of kid'z energy waster, we needed to recharge and get some fuel. Thats why the day was finished at DoDo pizza! My powerful 16-35mm "L" lens had no problem with making a capture of this spot, even it was pretty dark there.
Whole pizza disappeared very quickly, but still I managed to take a picture of some leftovers :) What else can I say? wish you and your families more such good weekends like we had! 🙏
PS.
Part two with the rest of my photo-impressions from this walk will follow soon.
| location: | St.Petersburg, Russia | October 2022 | natural light |
| camera/lens: | Canon 5D | Canon 16-35mm 2.8L | raw-conv |
