The weather lottery worked in my city this week. There were days with a temperature of -15℃ and days with a temperature of +4℃. There were sunny days and rainy days, and there was a snowstorm too. All in all, no day was like the previous one! If you decided to get all winter experiences at once in a short period of time, last week would be perfect. I was particularly impressed with the blizzard.
That day I was going to go for a walk in a park on the outskirts of town. It was starting to snow when I left the house, but it was a long drive and I hoped that by the time I got to the park, the snowfall would be over. Turns out it was just a warm-up. The farther I drove, the thicker the white shroud became outside the window. That time my walk was super short, I got a little dodge from the snow flying in my face and drove back.
But on another day the weather was beautiful, sunny and almost windless. I decided to walk a bit and started my walk on the bridge over the Fontanka River, near the Circus. My plan was to walk to the Saint Michael's (Engineers') Castle. To do this, I had to walk along the Fontanka River embankment and then turn left. The Engineers' Castle was built at the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries by order of Emperor Paul I. The Emperor wanted to build a castle, a fortress - he feared for his life, and, as subsequent events showed, his fears were justified.
The site was chosen so that the castle would be separated by water barriers. The castle faces the Fontanka River on one side and the Moika River on the other. In addition, deep moats with lifting bridges were dug. Of course, all these measures could not save the emperor when a conspiracy arose among his closest associates.
On the southern facade of the castle, above the Resurrection Gate, one can read the inscription: ""Holiness becometh thy house, O Lord, unto length of days". This is a quote from a psalm. The inscription is made of copper, it was originally made for the Smolny Monastery, but by order of the Emperor it was placed on the facade of the palace. Through the gate you can access the inner courtyard of the castle, but on this day it was the museum's day off and the gate was closed.
There are two small niches in the walls near the bridge. Very rarely does anyone scrutinize the walls and notice these niches. They are more than worthy of attention though - little tin soldiers are on duty in these niches day and night, all year round, in all weathers.
I was going to walk around the castle and take a little walk in the Summer Garden, which is on the other side of the Moika River. It wasn't until near the entrance to the garden that I realized that my planning was far from perfect. Although I might have guessed a little earlier - when I was standing at the closed gate to the courtyard of the Engineers' Castle. The Summer Garden and the Saint Michael's Castle are sites of the same museum, and they have the same day off. I had to limit myself to a photo of the empty alley of the Summer Garden, taken through the fence.
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| Smartphone | Google Pixel 3a |
| Location | Saint Petersburg, Russia |