It was a very gray winter day. Dear friends, if you live somewhere in the southern latitudes, you probably imagine winter as a series of days that look like each other. White snow and freezing cold - and so it is every day until spring comes. In fact, winter comes in many different ways. Sometimes there are very bright days, when the sky is bright blue, the sun scatters golden highlights on the snow, and the whole space around is filled with bright light.
On other days the sky is covered with dense gray clouds, and the surrounding world becomes gray and gloomy. On such days, even bright colors seem muted, as if they are fading. It was on one of such days that I decided to take a walk along the embankment of the Griboyedov Canal. When I looked at the photos taken during this walk, I discovered that two colors occupy most of the space in each frame: they are white and gray.
I started my walk at the intersection of the Griboedov Canal and the Kryukov Canal. This place has the folk name "Seven Bridges". There are three bridges nearby, and it is believed that if you stand on one of them, you can see seven bridges from one point. In fact, this is not quite true. If you have good eyesight, you will be able to count nine bridges from the right point.
Poplar trees were planted along the canal embankment in the second half of the last century. These trees grow quickly and form beautiful crowns. During my childhood and youth they were at the best time of their life and it was very pleasant to walk along the embankments. But in old age poplars show their worst qualities. Their wood is fragile, and in windy weather it becomes dangerous to walk under the poplars. In addition, the powerful root system of poplars began to destroy the granite embankments.
In one section, the condition of the old embankment became unsatisfactory and a temporary wooden bridge for pedestrians had to be built. But it's one of the few stretches of embankment where the poplars still remain.
Next, my walk took me along the renovated embankment. The granite slabs lay flat under my feet, but the young trees are newly planted, they look like twigs, and the embankments seem empty. The old poplars added to the picturesqueness of these places even in winter. However, closer to the final part of my walk, I came across another fragment of the embankment with old poplars.
One of the most popular bridges on the Griboedov Canal is the pedestrian Lion Bridge. It's impossible to walk across this bridge and not take a few shots for memory! I am not the only one who thinks so, many passers-by linger for a couple of minutes on this bridge to take a picture of the landscape or make selfies. This happens even in such gray weather as on this day.
At this point my walk is nearing its conclusion. The clouds reluctantly part briefly, but it's only for a few minutes. On this day, the sun is shining somewhere very high, above the shroud of clouds. I pass the second section of the embankment with its old poplar trees and turn toward home.
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| Smartphone | Google Pixel 3a |
| Location | Saint Petersburg, Russia |