Crumbling tombs on one of the graveyards by the Alexander Nevsky monastery, 11-05-2013
This monastery has three separate graveyards, one of which is home to many famous Russians like Tchaikovsky and Dostoevsky. I only had time to peruse two. Guess which one I stupidly missed? Well, excuse to go back some time, I suppose. It also rained like crazy but that only served to heighten the atmosphere.
I love old graveyards, but that kind of comes with my unusual childhood spent on one, I suppose.
A collection of shots of the interior of the Hermitage, May 10th 2013
Ah yes, the Hermitage, where all that glitters is, in fact, gold. I got lost like three times, but eventually you just go with it and go, “Where the ever-twisting hell am I? Oh well, it’s pretty here too.”
The fountains at the Peterhof, May 9th 2013
Yeah, the Russians certainly didn’t invent subtlety. It’s stunning, it is, especailly all lit up by the sun as it was on this day.
A boy brings flowers to a war veteran on Victory Day in St. Petersburg, May 9th 2013
Victory Day in St. Petersburg, 09-05-2013
So I managed to wind up in St. Petersburg on Victory Day. That’s how you suddenly find yourself walking smack in the middle of Nevsky Prospekt, amidst thousands of Russians. On Victory Day Russia celebrates winning WW2, and honours all war veterans. The veterans are given carnations, and are genuinely thanked for their efforts. It’s a flurry of military parades, flags and smiling people. It’s also very crowded, which got a bit claustrophobic after a while, but getting into the water (towards the Peterhof) helped a great deal :)
An oddly intimidating street vendor sells his things along the Neva river in St. Petersburg, 08-05-2013
My first day in St. Petersburg I took a lonnggggg walk literally all around the city, saw lots of sights, accidentally sat down on a freshly painted bench (woops) and saw so many beautiful people. St. Petersburg is much more ‘artsy’ than the other places in Russia I visited, which reflects in its people as well. It’s a city full of creative weirdos just like yours truly which is nice :3
Detail of the Church on Spilt Blood in St. Petersburg, May 8th 2013
Such a pretty thing with such a metal name. It sits right by the water, being gorgeous and shiny, and life bustles all around it.
tazigo said:
I keep meaning to ask, what’s this Sony tag you keep using? Is that your camera brand or something?
Correct! :) On this blog I tag for my own benefit more than I do to wind up in people’s tracked tags - I use the tags as kind of a filing system so I can easily find pictures with certain themes (this is why you won’t catch me babbling nonsense in the tags either, I keep that for the personal blog :P)
I use two digital cameras, a Sony and a Casio, so I use the brands to differentiate which pictures I took with which camera.
A young accordeon player plays in the streets of St. Petersburg, 08-05-2013
A beautiful woman in traditional Russian clothing in the museum for wooden architecture in Novgorod, May 2013
Russians don’t smile often in public. A history of hurt, recent hurt even, has left them closed off and very wary of foreigners. Still, if you try, apply yourself, learn a couple words of Russian (no seriously learn a couple words of Russian), you will worm your way through the armour they’ve put up and find hospitality, humour and great pride of their beautiful country. It’s not easy to get to know them, but it’s very rewarding.
