wednesday walk at Karpovka river: watching icedrift, seagulls, angel and other encounters

April 2023 · 5 min read · Saint Petersburg

This is a post to go with #WednesdayWalk challenge by @tattoodjay

I walked along the embankment of the Karpovka River - I looked at how much ice was left in the river, sneaked closer to the seagulls ... I met an angel! And, generally, did look around well.

This part of the city is not very far from my office, but far from where I live, I don't get here very often. But nevertheless, this is one of our favorite places to walk - the city's Botanical Park is located nearby, as well as our favorite coffee shop. But we won’t go to the park today, but about the coffee house... I won’t get ahead of myself :)

I was not the only one admiring the wonderful views of drifting ice - a flock of gulls did it with me.

And one of them even agreed to pose for me a little!

However, she did not lose her caution and let me in no closer than one and a half meters. Yes, I forgot to tell you: going for a walk, I put two lenses in my backpack: a wide-angle 16-35, and a telephoto 70-200mm. If it weren't for this step... I wouldn't have been able to capture either the portrait of the seagull or close views of the ice.
This is the closest distance I was allowed to approach (capture made with 200mm). On the left: cropped and unresized image. Now you can look into her eyes!

Ice...

Ruined ice palaces, whole walls and small details, individual bricks and fragments... endless variety! besides, it is not silent: when there is a lot of ice, the ice floes collide with each other, rub and make interesting crystal sounds.

Trivia, but a pleasurable and meditative sight for your eyes.

Especially with sea gulls animating it!

In the beginning of the story I promised you an angel, right? here we go:

This encounter was unexpected -- and a bit sad. There exist many different monuments at St.Petersburg, and I would say that among other things, town habitants especially adore lions and angels ... both of which are especially common. I will definitely tell you the story about lions -- some other day, when I get inspired for a long post. As for this one... its author is theater artist Roman Shustrov. He populated the city with a dozen of wonderful angels; he died in May 2020 in the midst of the coronovirus bacchanalia, and this mournful angel is dedicated to the memory of all the doctors who died struggling this pandemic...

Эта встреча была неожиданной -- и грустной... В Петербурге есть разные памятники, я бы сказал что львы и ангелы обитателям города особенно нравятся: и те и другие встречаются особенно часто. Про львов расскажу в другой раз, когда вдохновлюсь для длинного поста. А что касается этого памятника...

Его автор -- театральный художник, кукольник и скульптор Роман Шустров, он населил наш город несколькими чудесными ангелами ... и умер в мае 2020 года, в разгар вакханалии короновируса. Этот грустный, скорбный ангел посвящен памяти всех медиков, погибших от этой пандемии.

And here is a photo of the artist himself, along with his another famous angel
(this photo was not taken by me, the source:
https://pro100-mica.livejournal.com/413223.html)

Just in case, for the city visitors willing to see him, I tell where you can find him: he sits on a bench at the Medikov Avenue and the embankment of the Karpovka River crossing.

Further on, I found myself at the playground, and immediately took selfie in one of these polished metal balls.

I'm not completely sure that are designed exactly for this ... anyway, the selfie turned out to be interesting, but you will hardly be able to see my portrait!

Said playground had an interesting swing - with a thick rope as a seat, designed for several people to use it at once; not only children, but also adults were willing to have fun on such swings!

Very funny thing! never saw one like this before. And it had this fantastic shadow, reminding me of some giant snake.

And at this point our tired feet said 'enough', my companion and I headed to the coffee shop located not too far from this area. Actually, we planned in advance to visit this coffee shop (which we consider one of the most pleasant places in the city, that's exactly why we found ourselves at the Karpovka embankment...)

It's a spacious place, it occupies two floors of a cool industrial loft... but that's a completely different story! In the meantime, let me tease you 😋 with my cup of capuccino.