Or leaving St Petersburg (as it is again.) I liked the alliteration though.

I snatched these through the coach window on the way back to the ship’s berth.

An old bridge over a waterway:-

This one I realised later is on the corner of Nevsky Prospekt at the Anichkov Bridge over the River Fontanka and I had photographed it from the street:-

A Fire Station:-

This is the bridge almost hidden behind the building under construction I photographed from the ship’s prow:-

And this is the one between the ship and the Zenit Arena (aka Krestovsky Stadium) – see same link above:-

Bridge and Krestovsky Stadium:-

Krestovsky Stadium/Zenit Arena plus part of the bridge, also two blurred birds:-

When the coach pulled to a halt for our visit to Nevsky Prospekt in St Petersburg it actually parked up in Ostrovskogo Square (which Wiki has as Ostrovsky Square,) right outside a buidling containing the National Library of Russia Reading Rooms:-

The nameplate on the right is in Cyrillic but the one on the left is written in English, complete with opening hours:-

There was some impressive ironwork on each side of the door:-

View of building down the street:-

In Ostrovskogo Square, just off Nevsky Prospekt.

The building in the background is the Alexandrinsky Theatre:-

A lamppost nearby:-

Planting in Ostrovskogo Square:-

More planting, between the statue of Catherine the Great and the Alexandrinsky Theatre Building.

Victory!

Today is Victory Day. In Russia the end of the Second World War in Europe (what Russians call the Great Patriotic War) is celebrated on May 9^th, not the May 8^th VE Day we know. The Soviet Union, as it then was, was the country that both suffered the most in that war (26.6 million dead) and also did the most to defeat Nazi Germany on the ground.

I’ve seen it suggested that the German surrender to the Allies in the West came late in the evening so that it was one day later in Russia. However that surrender to Eisenhower understandably somewhat miffed the Soviet Union which wanted a surrender of its own, which duly happened the day after, to Marshal Zhukov in Berlin. So May 9^th is Victory Day, ДЕНЬ ПОБЕДЫ (DEN’ POBEDY.)

It is celebrated every year but there were special plans for this year’s 75^th anniversary. As elsewhere, coronavirus put a hold on those.

Just off Nevsky Prospekt, St Petersburg, last year, we found this memorial garden:-

Beyond the tulips in front of the protruding wing of the building the Russian word for VICTORY was picked out in hedging beside a red star. ПОБЕДА:-

Beyond the gates and off to the right was this modern building which was displaying Victory Day banners. My reading of Cyrillic is much too insufficient to decipher what sort of exhibition was taking place inside:-

Eliseyev‘s is a celebrated upmarket grocery on Nevsky Prospekt, built in the Art Nouveau style:-

View up Nevsky Prospekt. Victory Day banner prominent on lamppost:-

The store’s stained glass windows are lovely:-

Fine buildings abound on Nevsky Prospekt:-

Another Victory Day banner here:-

I photographed this one mainly because it now houses a KFC!

Nevsky Prospekt, (or Nevsky Avenyue) is St Petersburg’s main street, running more or less east from the Admiralty Building near the Winter Palace at the River Neva end in the west to the Moscow Railway Station and, after veering slightly southwards at Vosstaniya Square, to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra Monastery. (We didn’t go that far.)

This poster/billboard of Vladimir Putin was on a road leading to the General Staff Building:-

General Staff Building arch, Winter Palace behind:-

The Prospekt itself has many fine buildings like this pinkish grey one with great detailing:-

And something calling itself Grand Palace:-

And this church, set back from the street:-

Part of the way up the south side is this set of colonnades with shops:-

Then there’s the Kazan Cathedral:-

With its fountain:-

The fine building across the street and back a bit is almost hidden away:-