Hi friends, I'm going to start my story with a fair warning. Although the post is called "A Walk to Derzhavin Manor," the idea to get to this manor arose spontaneously, it was not planned. Moreover, I could not make any plans for this walk in advance at all. It went like this. For several days we had been promised a severe cold snap, down to -20°C or even colder. In the morning, before choosing clothes for the walk and going outside, I opened a website with weather predictions to adjust my plans.
To be precise, I looked at two sites. I always do: one of these sites is more accurate in predicting temperature, the other is more accurate in predicting precipitation. I don't know why that is - but it is, knowledge gained from experience. Usually the weather forecasts on these two sites are almost identical, but not this time. I saw with great amazement that one site promises me -12°C and the other -18°C. This is a significant difference.
For those of my friends who live in hot countries, these numbers probably remain just numbers. For those friends who live in cold countries with continental climates, these numbers are meaningful, but they are used to perceiving cold weather differently. So I will tell you a little about how frosty weather is perceived in our city, and why the number -18°C did not appeal to me so much.
St. Petersburg is located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland (a bay in the eastern part of the Baltic Sea). It rains a lot in the city and the humidity is almost always high. Because of the high humidity, the frosty weather is hard to perceive. I find the limit of more or less comfortable temperatures is around -17°C if there is no strong wind. At -10°C or -12°C you can safely walk if you wear the right clothes. But when the thermometer goes below -17°C, it becomes cold to breathe.
The outdoor thermometer has been fixed to the frame of my window for years. But last summer I took it off to wash it down and never put it back. That seemed redundant since the internet always provided me with detailed weather information! Well, I regretted not pinning the thermometer back up, but that late regret couldn't change the situation.
So, I couldn't choose the right clothes and I couldn't make a walking plan, I had to rely on improvisation. I decided to dress warmer, and walk forward until I was cold. I started the walk from the mouth of the Fontanka River. You may recall that a few weeks ago you and I were walking at sunset along the Fontanka River embankment and admiring the beautiful views. That time we were walking in the middle course of that river, but this time we were near the mouth.
Pretty soon I realized that the site that promised me more or less mild weather was right, the frost outside was quite bearable. I walked along the embankment and breathed in the fresh, frosty air. The river water was frozen, and I saw that someone had already decided to test the strength of this ice: a chain of footprints could be seen on the ice below.
It was early evening. Soon the streetlights began to come on. I turned briefly into one of the alleys along the road to check out a water pipe sculpture. This sculpture was made by a local plumber in his spare time. It is called "Peacocks".
At the same time I visited an old plate with apartment numbers in a nearby yard. In our city you often find strange, illogical numbering of apartments, but this is a unique case, in this yard there are two apartments on different floors with the same number.
I went back to the embankment. On the Egyptian Bridge, I walked up to the sphinxes. These sculptures had recently returned to their place after restoration work, and the sphinx skins looked remarkably clean and well-groomed.
The farther I walked, the bluer and darker the sky ahead grew. The sunset was burning behind me. Occasionally I looked back to take a picture of the view toward the sunset.
As I looked ahead again, I noticed the bright lights on the opposite shore. The bright glow of the lanterns seemed to invite me to come closer. I wasn't sure if the grounds of the homestead were open to visitors on this day. But the light was so bright and inviting that I decided to walk at least as far as the gate.
To my delight, the gates of the manor house turned out to be hospitably open. This manor was built in 18th century and belonged to Gavriil Derzhavin, Russian Enlightenment poet, statesman, senator.
On the territory of the estate there is a mansion, several wings, orangery and garden. The museum works in this manor now. The interiors have been carefully restored, and walking through the halls of the mansion or the paths of the garden you can be transported back to the XVIII century.
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| Smartphone | Google Pixel 3a |
| Location | Saint Petersburg, Russia |
This is my entry for the #WednesdayWalk challenge by 