A morning walk along the Moika River Embankment and Palace Square

Morning hours are a time when there are unusually few people in the city centre. Everyone is still asleep! You can take your time, you can walk along the granite slabs of the embankment at your own pace, you can stop and look at the facades of buildings and reflections in the calm water. The sun rises early in May, at four o'clock in the morning. Most city dwellers wake up later. I didn't wake up that early either - but still earlier than most of my fellow citizens.

The day promised to be sunny, but the early morning sun had not yet risen high above the horizon. The shadows were soft, and the colour of the sky was blue, but not bright, and a growing, pastel colour. The further I walked, the higher the sun rose, the more contrasting the shadows became, and the more saturated the colour of the sky became. But I saw the real rich blue colour only at the very end of the walk, when I looked up, standing in the arch of the General Staff.

From Nevsky Prospekt I walked along the embankment of the Moika River upstream of the river. The river water reflected the apartment blocks and hotels standing on the opposite side of the river. A long building with a yellow facade and white columns occupied several plots of land at once. The full address of this building is as follows: ‘Moika river embankment, houses 39 - 47; Palace Square, houses 6 - 8’. This building was built by the architect Carlo Rossi in 1819-1829 for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance.

The other facade of this building looks out onto Palace Square We will see this building from a different angle again during this walk, I am going to turn from Moika Embankment to Neva River Embankment at the end of the walk and walk a little bit in the opposite direction to Palace Square. The east wing of this building houses the Hermitage exhibition rooms, you can buy a ticket and go inside. If you take your mind off the museum collections for a while and look out of the window, you will see a panorama of the Moika River.

But first I will continue my walk along the Moika embankment. The sun is getting higher and there are more people on the street. I am overtaken by a group of locals out for a joint morning jog. A small tractor is already rushing to work - perhaps it is going to take part in the repair of the embankment nearby.

I reach the Round Market building, built in the late 18th century by architect Giacomo Quarenghi. Here the river turns right, but I do the opposite - I turn left and a short alley leads me to the embankment of the Neva River. I immediately realise that the idea of going back along the Neva embankment was a bad idea - the sun is not high enough yet and the buildings on the embankment cast a thick shadow. So I rearrange my route and go to Palace Square.

It seems that I am lucky enough to be able to take unique shots, to photograph the almost deserted Palace Square. The time is approaching seven o'clock in the morning, but Palace Square is in no hurry to wake up. Indeed, the museums are still closed - the Hermitage doesn't open until eleven in the morning. I photograph first the Winter Palace, which houses the main entrance and ceremonial halls of the museum, and then the arch of the General Staff. To my left is the entrance to the exhibition halls, where Impressionist works and temporary exhibitions are on display. The sky above the arch of the General Staff is a deep blue colour - the morning is ending, the day is beginning!