Along the Fontanka river embankment to Alexander Garden

Spring is such a strange time... The sun shines so brightly, as if it decided to compensate for the gloom of winter days in a few weeks. Bright sun, high blue sky, first leaves of tender green colour... But the main rule for a walk on such a beautiful day is not to forget to bring a jacket. Otherwise the icy wind from the bay will quickly spoil all the pleasure of the walk.

The rivers are free of ice, but this is also an illusion of summer scenery. The ice on the rivers has indeed all melted, but the ice drift on the Ladoga Lake side is still ahead, it will start when the cherry blossom blooms. So far, of all the trees blooming in spring, only sakura has blossomed. The news showed a queue of people wishing to admire the blossoming of sakura trees near the Botanical Garden, but I know other places in the city where these amazing trees are planted. I think we should wait a day or two more before going to admire the blossom. In the Botanical Garden the plants are given special care.

Along the Fontanka embankment I reach the terrace that remains from the old tram bridge. Once there was a beautiful metal bridge in this place, specially for horsecar; a little later it was adapted for tram traffic. On the opposite bank two streets come to this place at once, but on my bank there are neither streets nor a square, there is only a narrow embankment. The tram had to make a very steep and unsafe turn when coming off the bridge. Therefore, the tram rails moved to the neighbouring bridge, and this bridge was dismantled. In memory of this bridge, only small terraces remain on the opposite banks of the Fontanka River.

I turn away from the seafront to reach a familiar coffee shop. On the way, I notice a small, pretty garden in the courtyard. The walls of the buildings are decorated with metal ornaments, and the theme of this art object is perfect as a backdrop for the first spring leaves.

The coffee shop is hiding in the archway of the courtyard. Or is it not hiding? Actually, it declares itself quite noticeably and not too modestly. There are drawings, bright lights, and a billboard telling that this is where the best coffee is brewed. I like the name of this coffee shop, ‘coffeemaker’, simple and tasteful. And, of course, I love the coffee. I won't say for the whole city, we have a lot of good coffee shops, but here they really brew very tasty coffee.

Near the Alexander Garden I meet a carriage accompanied by a horseman. Carriages are popular with tourists. It seems to me that they don't help too much to take your imagination back to the XVIII or XIX century, for that you would have to remove all cars from the streets, at least. And also to replace asphalt on paving stones, the movement on asphalt is too smooth and comfortable, little like the constant shaking, which was an indispensable attribute of such trips in the past centuries. But such a walk is a great opportunity to relax a little while continuing to admire the city scenery of the historical centre.

By the way, do you know where carriages park? No mystery, they rest between journeys in garages, just like cars. I once (last summer) met a parked carriage during a walk - probably the break between trips was minimal and it was not put into the garage, it was left for a while on the street nearby.

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Smartphone	Google Pixel 3a
Location	Saint Petersburg, Russia