Beautiful Sunday: a walk around the city and a visit to a museum in St. Petersburg

The leaves on the trees invariably appear in early May in our city. This year, March and early April were very warm, and it seemed that the leaves on the trees should also appear early. But that didn't happen, only the cherry blossoms bloomed earlier than usual. Fresh green leaves started to appear at the very end of April and the beginning of May, as they always do.

This day was sunny, but rather cool and windy. It's a little out of the way weather when it's nice to take long walks. So I walked around the city center for a bit and then went to the museum. I walked through the Alexander Garden, it was quite crowded despite the wind. Then I went into a small square near the Winter Palace and admired the fountain, which was recently turned on after being shut down for the winter. This is one of the most touristy places, and there are always dressed-up emperors and empresses strolling around hoping to get their pictures taken with naive tourists.

I reached the Marble Palace to see the equestrian statue of Emperor Alexander III. This statue was originally erected near one of the city's train stations. After the revolution this monument was hurriedly removed from the square and it was bored for a long time in one of the courtyards of the branch of the Central Lenin Museum. Now this monument is installed in front of the entrance to the Marble Palace, in this palace now operates one of the sites of the State Russian Museum.

My goal for today was to visit one of the Hermitage grounds. The main museum complex occupies several palace buildings, linked together, located on the embankment of the Neva River. Nearby is another historic building, the Main Staff, which was given to the Hermitage Museum at the end of the 20th century. Several collections from the main complex were moved to the new building, and the exposition was significantly expanded due to the increased space. Temporary exhibitions are also held in this building.

Most often I find myself on the fourth floor of this building, where the collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings are housed. By the end of a walk through the halls of the fourth floor I find myself so full of impressions that the lower floors remain without my attention. This time I decided to focus my attention on the exhibitions of the third floor.

Sometimes I distracted myself from the exhibitions to have a little rest and look out of the window - for example, at the embankment of the Moika River. After visiting the Hermitage, I drove to the Recreation Park to take a little more walk in the fresh air and admire the pure color of the leaves on the trees.