Wednesday Walk on a gloomy November day in the Peter and Paul Fortress

November... November is a time when gloomy weather chases away the desire to get out of the house. From the sky falls either fine rain or wet snow. The sky is uniformly grey. Or should I say the sky is variously grey? Light grey, medium grey, dark grey... If I were shooting with a film camera, I wouldn't use colour film in November.

I decided to take a walk in the Peter and Paul Fortress because it is one of the most beautiful locations in the city. The fortress was built in the early 18th century and has preserved in its architecture the mood of a bygone era. The fortress is located on an island, which is connected to the neighbouring island by two wooden bridges. I crossed the St John's Bridge and entered the fortress through the St John's Gate.

St John's Gate serves as an entrance to the eastern ravelin of the fortress. To get to the main part of the fortress you have to pass through one more gate, Petrovsky Gate. From the Petrovsky Gate I immediately turned left and headed towards the Nevsky Gate - the Nevsky Gate is the exit from the fortress to the Neva River. I often leave the fortress through this gate to get to the beach at the outer wall of the fortress. But now the outer wall of the fortress is under repair and the passage to the beach is closed. A lone fisherman stands on the steps down to the water.

In the centre of the Peter and Paul Fortress is the Peter and Paul Cathedral, and next to it several buildings with museum exhibitions. But I turn down a side street and walk towards the Kronverk Bridge. I wrote above that St John's Bridge is a wooden bridge, but that's not quite accurate. It is more correct to say that the bridge has a wooden deck. The supports and girders of the bridge are metal. The second bridge, the Kronverk Bridge, has a similar construction.

The Kronverk Bridge is going to be repaired in the near future. One of the goals of my walk was to approach the Kronverk Bridge and see if the repair work has started. As it turned out, the repair of the bridge has not started yet. Now the builders are busy erecting a double bridge a little upstream. The bridge is unusually lively for such gloomy weather: a group of tourists surround an artist who is painting a cityscape.

I cross the bridge and find myself outside the fortress. I'm going to see another new piece of city infrastructure. A new underground passage was opened this summer. I'm not a big fan of underground crossings because I don't like walking up and down stairs. But this crossing is definitely going to be my favourite. There are no stairs, just smooth ramps.

This is my entry for the #WednesdayWalk challenge by @tattoodjay.