Russia is a centralized state and, unfortunately, this is primarily expressed about the redistribution of income and wealth, and transport logistics too. You can make flights from Moscow anywhere, unlike Volgograd. Since I live in Moscow, I decided to use this advantages of centralization. I spent the accumulated days of vacation on a trip to St. Petersburg and Kazan. I have never been to Kazan before.

On this visit to St. Petersburg I stopped in the historic district next to St. Isaac’s Cathedral. I attached a few photos of my walks:

Ilford Kentmere 400

Kodak TriX 400

In St. Petersburg I found a suitable cafe to calmly drink coffee and maybe even a snack. F. Volchek`s bakery located in almost every district of the city. And in the city center, by the way, bakeries located on almost every corner of the avenues when I have the thought of resting.

There are much fewer people in the morning, so for me a morning promenade look differently. The usual fast pace of a metropolis can be changed to a slow walking step.

A bit of color:

Kodak Portra 160

And of course I didn’t pass by the well-yards:

One morning I walked around the old cemetery of the XVIII-XIX centuries, on which the Russian classics, as well as counts & countesses of the past times rest.

More film photos from walks:

Agfaphoto APX 400

I also visited the old Lutheran church of St. Anna, which was not restored after the fire. More precisely, the only interior has not been restored – now it is “Gothic.” Various concerts and fairs are show here.

Agfaphoto APX 400

In general, I decided to arrange a cultural weelends for myself. For a week and a half, I visited three theaters, the cinema of the famous Angleterre Hotel, as well as an exhibition of Repin’s works and old street photographers. I do not disdain to use the camera of the smartphone:

Huawei P10 + Summarit-H 1:2.2/27 ASPH

The outskirts of St. Petersburg were also not left without my attention, which will be discussed next. Gatchina is a small and old town with a large palace of the same name. Suddenly, the autumn temperature above zero(!) and the dry streets gave way to a snowy landscape with a river, which is partially covered with thin ice (the distance between cities can be measured by the hour of the journey in an electric train.)

Ilford Kentmere 400

This small “castle” is an adobe building. The Priory Castle is the only surviving an adobe structure in the Russia. According to the architect’s plan, it was supposed to stand for about fifty years, no more, but “castle” stands for more than two hundred years.

The palace is boring and austere – it was badly damaged during the war, and the interiors have not yet been restored. But the park is wonderful:

Another day I was in Vyborg. This is non-touristy time, albeit dank time is much better – not souls in the streets.

Agfaphoto APX 400

In one of the streets, when I was aiming a camera at a cat on a tree by me, an elderly woman suddenly passed and said something like: “What are you “ticking, ticking” – go away, go to “ticking” in another place… spies.” I did not hear the word that she called what did I do, although she repeated it several times. It seemed to me that she said it in another language, maybe in Finnish or Lithuanian. The cat was frightened of the old woman and instantly jumped to the ground, and I did not have time to take picture.

Find a cat.

The flight to Kazan took even longer than the train from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Of course, taking into account all the preparations.

Kazan is an ancient city that was not damaged during the WWII. Also here is the homeplace of the Tatars – one of the nationality formed during the Mongol invasion of Ancient Russia. Before the invasion, Bulgars lived here, who are now fully assimilated. Tatars are the modern Bulgars, although they are the “new nationality” formed after the invasion of the Mongols. In childhood, it was a discovery for me that the asian Tatars (a completely different nationality who lived next to the Mongols closer to modern China) were enemies to the Mongols and the latter almost exterminated them.

Night Kazan. Ilford delta 3200

Streets in the center of Kazan in excellent condition – so low-rise and clean. True, for me this is more a sign of a quiet province than a turbulent river of an industrial / economic center. According to colleagues, this was not always the case: they visited Kazan 5-6 years ago and found her in extremely poor condition.

The newly built Kul-Sharif Cathedral Mosque looks richly and lonely:

From the my photos it looks like Kazan is a completely Muslim city, but this is not so. I got used to the Orthodox churches and even to the Lutheran Kirchs, which is even in Volgograd, so I photographed mosques – they are new to me. By the way, the Orthodox churches in the city are no less, if not more it, and some of them came to my photos earlier.

Having visited different cities of Russia, I realized that the inhospitable climate can be well compensated by adequate infrastructure: good roads, parks and good building facades. But when there is neither one nor the other, then you perfectly understand why the people of my country drink so much. It’s impossible to force yourself to even get out of bed when you see the prospect of dirty roads, devastation and wet weather.