Different ships - sailing ships, yachts, motor
ships arrive in St. Petersburg for the celebration. Looking through the
pictures I shot these days, I realized that they were enough to make a
subject album. However, before moving on I would like to finish with the
water show and festival that took place on the 31st of May.
On the 31st of May after the parade of
orchestras about which I told you in the previous album, the water show
with fireworks and laser show should have been repeated (by analogy with
27th of May).
On the same day different eminent guests (presidents and prime ministers
from the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Europe,
USA) arrived. It's evident, that the repetition was for them too.But it
turned out even more interesting:
Around 3 pm a very large part
of the city center was cordoned off by the police and domestic forces.
So you couldn't get close to the Neva River between Troitskii bridge and
the bridge of Lieutenant Schmidt, not even for a kilometer. They stopped
people at the Novaya Golandia, Moika, Mihailovskii Castle.
So everything that was shown (according to the live broadcast it
was very beautiful) was shown only for presidents, journalists and
"elite".
If you happened to watch it you could see that the quays of
Neva, the beach of the Peter and Paul fortress complex, bridges and
Strelka were deserted.
Why don't they fence in a piece of quay for the
guests? Even I who have lived in Russia the whole life was puzzled.
Around ten thousand people wandered around the cordons. They couldn't
believe that the center of the city is closed for them. The cordon was
removed around 4 o'clock in the morning.
The screenshots of the live
broadcasting. St Petersburg TV. The upper picture is about the water
show, the lower one is about the laser show. As for live broadcasting of
ballet and fireworks in Petergof it was almost the same: the park was
inaccessible for common people.
Enough about the sad things.
Let's go back to the promised sailing ships.
In the picture you can
see a training ship "Nadezhda" (Hope) that is making a circumnavigation
and now is moored near the Lieutenant Schmidt quay.
The sailing ship belongs to the Far-Eastern State Naval University and
represents Vladivostok city during the St. Petersburg three-hundredth
anniversary.
Its length - 109.4 meters
Width - 14 meters
The height of the mainmast above the water line - 49,6 meters
The crew - 199
"Yunii baltiets"(St Petersburg ) is a
rather small training ship. It is moored near "Nadezhda"
"Yunii
baltiets" belongs to the "Palace for Children Creative work"
(translator's note: Palaces for Children Creative work or Pioneer Homes
(in the USSR times) are state organizations, a complexes of different
craft societies)
The celebrations don't disturb fishing :)
On the 25th and 26th of May I with my
friends was invited to the sailing ship "Khersones", that was moored
near the Port arrival and departure building in the Harbour.
Another ship was moored there. 25th of May it had a name "ASTORIA"...
...but 27th it was renamed "ASTOR".
Should note, that on the other side of it, the inscription also changed.
Quoting Sherlock Holmes in the "Hound of Baskervilles" (russian version
of the movie):
"One should only start studying family portraits and he will
believe in transmigration" : )
(translator's note: the quotation is translated)
However, later I've learned that it was the different ships :)
My visit to this ship was connected with
the display of photos. The Germans, who seemed to rent the ship
organized a kind of a meeting between German and Russian
businessmen/intellectuals, wanted to show the photos by a video
projector.
The vessel in spite of being a sailing
ship, was equipped with very modern equipment. It had several locators.
But the ropes were pulled by people's hands, not by machines.
In the background you can see a church on
the Gutuevskii island.
By the way, it's interesting that you can't approach the ships moored at
the Port arrival and departure building because it's a frontier zone
there. You should give your foreign passport to a customs official and
he hands you a book that gives you a "right to be in the frontier zone"
Well, you feel almost abroad : )
The sailing ship "Khersones" belongs to
Ukraine, its home port is Kerch.
The crew is mainly Ukrainian as far as I can judge.
Looks like the open sea : )
The wind in
the Harbour is quite perceptible
Later on I'll show you some of the famous buildings that were restored
