Wednesday Walk: Catherine Park in Tsarskoye Selo at night

Hello friends, today I would like to tell you about an unusual walk. I think that not only tourists, but also locals very rarely walk through the parks of Tsarskoye Selo late at night. It is a strange but very interesting walk. Late in the evening the parks are sparsely populated. Sometimes it even seemed to me that I was standing alone on the bank of the pond and admiring this landscape... but after a few minutes I noticed other people walking there. It wasn't crowded, but it wasn't so empty that I felt lonely on the unknown paths of the dark park.

The idea to check till what time the parks of Tsarskoye Selo were open came to me because I wanted some kind of variety. It gets dark early in winter. In January the daylight hours are a little longer than in December, but the length of daylight hours is still not enough for pleasant evening walks: by six o'clock in the evening it is completely dark, and the last colours of sunset burn out earlier. It would be logical to assume that suburban parks close soon after dark. There are no lanterns in the parks - who would want to walk around in the dark?

I opened the Tsarskoselsky Museum website and was very pleased to discover that Catherine's Park, the ceremonial park of the Tsar's residence, is open for strolls until 9pm. It remained to come and see for myself what this park looked like in the dark.

I approached the park from the side of the Catherine Palace. This palace is also called the Grand Palace of Tsarskoye Selo. Construction of the palace began in the 18th century, the main architect being the famous architect Francesco Rastrelli. The palace's richly decorated facades in the Elizabethan Baroque style are brightly lit and can be admired at any time of day or night. I walked along the palace facade to the Cameron Gallery.

The Cameron Gallery is probably my favourite pavilion at Tsarskoye Selo. This gallery was built in the late 18th century, designed by the Scottish architect Charles Cameron. I climbed the stairs, decorated with antique sculptures, to view the park from above and map out a walking route.

First, I peered into the landscape of the park to see if the park pavilions were illuminated. Only one of them, the Hermitage Pavilion, was brightly lit. All the other pavilions were lost in the shade, and I could only make out their contours.

It was not, however, completely dark in the park; the sky was illuminated by the street lights of the surrounding streets, and the snow on the trees and lawns acted as a reflector. The brightest spot in the park was near the Great Pond, the flat snow-covered surface as if it were glowing.

I started my walk in the park as I reached the Hermitage Pavilion, then came to the Palace Kitchen pavilion, then turned toward the Gothic-style structures: the Admiralty, the Gothic Gate, the ruin tower.

Slowly I circled around the park and found myself on the opposite side of the Catherine Palace. I had expected the place to be particularly quiet and deserted in the late afternoon, but I was wrong. There was a ice skating rink outside the museum administration building, and you could buy hot tea and buns there as well. It was very timely - the usual tourist cafes outside with souvenirs are hardly open at this time.

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Smartphone	Google Pixel 3a
Location	Saint Petersburg, Russia

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