Smolenskoye Cemetery

I visited the Smolenskoye Cemetery on a frosty New Year's Day. It rivals our Highgate Cemetery for atmosphere being mainly unmaintained and showing damage from the Soviet era. Up to 800,000 people are estimated to have been interred at Smolensky Cemetery before the Russian Revolution, making it the largest 19th-century cemetery of St. Petersburg.
The cemetery is the traditional burial place for academics from St. Petersburg University, actors, writers and artists. I am looking forward to processing these with Silver Effex and getting the best out of the files.

Snow Shower in St Petersburg

I was so excited when it started to snow while I was in Palace Square - only an occasional shower was forecast and that is what we got. However, I couldn't have been in a better place for the snow.
It didn't stay around on the city as it was followed by light drizzle. I took the opportunity to look round an outside art gallery at pictures of St Petersburg in a 'normal' winter.

St Petersburg - Romantic City

As you can see, my main reason for the trip, to photograph St Petersburg in the snow, has failed but it is still a beautiful city even on a grey overcast day. Romance is everywhere - both in the architecture and with the many bridal couples around the city. They have a civil marriage (maybe also a religious service) and then they take to the streets visiting all the main sites in the city's history for photos. At some stage they attach a padlock to a bridge (or tree in Moscow) and throw the key into the river so their union cannot be broken (well that is the theory).