Wednesday Walk before the rain

The sun was shining brightly outside, but the weather forecast promised rain, rain and rain again. I decided to take a short walk around the central part of the city: along the Neva River embankment, Alexander Gardens - and beyond, depending on the weather. If it started to rain, I would walk to one of the bus stops nearby and go home.

I started my walk on Konnogvardeyskiy boulevard. You can see from this photo that it really was a sunny morning. If I hadn't read the weather forecast, I could have been in a tricky situation.

The weather began to change when I reached the end of the boulevard. I turned toward the Neva River and watched the blue sky quickly become covered in a pall of clouds. The building on the left is the Senate and Synod building. Two young artists are painting a view of St Isaac's Cathedral. Hopefully they had time to finish their drawings before the rain started.

Although the sky on the river side was covered with clouds almost entirely, on the other side the sky was still blue with occasional white clouds. People were lounging on the lawns of the Alexander Gardens, strolling through the alleys, admiring the flowers. The darkening horizon didn't seem to bother anyone.

I reached the Neva River embankment and saw the swirling clouds and the wall of rain approaching from the bay. The rain was still quite far away and I decided to walk along the embankment until it caught up with me.

The promenade widens at this point and the café took advantage of the free space to set up the tables of the summer terrace. Binoculars allow you to take a closer look at the waterfront views. A seagull has taken over the observation deck on the top edge of the binoculars. It was the seagull I wanted to photograph, but I couldn't get closer: the seagull started to worry and flew away.

There's always a lot of people wanting to take pictures near the monument to the Carpenter Tsar. This monument is not as solemn as other monuments to Emperor Peter the Great, and you can choose a place for a photo not at the foot of the pedestal, but next to the figure of the emperor.

I kept walking along the embankment and the clouds gradually caught up with me. The blue sky and bright sun were just a memory, and I decided it was time to call it a day.

I swerved onto the embankment of the Winter Canal, toward the bus stop. As it turned out, my timing was perfect: I had barely made it to the bus stop pavilion before it started to rain.

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