January 19th 2014
59.99233° N / 29.78160° E
1° F / -17° C
I awoke long before sunrise, (which is no great feat considering the sun does not give us his company until around 10:45am) gathered my gear, noted that it was 1° outside and made my way downstairs. Getting to the front door it took me sometime to get it open, the lock at frozen shut and I resorted to using my key to scrape enough ice off of the deadbolt as to allow me passage.
Making my way through the frozen streets, which stood absolutely still due largely to the fact that it was Sunday. I trekked down towards the water when I reached the pier and its lonely white lighthouse (which I focused on in my previous post) I turned right and walked past a row of canons pointing towards a large empty pool that was wasn’t used to repair ships. On my right I pass the Kronstadt Tide Gauge (which I will be writing about on a future date) heading onward still I was looking for a place I had seen on google maps that might give me access to the sea. the Russian Army still occupies many of the buildings on the island and waterfronts and many more are still owned by the Russian Army and in abandon.
Finally I come to a dirt lot that gives clear access to the frozen beach. Making my way down I see footprints scattered across the ice from the previous day much like I had seen on the other side of the island the previous day where people were riding snowmobiles, quads and hiking far out on the ice. Unlike the other side of the island this side had water on top of the ice in several locations, I walked out a few feet and heard a deep slow cracking sound that convinced me I should walk swiftly back towards the shore (in my defense this was only the second time in my life I had walked on ice over a body of water, the first time being the previous day). Drudging along the beach I hoped to get out far enough to see one of the lighthouses that sat on a small island in the bay the beach ended at a four foot high wall and embankment that ran a good distance out to a building or dock like structure.
As I walked along the narrow path that was the walls top I saw several fishing ships slowly sailing in the darkness followed by a large black Battleship. The fishing ships found their spots and stopped as the Battleship slowly made his way around them making quick work of the nights frozen sea I stopped and help my breath hoping to hear the ice’s defeat but the sound never came. The dark vessel slowly made his way out of sight.
Reaching the end of the wall I was met by a large chained fence that was laced with barbed wire it had been running parallel to me at the top of the embankment. At several points I notice it had been cut and pulled back exposing an additional chained and barbed fence just inside the first much like you would see at a prison. While the fence did come to an end and did not continue along the top of the cement structure I decided I had walked this far I might as well scale the wall and continue the additional thirty feet where I could try and see the lighthouse I was hunting. Added by a pile of, I have no idea because it was covered in show, I climbed the wall and stayed low once on top (as there were a number of other Battleships at a pier not far way. Sitting on the edge behind a pile of smashed lifeboats finally at the end of land, I had an uninterrupted view. I could see the lighthouse in its classic posture but it too was silent. A small beacon closer to me was the only movement on the water.
By this time the sky was a brilliant cobalt blue and after some time and some photographs the temperature of a single degree was getting to me. Shuffling back the ice began to talk and as I hurried to take out my recorder it went silent. Church bells chimed in the distance and the sounds of construction that had begun echoed through the harbor but the Ice, he had nothing to say (until I put my recorder away of course). Walking back the city was awake and alive and ready for their day.
(all photos by j.frede / all rights reserved)
