Third Wednesday: Part 1
The 18th of February and after a good night’s sleep we woke to take on day two in St Petersburg. After taking full advantage of our hotel’s buffet breakfast and wrapping up warm, we set off to carry out a planned visit to one of the city's main attractions. Pleased to see that there had been a little fresh snowfall overnight we crossed the river on foot, heading for Nevsky Prospect. Nevsky is one of the best known streets in Russia, not only for its array of historic buildings, but also for being the city’s central shopping street and the hub of entertainment and night-life. When we reached Kazan Cathedral near the Griboyedov Canal we turned off of Nevsky to follow the water towards the object of our plan for the day. Below is a view looking back along the banks of Griboyedov Canal towards Kazan Cathedral. The building on the right with the glass dome is the Singer company Building, former HQ of the singer sewing machine company, now a large book shop, Dom Knigi - ‘House of the book’.
Turning our attention back to our plan we headed down the canal bank and through a flurry of snow could now see the building we intended to visit, The Church of our Saviour on Spilled Blood. The spilled blood was that of Emperor Alexander II who in 1881 was mortally wounded in a bomb attack on the spot where the church now stands as a memorial to him.
Finally reaching our objective we took fifteen minutes or so walking around the outside of the stunning building, taking in its beauty on all sides.
Pictured below: The canal bank was extended into the path of the water so that the church could literally be built over the spot where the Emperor’s blood was spilled.
After giving the outside a good looking at and by now needing to get out of the cold we headed to the main door to go inside, there our plan for the day ground to a halt. The place was closed, as it turns out it is on the third Wednesday of every month. Still needing to warm up, we shuffled off in search of a Café.