Bridges over the river

April 2013

The Neva river is one of the main rivers in Saint Petersburg.  If you go on a river cruise, you can see some of the beautiful old buildings on both sides of the river, but you also feel the cold and wind, even on a sunny summer's day.

The river is wider than Victoria Harbour in HK.  There is a network of canals running through the city centre, so there are many bridges built over the canals.  The bridges are made of brick, wood, stone, metal and cast iron, and, their height, colour, patterns and structure are different, but they all have a sign showing their height. 

 

There are orange chairs, is my boat,
St. Petersburg, 2013 

As my boat passed under the bridges each time, the local guide would say mind your head, because there was only 2 to 3.8 - meters' headroom; when the river is at high tide, people have to sit down to avoid bending their heads on the bridges, because there was no roof on the upper deck.

When we were sitting in the boat and passing under the bridges, we held up our hands to try to touch the bottom of the bridges and yelled together with excitement.  If anyone was walking over the bridges or wandering on the riverbank, and they heard and saw us, they would wave their hands and smile and say hi, and we would return the greeting.



A group of lovely children chased us,
we waved our hands with greetings,
St. Petersburg, 2013. 

I specially remember a group of children who chased our boat to the end of the riverbank grinning broadly.  I once worried they would fall into the river.

I think laughter bridges the gap between strangers.