Rise Up

The bridges of St. Petersburg go up at night in the summer. The big boats crawl through the Malaya Neva (the little neva river) then, the sailors on their decks, leaned against sterns and masts, returning from long voyages or maybe heading out for months, watch the revellers on the river bank hurtling fire through the ever-dusk of the white nights, drinking, smiling, and dancing their celebration.These photos were taken during the summer solstice. It was the longest day of the year, though due to some unexpected cloud cover, the night wasn't near as bright as I had hoped. Still there were many of us out at 3am that night, including busloads of Mexican tourists who i chatted with about Russia for a while. This is this view of St. Petersburg State University across the Malaya Neva. The bridge, Dvortsovy Most (Palace Bridge) is set to raise in minutes.
The anticipation builds....the bridge inches upwards to cheers and hoots by the hordes of spectators nearby. Small tourist vessels flood through the gap, their passengers afforded an ants eye view of the massive soviet coggery in action.
The bridge, along with its comrades across the city, is fully upright now, effectively shutting vasilievsky ostroff off from the city center and mainland. We are distinct boroughs for the rest of the night. Krystoffsky Ostroff, Petrogradskaya, Vailievsky. No metro, no cabs, no cars, no tramvias will cross water 'til morning.