(Source: http://www.hellopiter.ru)

A garden in front of the Admiralty, right in the heart of the city, looks little resembling to a natural oasis. By the way, do not confuse it with the Alexander Park on Petrogradskaya Street as they bear the names of different tsars: the park was named after Alexander I and the garden after Alexander II.

Alexander Garden resembles a wide boulevard with very old trees, benches and a fountain in the middle. In fact, once it was Admiralteysky Boulevard. However, it is unclear how walkıng wıthin it, little by little switches off the urban bustle till some loss of time.

Monuments of different eras united together in the Alexander Garden as naturally as types of townspeople and visitors sitting on the benches. You can come across a great variety of characters there: from classic mummas with kids to Japanese casual travelers; from youngsters with iPads to melancholic old ladies; from provincial couples, – the girl wears leopard design, boyfriend carries her handbag and both enjoy the beer, – two young sailors.

 At the beginning and the end of the garden-boulevard rise the pedestals of statues of Hercules and Flora, relocated here from Tavrichesky Palace (now, sculptures are taken for restoration, and lamp lights at the bottom enigmatically aim at granite rectangles); the fountain is surrounded by a ring  of the busts of Glinka, Lermontov, Gogol and Gorchakov; at southern corner there is a properly functioning toilet, built in typical pseudo-Russian style during the reign of Alexander III, and in the middle of the garden stands conspicuously the big bust of Przhevalsky in dress coat, at the pedestal of which lays a camel.

People take pictures in front of it, but the best angle is from a distance aside, from where two proud profiles can be seen. The line of Galernaya Street is considered to be the border of Alexander Garden from the side of Senatskaya Square. Almost at this line, if you stop and look around, you can fall out of modern times of gasoline and asphalt, even though it is two steps away. On one side the arch of connected buildings of Senate and Synod opens up the prospect of the Galernaya Street. On the other is Bronze Horseman; Neva and Menshikov's Chamber at the opposite bank. On the third is western facade of the Admiralty. On the fourth are angels and apostles of St. Isaac's Cathedral and comparatively small figures of people climbing up the colonnade. The setting sun highlights the sparkles on the Bronze Horseman's pedestal; creates amazing, dense, gold, almost tangible light and feeling of tender warmth very rare for the city of St.Petersburg. Of course, if you will be lucky to see the sun at all: the weather here is infamous.