Helsinki-Yekaterinburg. Red Dawn Above the Clouds

After leaving Helsinki just after midnight, our plane turned east over the Gulf of Finland. I was ready to go to sleep, but after about 20 minutes I looked out the window and found the central part of St. Petersburg below. When I flew to Helsinki, we passed much south of the northern capital, which was also wrapped in morning fog, so I didn't expect to see anything interesting on the way back, and I didn't prepare in advance. Almost the entire Vasilyevsky Island was clearly visible now, and I hurriedly reached into my photo bag. While I frantically unzipped it, took out the camera and telephoto lens, and adjusted it to its working position, Vasilevsky's arrow with the brightly lit Exchange building was in the lower-left corner of the space available for shooting. To the right, the Palace Bridge goes down from it, behind which the brightly lit facade of the Winter Palace stands out. On the contrary, across the Neva River is the Peter and Paul Fortress with a white spot in the center - the cathedral of the same name, whose tower has become a symbol of the city. Behind the canal that protects the fortress from the rear, you can see the horseshoe of Kronverk - now the artillery museum is located there. To the right of Petropavlovsk, Troitsky Bridge, better known to me as Kirovsky, Petrovskaya Embankment, going to Bolshaya Nevka. The cruiser Aurora has always been stationed here, but now it is in the Kronstadt dock, undergoing another repair, where the remains of the authenticity of this legendary ship will probably be completely lost. Then we see the Liteyny Bridge, the bend of the Neva River and the brightly lit arches of the Bolsheokhtinsky (locals always called it simply Okhtinsky) bridge. Below is the Alexander Nevsky Bridge, which connects to the Palace Square with the bright line of Nevsky Prospekt.

The horizon to the north has not turned dark during the entire flight - the time of white nights is approaching.

And closer to 4 o'clock in the morning, the first signs of the rising sun appeared.

This is already the Urals-we are flying over Perm. Under the wing of the Kama reservoir. On the right - the mouth of the Chusovaya River.

Now let's watch the sun's disk begin to rise over the horizon.

For a brief moment, everything turned into stunning colors.

The clouds below us are getting lighter and turning pink.

Our flight took place along the northern highway, which is mainly used for transit flights. Approaching the Ural Mountains, the plane turned to the southeast.

20 minutes before landing, the plane began to descend and the morning sun disappeared behind cirrus clouds.

Small towns in the western part of the Sverdlovsk Region can be seen through the lower layer of light cloud cover.

The sun is still very low on the horizon and highlights the top layer of clouds from below, forming a beautiful combination of blue and red colors.

Under the wing - the south-eastern suburbs of Yekaterinburg. I had to shoot on a soap dish, because the DSLR with a telephoto lens was strongly demanded by the conductor to be put in the luggage and stood over the shower until I fastened the trunk and put it under the seat. I must say, this is the first time this has happened, I used to shoot it without problems both on takeoff and landing.

I caught the moment of landing on video.

The plane taxied to one of the gates of the international terminal of Koltsovo Airport. Disembarkation of hundreds of passengers did not take long, there was also no queue at passport control, and luggage appeared on the tape about 15 minutes after landing. Surprisingly, my backpack crawled out in the first rows, although the things of transit passengers are usually loaded first, and unloaded, respectively, last. Not giving up the hope of getting on the only bus going from the airport directly to Nevyansk, I hurried to the bus ticket office (located in the very right corner of the terminal building, there is also a railway ticket office and taxi booking).