Learn Hardcore Russian: Эта туристка обычно ходит по набережной и фотографирует памятник. - This tourist usually walks along the embankment and takes pictures of the monument.

Туристка is the specifically feminine form of турист (tourist).
Russian adjectives and demonstrative pronouns must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

эта – feminine, singular, nominative
туристка – feminine, singular, nominative

If you were talking about a male tourist, you would say:

этот турист – этот (masc.) + турист (masc.)

So эта туристка literally means this (female) tourist.

What is the exact nuance of обычно here? Is it like English “usually”?

Yes, обычно means usually / normally / as a rule.

In this sentence:

обычно ходит… и фотографирует… = (she) usually walks… and (usually) takes photos…

It describes a habitual action, something she does regularly, not just once.
Grammatically, it’s an adverb and doesn’t change its form.

Why is обычно placed before ходит? Can I put it somewhere else?

The neutral, most common position for обычно is before the main verb:

Эта туристка обычно ходит…

Other possible positions:

Обычно эта туристка ходит по набережной… – puts more emphasis on usually (contrast: not always, but usually).
Эта туристка ходит обычно по набережной… – possible, but sounds a bit marked; can sound like you are stressing the manner/frequency of her walking.

You cannot put обычно at the very end without sounding odd:

✗ Эта туристка ходит по набережной и фотографирует памятник обычно. – sounds unnatural in standard Russian.

So the original word order is the most natural.

What’s the difference between ходит and идёт? Why is it ходит here?

Both are forms of the verb идти / ходить (to go, to walk), but:

идти – unidirectional, movement in one direction, usually happening right now or in one instance:
- Она идёт по набережной. – She is (currently) walking along the embankment.
ходить – multidirectional / habitual:
- repeated or regular action
- movement back and forth or in various directions

Here we are describing a habit (what she usually does), so Russian prefers ходить:

Эта туристка обычно ходит по набережной… – This tourist usually walks along the embankment… (as a regular activity).

Could we use гулять instead of ходить? Would it change the meaning?

You could say:

Эта туристка обычно гуляет по набережной…

гулять focuses more on strolling / walking for pleasure, not just physically going somewhere.

Nuance:

ходит по набережной – more neutral: she walks along the embankment (could be for exercise, to get somewhere, or just routine).
гуляет по набережной – suggests leisurely walking, strolling.

Both are grammatically correct; the original with ходит is slightly more neutral.

Why is it по набережной and not something like на набережной or вдоль набережной?

All three are possible but have different nuances:

по набережной (with dative) – emphasizes movement along/around within the area of the embankment/promenade:
- ходить по набережной – to walk along the embankment (covering its length, moving around there).
на набережной – literally on the embankment, focuses more on location, not movement:
- Она стоит на набережной. – She is standing on the embankment.
вдоль набережной – literally along the embankment, stressing the line next to it:
- Она идёт вдоль набережной. – She walks along the embankment (along its edge/side).

In idiomatic Russian, ходить по набережной is the standard way to say walk along the embankment as an area you move around in.

Why is набережной in this form? What case is it, and what does the ending -ой mean?

Набережной here is in the dative singular.

The preposition по in the meaning “along / around (within an area)” usually takes the dative case:

по чему? – по набережной

The noun:

набережная – nominative singular, feminine (-ая ending)
набережной – dative singular, feminine (-ой ending)

So the ending -ой here is the typical dative singular ending for many feminine nouns in -ая.

Why is there no comma before и in ходит по набережной и фотографирует памятник?

In Russian, when you have one subject with two verbs sharing that subject, and there is no separate clause, you normally do not put a comma before и:

Эта туристка (subject)
- ходит по набережной (verb phrase 1)
- и фотографирует памятник (verb phrase 2)

This is a compound predicate, not two separate clauses, so:

Эта туристка обычно ходит по набережной и фотографирует памятник. – no comma.

Why is it фотографирует памятник and not something like делает фотографии памятника? Is there a difference?

Both are possible, but:

фотографировать (что?) – to photograph / to take a photo of something:
- фотографирует памятник – she photographs the monument / takes pictures of the monument.
делать фотографии (чего?) – to make/take photographs of:
- делает фотографии памятника – she takes photos of the monument.

The original фотографирует памятник is more compact and direct and is the standard way to say take photos of a monument in Russian.
делать фотографии can sound a bit more descriptive or formal.

Why is фотографирует (imperfective) used instead of сфотографирует (perfective)?

Aspect in Russian:

фотографировать – imperfective: process, repeated, habitual action.
сфотографировать – perfective: a single, completed act of photographing.

The sentence describes what she usually does (a habit), so Russian uses the imperfective:

обычно фотографирует памятник – she usually takes photos of the monument (habitually, many times).

If you used сфотографирует, it would sound like talking about one future completed action:

Завтра эта туристка сфотографирует памятник. – Tomorrow this tourist will photograph the monument (once).

What case is памятник, and why does it look like the dictionary form?

Памятник is in the accusative singular and is the direct object of the verb фотографировать:

фотографировать (кого? что?) памятник – to photograph what? the monument.

For inanimate masculine nouns, the accusative singular form is identical to the nominative singular:

nominative: памятник (a monument)
accusative: памятник (photograph the monument)

So it looks like the dictionary form, but its function here is direct object (accusative).

Why doesn’t Russian use articles here, like “this a tourist” or “the monument”?

Russian has no articles (a/an/the).
Definiteness or indefiniteness is usually understood from context, word order, and pronouns.

In this sentence:

эта туристка – эта (“this”) already makes туристка specific/definite.
памятник – could be translated as “the monument” or “a monument” depending on context.

Typical translations:

Эта туристка обычно ходит по набережной и фотографирует памятник.
- This tourist usually walks along the embankment and photographs the monument.
- or: …and takes pictures of a monument.

English forces you to choose a/the, but Russian leaves it implied.

What is the overall word order type here? Is Russian SVO like English?

The sentence uses SVO (Subject–Verb–Object), which matches English:

Эта туристка – subject
обычно ходит… и фотографирует… – verbs
по набережной – adverbial phrase (where?)
памятник – direct object

Russian word order is more flexible than English, because case endings show grammatical roles. But in neutral sentences like this, SVO is very common and natural:

Эта туристка обычно ходит по набережной и фотографирует памятник.