Google Photos is a very recent addition to Google Drive[1]. I'm not sure the change even rolled out to everyone yet and still not all my photos have been migrated. They used to be only availble through the bizarre web interface within Google+ that OP described.

Despite that, I quite like Google's apps (and Google Apps). The month view in Calendar is back. The upgrade to Lollipop went smoothly for me and was a significant improvement. Some of them seem effectively abandoned (Blogger) but ones that aren't (Drive) are top notch: fast, attractive, full-featured, and with excellent integration between web and mobile.

[1] http://googledrive.blogspot.com/2015/03/photosindrive.html