18 April: Today we take the van about an hour SE of St. Petersburg to a world treasure called Peterhof. This is a huge complex of palace, grounds, ornate buildings, gravity fed fountains and more; all overlooking the Gulf of Finland. Helsinki, Finland is about 20 miles away, just an hour by boat. Pauline said many in St. Petersburg go to Helsinki for a weekend get-away or to shop; it is closer and cheaper than Moscow.
We have a late lunch at a wonderful grotto restaurant on the edge of Peterhof.
It is still well below freezing and the fountains are not yet operating, the gardens are not yet blooming. Workers are shoveling ice and snow to clear areas that will be repaired and made operational within the next month. The first buildings in Peterhof were constructed as the summer palace for Peter the Great. Everything is lavish and overdone: statues, art works, mirrored halls, gold covered walls and ceilings, large ballrooms.
At 9pm we were in a grand old hall of the Nikolaevsky Palace. As we walked up wide staircases, a stringed quartet played Russian classical pieces. We watched a wonderful folkshow with singers and dancers in festive traditional costumes. Intermission included free champagne and caviar. It was a memorable evening.
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Yes, the summer palace of Peter the Great was impressive – patterned after Versailles. It was a different time, I guess. Maybe not so much either when we think about the enormous and increasing gap between those who are wealthy in our own country and the increasing number of Americans who truly live a paycheck or two from disaster.
We did have a lovely lunch which began with coffee and kahlua for many of us to warm up after our chilly morning tour. On our way back to St Petersburg we stop at a cathedral where we see crowds of people getting ready for the Russian Orthodox Easter. We were given gifts of sweet breads and eggs to celebrate the upcoming holy day.
Back at our hotel Betty and I set out to find a shop specializing in Russian folk art and souvenirs. We gave the cab driver the address which turned out to be an apartment building. The girl at the desk in the foyer, helps us (after much confusion) locate another shop called Babushka’s. We strike out to try to walk there – which we do, and we both end up finding a “few” things we need to take home with us. We walk back a couple of blocks to a bar, order a beer and ask the waitress to call us a cab — in a half an hour. We manage to even have a second beer before our cab arrives. How clever of us to time it so well! Fran