Санкт-Петербург --- Part 5 --- Петергоф (Peterhof Palace)

Последние блог дня (Last blog of the day),

Coming back to you live from Moscow...well when you read this it won't be live, but I couldn't think of a more creative way to start my introduction. This blog is about my favorite place that we saw while in Saint Petersburg. It is a palace about 29km outside of St. Pete called Peterhof (Петергоф) sometimes referred to as the Russian Versailles. It is a fabulous estate containing numerous fountains, gardens, and of course a palace fit for a tsar. It was simply spectacular to see.

Brief background (I figure referring to it as "background" and not "history" may cause you to read it, ha): Peter the Great would often travel to the Gulf of Finland from St. Petersburg to oversee the construction of the Russian Navy. He conceived the idea to create a place that would triumph Versailles in France. He helped in the designing and building process which began in 1714. The estate contains over a hundred fountains, each of them being uniquely designed (some by Peter). After Peter the Great, the estate remained a major "vacation spot" for the Romanov (Tsar) families. During World War II Petergof was occupied by Nazi troops for three years and they almost completely destroyed the grounds. However, many of the stolen statues have been recovered and the estate looks almost exactly as it did nearly 300 years ago.

Alright, I hope I didn't bore you to sleep with the "background"...here are some pictures. I took over 90 photos, but don't worry they are not all on this blog.

The church on the estate. It's connected to the palace.

View from the top of the main cascade. You can see the Gulf of Finland if you look down the canal.

View from the top of the main cascade of another fountain and designs in the grass.

The center piece of the main fountain in the main cascade. Called the Samson Fountain it represents Russia's victory over the Swedes. The fountain shoots out of the mouth of a lion.

View looking up the main cascade with the palace in the background.

Just another fountain. Nothing interesting or fun to say about this one.

Perhaps my favorite cascade. Reminds me of a checkers or chess board...not sure of the name of it. You can see at the top the water comes out of the mouths of three dragons.

Me in front of a fountain...looking good as always.

Hanna, Graham and myself in front of another fountain.

Statue of Peter the Great.

A very artistic picture of some flowers and fountain in the background.

View of the Gulf of Finland. If you click on the picture and zoom in you can see the docks and other buildings of Saint Petersburg on the horizon.

View down the canal.

Another picture with me in it...just for my fans. Ha. Palace in the background.

A tiny fountain I thought was cool. It represents some French fairy tale or story in which the dog always swims after the ducks but he can never catch him. Notice the dog on the right swimming after the ducks.

Some crazy Pantheon looking building with statues and fountains of course.

View of the guest house across a small pond.

View down one of the paths on the estate.

View from the top of another cascade in which you can see the small pond mentioned two photos ago along with the Gulf of Finland.

And finally this awesome squirrel that was supper friendly. Some lady reached into her purse to give him some food and he climbed on her. HA!

So that's all for now. Hope you enjoyed your photo-tour of Peterhof. Hopefully I'll get the last two posts up sometime soon. Keep the comments coming!

Now only 9 days left (Moscow time that is)

Спокойной Ночи!