diary of an adventure to Eastern Europe.. Part 20 Tour around Pushkin..... St. Petersburg, Russia

On our last day in St. Petersburg, our tour guide brought us on a city tour to Pushkin. We had lunch at the restaurant that Pushkin ate. Here is what was served to us.

 We also had a souvenir shot.

Here are the other places we saw after lunch....

The Moika Canal....

The Kazan Cathedral...

This Cathedral was inspired by the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome, Italy. It was built in 19th century. This cathedral is a good example of Russian Orthodox .

The rostral column outside the stock exchange building.

The Gostiny Dvor.....

It was constructed around the 18th century and is now one of the world's largest shopping malls and is now the largest department store in St Petersburg.

That evening we had dinner at our hotel. We had to be up early the next day to catch our 7:30 flight to Moscow.. Our wake up call is at 4:30 am... and we will be served with a light breakfast at the lobby as soon as we bring down our suitcases and boarded into the bus.

I have enjoyed our stay in St. Petersburg.. and from the several cities I have seen in the past week and a half... I would like to come back to St. Petersburg. There are so many places I have not seen yet.

diary of an adventure to Eastern Europe.. Part 18 Catherine Palace..... St. Petersburg, Russia

Today we went to PUSHKIN, the home of Russia's last czar and visited another famous tourist attraction in St. Petersburg, the magnificent Catherine Palace named after Catherine I, the wife of Peter the Great. It was  designed by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, who is also the creator of the Winter Palace.

This gorgeous gold and blue architecture of the Catherine Palace near St. Petersburg is just a taste of this stunning testament of the Czar's weath. This palace is also known as the Summer palace. The palace sits on top of a hill overlooking an English-style landscape park with a beautiful river running through it. I was not able to take that photo ... it was raining..

The entrance hall of the Catherine Palace. Since it was raining when we arrived at the palace, we ( again ) were asked to leave our umbrellas, coats and was given shoe coverings so as not to soil the parquet floors of the palace.

The Great Hall is filled with mirrors and gilded carvings. It is a perfect remembrance of what life was like in the Russian Aristocracy of the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Catherine palace dining room and traditional Russian ceramic stove.

Another gilded dining room at Catherine Palace....

The sleeping boy at Catherine Palace.

Here are photos of the other rooms and ceiling treatments in the palace.

Please take note of the parquet flooring... each room had a different design.

Ceiling treatment in the main dining room of Catherine Palace.

The Amber Room is the most famous of the palace rooms. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any photos of that room.

Next time you travel to St Petersburg try and ask your tour guide to bring you to PUSHKIN, to visit the Catherine Palace and see the famous AMBER room. Our tour guide told us that every first monday of each month the palace is closed.

diary of an adventure to Eastern Europe.. Part 16 Petrodvorets ( Peter's Palace ) ...... St. Petersburg, Russia

The City of St. Petersburg is a fascinating place that  dazzles the eye with its architectural landmarks, museums, palaces, wide avenues, parks, spectacular bridges and stylish monuments. It is very hard to see everything in such a short stay in St. Petersburg. But I can give you a list of what to see ----the essential things.... you should not miss....

and our next stop is PETRODVORETS otherwise known as Peter's Palace. We arrived at Petrodvorets around 3 pm and it was drizzling. As usual when we toured the palace they asked us to leave our umbrellas, coats and jackets at the cloak room and we were given plastic covers for our shoes so as not to soil the immaculate wooden flooring of the palace. We were not able to take any photos inside the palace. I was able to take photos of the garden instead.

the main entrance to the palace...

It is also known as the Versailles of Russia and the summer palace of Peter the Great. Everybody knows about the Versailles in France but have you ever heard of the Russian Versailles??? It is another " must see " when you are in St. Petersburg. It is also known as PETERHOF...The modern name is Petrodvorets. It was founded in 1814 by Peter the Great. Peter saw the versailles when he travelled to France and he was very impressed so he decided to have his own version of the Versailles in St. Petersburg but on a larger scale.

The main attraction here at Petrodvorets is the lower park with 150 fountains and four cascades. The main cascade is in front of the Great Imperial Palace which was the summer palace of Peter the Great.

The fountains are decorated with gilded statues of Greek and Roman gods and heroes.

When the sun is shining , the visitors are astonished at the site of the whole cascade with its gilded statues glistening in the sun. This I am  sure you will not find it anywhere else in the world... NOT even in VERSAILLES.