St. Petersburg

I would never be able to do justice to the beauty of St. Petersburg. It was amazing and we saw so many beautiful things. I will break it up into two or three days and just give you a very small sampling.

Today I will start with Peterhof, the suburban residence of the Tsars, built by Peter the Great and often compared to Versailles. The opulence and beauty were overwhelming.

Remember to click on each picture for a larger view.

A view from a distance. I couldn't get the whole building in.

Peterhof is also refered to as the Capital of Fountains. There are 150 fountains and 4 cascades on the property. This one is at the entrance to the palace. The fountains run from 11AM to 5PM and are turned on with much fanfare and music. We were lucky enough to be there for the turn-on. Very impressive!

This doesn't look like much here, but the small tree in the center and the flowers are made of metal. People run though it and if they hit certain spots on the ground the fountains turn on and they get a little wet. We didn't do it, but watched some Japanese tourists having fun with it.

One of the cascades.

Here we are all gussied up having tea in our hotel atrium at the magnificent Grand Hotel Europe before going to the ballet. We loved the ballet!