Catherine's Palace

Today began with a decision to change hotels because the one we booked was a bit spartan and Tim had some suspicious bites on his shoulder. Tim quickly found us a new hotel; then our driver and guide, Nikolai, showed up so we were off to the village of Pushkin to Catherine's Palace. This palace was started by Catherine 1 (Peter the Great's wife) and greatly expanded by Elizabeth 1 and became a primary residence of Catherine the Great. Italian designers and architects created this beautiful baroque style palace. The gold-leaf on the cupolas of the chapel are striking against the sky.

Our first glimpse of the palace.

The chapel is closed due to restoration but the domes highlight the north side of the residence.

A small chapel where Pushkin, the poet, attended.

This was a school built by Catherine the Great for the education of her favorite grandson and the smartest boys of the court. Pushkin also attended here.

Haley in front of the side gate where we entered the palace courtyard.

The northern facade. Most of this wing of the palace was damaged and burned by the Nazi's during the 300 day siege and occupation of St. Petersburg.

Haley taking in the courtyard.

Tim and Haley before the tour begins. She is excited to finally see the palace in person.

A better view of the palace.

The main entrance is behind us. The palace is the longest in Europe.

We had to wear little slippers on our tour because the floors have been restored and are beautiful wood inlaid.

The grand staircase was made of the same white Italian marble that masters like Michelangelo used.

The ceilings above the grand staircase.

The largest room in the palace. It is more beautiful than the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles in my opinion. The room is 800 meters long and the baroque architecture is gorgeous.

Nikolai teaching us lots of facts about the palace's history.

The depth of the reliefs got larger the closer they were located to the ceiling. It was so lovely.

The pictures simply do not do it justice.

The family having a fabulous time at Catherine's Palace.

The throne room.

Elizabeth I is pictured above in the ceiling fresco.

Her shield has an E and 1 and she carries a scepter to signify her power.

These pictures again do not do the painting justice. There are people from Africa, Asia, North America and Europe painted in the four corners to represent the known people of the world.

The floors are made of inlaid wood. They have recently been refinished and are gorgeous. No carpets needed with floors like these.

There are several dining rooms. This one celebrates the cavaliers. The ribbons stand for different divisions. They each have their own china as well.

The beautiful stove in the corner is made of hand painted tiles from the Netherlands. Servants would feed the stove wood from behind so that the room stayed warm without entering the room.

This ceiling is a departure from the previous rooms. The paintings are framed and gold leaf is added for adornment.

This window faces full west and the statue of Cupid is falling asleep. This coincides with the sun setting. On the east side of the staircase, Cupid is waking.

One of our favorite dining rooms.

This is an incense burner to make the room fragrant.

The next few rooms are used for music, receptions, and general activities of the court. The colored stripes are made from silver foil that has been painted. Of course my favorite was the green room.

Elizabeth 1!

The portrait gallery.

The beautiful floors. This room was quite unique.

Catherine the Great

Catherine 1 and Peter 11

The golden hallway. You were supposed to look down the hallway and see each golden door frame.

This is probably Haley's favorite room.

The mint green and pink with the white reliefs were a beautiful example of classical design.

She has good taste for sure!

There are some before and after pictures of the palace in relation to the Nazi occupation. It is amazing how much damage the Germans did to the palace.Of course we know they stole the Amber Room. Nikolai said it cost over 11 million to remake it. The Germans helped by contributing 3 million.

Tim says I should make a garden just like this when we get home....yikes!!

The porticoes and gardens were serene and beautiful. We did have one unexpected visitor though....a wild moose had somehow gotten into the gardens and was swimming in one of the canals. We watched them lasso his horn and pull him out, but we heard later he had returned. Poor thing!

My favorite! :)

Since it is the weekend, brides were out in force having pictures made.

There are both French and English gardens at the palace.

Such a lovely view.

This ancient looking design is actually new...relatively speaking...it was just carved to look old.

This is the coffee house where Catherine the Great would retreat to have coffee and quiet in the mornings after parties. We got to hear a men's singing group here. The acoustics were very nice.

A Turkish style building built after the defeat of Turkey.

The ceiling of the coffee house.

The "hermitage" or isolation house. It has retractable floors and tables so that no servants would be on the top floor with the nobles. It was seen as quite a novelty and guests would often ask to see this house.

Even the gates had E 1 embedded.

The poor moose!

He was a young one who somehow got through the gates possibly at night.

I have heard they are quite dangerous....so we kept our distance.

Beautiful Haley in the French gardens with the hermitage house in the background.

Tim and Haley in the French gardens.

I love my girl and am so glad she finally made it to Russia!

Lovely!

A trip to remember!

I think I could visit this palace many, many times and never tire of its beauty.

Some of the gardens had a tropical flair.

The southern facade facing Alexander park was painted a tan color. We agreed it was not nearly as nice as the blue.

This Cathedral of St. Catherine. It was torn down during the communist years but has been recently rebuilt.

We had a lovely lunch in Pushkin. We watched fresh lavash bread being baked in traditional Georgian/Turkish oven. It was very interesting because it sticks to the sides of the oven.

It was a very good day.

We finished our day by having a great dinner of pasta, pumpkin soup and pizza. Haley treated us all to dinner plus yummy desserts! I would say it was a perfect day. Tomorrow we are off to Peterhof by hydrofoil, Church on the Spilled Blood and shopping!

Bruschetta

Haley's noodles were excellent.

Angie's pizza with mushrooms, ham and arugla on top!