Sunday: Tsarski Selo, Pavlost Palace, Victory Memorial, Russian Folk Program

We left at 9:30 for Tsarskoe Selo (renamed Pushkin in 1930) to tour a palace built by Tzarina Elizabeth I (Peter the Great and Catherine's daughter.) She named it Catherine Palace in honor of her mother. Designed by the architect Rastrelli, it was built in the Gothic style. Catherine the Great, who preferred the classical style, had some of it redone by the architect Cameron. The building was totally destroyed by the Germans in World War II; only the walls were left standing. The agate banya (Russian steam bath) in the next building did survive because it was used as the headquarters of the German army.




The entrance way to Catherine's Palace




























These statues are on opposite sides of the corridor, the waking boy would receive the morning light from the east window while the yawning boy getting ready to sleep would get the last rays of the day in the west window.


















Individual flowers made of bisque were put together to create this vase.



















The most famous room in the palace is the amber room, a gift from Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I to Peter the Great after Peter admired them in a room in Friedrich's palace. It disappeared during World War II but has been recreated from pictures. The 16-foot jigsaw-looking panels were constructed of over 100,000 perfectly fitted pieces of amber. The Nazis dismantled the amber panels and shipped them to Germany during World War II, and they have never been found. Much mystery surrounds the fate of the amber room panels, and many Russians believe that they still exist somewhere in Germany. Russian artists began recreating the amber panels using the old techniques in the early 1980's, and the room was opened to the public in 2003.

Elizabeth loved gaiety. She is known as the jolly princess. Owning 15,000 ball gowns, she never wore the same one twice. Her lavish taste also extended to architecture and even included details such as the parquet floors.






























This room was redecorated in the classical style by Cameron for Catherine the Great. It was very imaginatively named the green room.





































































The ballroom was enormous with incredible paintings on the ceiling.
















































































































Lunch was at Podvorje, a traditional Russian restaurant made of wood. We had borsch, blinis, and lingonberries. Our guide told us a little about what it was like to grow up in Soviet times. She remembers being required to read massive amounts of boring biographies about Soviet leaders. She told us that people waited in long lines to get anything, and there was very little choice. They would see a line and stand in it and find out when they got to the end of the line what was being handed out. She remembered standing in line for hours to get shoes. The person behind the counter handed her the next available pair of shoes. If they didn't fit, she had to trade with someone else. She also recalled a black and white checked coat that she hated, but it was what was being handed out. Everyone else had the same coat too. Our guide also told us that she had belonged to the Pioneer club, the club all Soviet children attended after school. The kids would go to school early in the morning. After school they would attend the club until about 9:30 or 10 PM. They were fed lunch and dinner at school. This is also where their skills would be developed. Children who had an aptitude for music were singled out and given instruction in music. They all worked hard at their skills.


In the afternoon we toured Pavlovsk Palace, (also this site) built by Tzar Paul I on grounds given to him by his mother, Catherine the great, in 1777 when his first son was born. This palace was particularly interesting because, unlike many of the rest which were mainly for show, Paul and his wife lived here. Also when the German army occupied it, the curators were able to remove most of the artifacts to safe keeping.



























































This was taken right after World War II showing the extent of the damage done by the Nazis.
















This room was decorated with tapestries of Don Quixote given to Tsar Paul by Louis XVI.













This was a gift to the tsarina from Marie Antoinette.
















































































































On the way back to St. Petersburg, we stopped at Victory Square, built to commemorate the victory of the Russians over the invasion of the German army during the siege of Leningrad (Leningrad is the name given St. Petersburg during the Communist era.) (interesting site)The stones on which the statues stand were carried there by school children, now grown old and in charge of the museum. Above ground were statues memorializing the heroism of the city in surviving one of the longest sieges in history and remembering the 1.5 people who died during the siege. Below ground a silent movie showed the devastating effects of the siege. Every family was touched by . During the winter Russian trucks drove across the ice under ardment by the Germans to bring food to the starving people. The siege lasted from August, 1941 until January, 1944, two and a half years. It was a deeply moving exhibit.










Walking out we passed a wedding party visiting the site as part of the traditional tour a wedding party in St. Petersburg makes of important sites.












By far the funniest part of St. Petersburg was the Russian folk show entitled Feel Yourself Russian we attended in the evening at the Mariinsky Theater.
















The program started with 2 musicians. The first played the accordion. The second played a wide variety of unusual instruments. First he started with spoons, then he moved on to a saw played with a violin bow. Next he played a variety of accordions starting with a regular sized one and moving to smaller and smaller ones. His finale was an accordion within a boot. After that came a variety of different groups who combined dancing, acrobatics and some of whom interacted with the audience. We were in the front row middle, so we were involved in that. One of them pretended to fall off onto Monica.
































































































































By far the funniest was the two Eskimos, one guy doubled in half with boots on his hands and two stuffed heads on his back.








He "fell" off the stage almost on top of Monica and then proceeded to work through the audience















before he climbed back on stage and stood up.

















On the home we walked past the bronze horseman, a statue of Peter the Great about which Alesandr Pushkin, Russian's most revered poet, created a poem in 1833 the flood of 1824. (summary, the real thing). The Bronze Horseman is located in Decembrist's Square which memorializes the Decembrist Revolution of 1825 where Russian army officers revolted against the assumption of Nicholas I to the throne.