St Petersburg – Catherine Palace

Another beautiful day and we spent it at the huge imperial estate called Tsarskoye Tselo or the Tsars Village.  We look the metro then the bus for 30 minutes out of the city, passed huge numbers of apartment blocks surrounded by countryside.

We had a walk to Catherine Park, and saw this church on the way.

Our main destination is the beautiful and baroque Catherine Palace, named after Peter the Great’s second wife and designed by Rastrelli for Peter’s daughter Empress Elizabeth. Later, Catherine the Great had many of the interiors remodelled in classical style and it was used as summer residence of the Tsars.

Once we arrived and exchanged our prebooked voucher for tickets, we had a bit of a wait to get in, during which time we took pictures of the rear or the palace and the courtyard.

We entered by a stunning marble staircase …

and followed the route on the audio guide … and the crowds … and entered the grand suit of formal rooms known as the Golden Enfilade which began with the Grand Hall or the Hall of Lights …

Next up were a couple of dining rooms and the large structure that you might spot in the corner of many of the rooms, covered with blue and white Delft tiles is the stove, necessary for heating the palace rooms.

A succession of rooms followed, with beautiful furniture, lots of gilding, and lots of stoves!

The famous Amber Room contained panels made from amber from the Baltic Sea which were originally presented to the Peter the Great by the King of Prussia.  These were plundered during WWII and the present room is a reconstruction opened in 2004, restored largely with German Funds. The room is amazing, the richly coloured panels are surrounded by gilding and make the room feel warm – no wonder Catherine the Great liked spending the evening in here.  We were not allowed to take pictures in the room, but here are a couple of distance shots of the amber!

The lovely Catherine Park surrounds the palace and we spent a couple of hours walking round the lake and looking at the variously strategically placed follies and pavilions.

We we were lucky to have such a beautiful day for our outing. We returned to St Petersburg and chose Zoom for dinner … guess what, a cute fusion cafe where you get to draw pictures … and Chris finally tried borscht …and despite not particularly liking beetroot, I thought it was yummy too!