so, when peter the great built st petersburg he also wanted a
place in the country that he could go to to escape the hustle and bustle of his capital city (which was also a major construction site) so peter the great built his summer home (there were two, one is just off the field of mars next to the winter palace) but peterhof (very creatively named) is just a 30 minute hydrofoil trip from the winter palace steps. peter the great was a fan of the sea. in his youth he had traveled to the uk and holland to learn about shipbuilding... peter had this canal built that led from the gulf of finnland all the way up to his palace, so that it was easily accessible for quick escapes from the city by water.
so the peterhof is famous for it's fountains. in the 18th century shooting jets of water into the air was a bit like having a laser show or something in your front yard. and peter the great
had a ton of them. the main one with gilded fountains directly in the back of his palace, but also kinda the front because it faces the sea is called the grand cascade. and it is very impressive.
the park is divided into three zones. the palace, the landward side of the palace's gardens, and the seaward gardens... each zone costs money, and foreigners have to pay more than residents. but i cheated. students get the resident's price, so out came my university of tulsa id and my prices got slashed in half. but still, i was somewhat fatigued of baroque and rococo architecture by this point in time... partially because everything is derivative of versailles... and partially
because its all based off ovid's metamorpheses, all the greek allusions in statue and painting... i didnt go inside the palace partially because the person selling tickets didnt speak english and partially because i didnt feel like seeing the inside of another baroque palace... i mean, i stayed in one about a month ago, so i dont need to go into one.
in addition to the main palace, there are several other palaces, several are simple structures that are built inside of ponds, one of them had three bridges to it through this pond that it sat in the middle of. and another of them was surrounded by a small moat, and i believe it held the imperial yacht museum... but it didnt have any imperial yachts in it... one of the first outlying palaces built was monplasir,
which is on the water... i believe that peter had it built while the great palace was being built. monplasir could fit in anywhere in Dixie. redbricks, big windows, and white trim, with formal gardens on one side and the gulf of finland on the other. you could pay some more and go inside monplasir, but from the windows i peaked in, i couldnt see anything at all.
i went on a saturday, which means the place was swarmed with russians (well, it is russia) so every four paces you had to dodge/stop/avoid/walk through a russian photo-op. russians loooooove to pose. the women all pose like theyre models... even into their 50s and 60s. they take pictures from like 10 feet away, so youre always somewhere in the way of someone's photo unless youre super aware.
but it's a magnificent palace grounds. well worth a visit.
place in the country that he could go to to escape the hustle and bustle of his capital city (which was also a major construction site) so peter the great built his summer home (there were two, one is just off the field of mars next to the winter palace) but peterhof (very creatively named) is just a 30 minute hydrofoil trip from the winter palace steps. peter the great was a fan of the sea. in his youth he had traveled to the uk and holland to learn about shipbuilding... peter had this canal built that led from the gulf of finnland all the way up to his palace, so that it was easily accessible for quick escapes from the city by water.
so the peterhof is famous for it's fountains. in the 18th century shooting jets of water into the air was a bit like having a laser show or something in your front yard. and peter the great 
had a ton of them. the main one with gilded fountains directly in the back of his palace, but also kinda the front because it faces the sea is called the grand cascade. and it is very impressive.
the park is divided into three zones. the palace, the landward side of the palace's gardens, and the seaward gardens... each zone costs money, and foreigners have to pay more than residents. but i cheated. students get the resident's price, so out came my university of tulsa id and my prices got slashed in half. but still, i was somewhat fatigued of baroque and rococo architecture by this point in time... partially because everything is derivative of versailles... and partially 
because its all based off ovid's metamorpheses, all the greek allusions in statue and painting... i didnt go inside the palace partially because the person selling tickets didnt speak english and partially because i didnt feel like seeing the inside of another baroque palace... i mean, i stayed in one about a month ago, so i dont need to go into one.
in addition to the main palace, there are several other palaces, several are simple structures that are built inside of ponds, one of them had three bridges to it through this pond that it sat in the middle of. and another of them was surrounded by a small moat, and i believe it held the imperial yacht museum... but it didnt have any imperial yachts in it... one of the first outlying palaces built was monplasir, 
which is on the water... i believe that peter had it built while the great palace was being built. monplasir could fit in anywhere in Dixie. redbricks, big windows, and white trim, with formal gardens on one side and the gulf of finland on the other. you could pay some more and go inside monplasir, but from the windows i peaked in, i couldnt see anything at all.
i went on a saturday, which means the place was swarmed with russians (well, it is russia) so every four paces you had to dodge/stop/avoid/walk through a russian photo-op. russians loooooove to pose. the women all pose like theyre models... even into their 50s and 60s. they take pictures from like 10 feet away, so youre always somewhere in the way of someone's photo unless youre super aware.
but it's a magnificent palace grounds. well worth a visit.
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