Our last day in St.Petersburg proved to be dull with rain threatening…but what we were to see was far from dull. Catherine Palace was the highlight of the day. Designed by Rastrelli and dating to 1752 it was built for the Empress Elizabeth who named it in honour of her mother Catherine I…
The frontage is a stunning Baroque facade in turquoise, white and of course lots of gold. Nor did the designer forget to include the ubiquitous golden domes…
A sweeping dual arched stairway is the main entrance but the red carpet is not down to welcome us…..
We have to ‘stand in line’ and use a lesser entrance but at least we have a small band to entertainer us whilst we wait for our turn to start the tour…
The Grand Staircase is where were start our tour…..
And then it on to a series of very grand rooms, all dripping with gold and of course mirrors used with the gold to reflect as much light into each room. There are so many grand rooms that I thought I would just show you the Cavaliers Dining Room and some of its detail as just one example of the sumptuous content and style of a very decadent Palace….
I think you get the picture…perhaps decadent is to soft a word to describe the richness of the decor. The Picture Gallery is perhaps just a little more sombre but with its rich marquetry floor it is far from dull. You might wonder what the tall ‘unit’ is. Each room has at least one such construction and they are the heating system. They are covered in Delft tiles to soften the appearance and are used as mini furnaces….a wood fire is set in each and being told of just how cold a Russian winter can be I guess they had to be big fires!…….
The rear of the Palace is as near as makes no difference a mirror of the front, but does lead you out in to a very extensive garden and parkland..
You pass what is known as the French Garden which is flanked by the Cameron Gallery named after its Scottish creator Charles Cameron……
Then it is on to the Grotto Pavilion or Morning Hall and yet one more queue (they love there queues here)…
The Grotto is simply decorated and used to display sculptures……
But was also used as a place to provide light entertainment for guests…today we are treated to a short recital by 6 Russian Tenors……
The Park has several lakes each with a Bath House and like the Grotto were intended as places for entertainment..
But our time was up, so with so much more unseen we had a last look at Catherine Palace before heading back to the boat to continue our journey……
So we take a last look of St. Petersburg from our cabin window we set sail…..
The following day was going to be Navy Day in the city so we were honoured by a Naval farewell with sailors lining their ships decks and saluting and a toot on the whistle we left port and on past ‘business’ areas of the port and back into the Baltic…..
The Captain tells us the weather will be sunny once again…so we hope!
26th July
© David Oakes 2013
DAVID OAKES - IMAGES. 