We spent a long day on a tour of 3 palaces today. Met our group at 7:30 AM after a very quick
breakfast. Rode on a bus for half an
hour to the Catherine, Alexander and Paul (Pavlosk) Palaces. These palaces were extensively damaged during
WWII by Hilter’s army. A lot of items
were removed by the Germans and never found again. Two of the palaces have been, and continue to
be, restored. Luckily there were a lot
of photographs taken over the years before the German invasion to be used as
reference.
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| Catherine Palace |
I took a lot of pictures, but will only be able to post a
few. The first palace is the Catherine
the Great’s summer Palace, which was restored almost totally. This is a huge gold-and-white palace and each
room has a theme. Such as the Amber
Room, whose walls and decorations are made from Amber. The rooms had been looted and destroyed by
the Germans when they occupied the area during WWII. The Amber was never found, so it had to be
restored using new Amber. Amber is
becoming especially rare …. It is sap of certain trees which has been
petrified.
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| Dutch tile fireplace in every room |
From Catherine’s Palace, we walked to Alexander’s Palace,
which she had built for her grandson in 1792, who was the future czar. It was used as a hospital for German SS
officers during WWII. This palace has
not yet been restored but will be in the future. It was much darker and less ostentatious than
another of the other palaces.
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| Room in Alexander Palace |
After lunch provided by the tour company, which was
unremarkable except for the small glass of vodka and the glass of champagne, we
took a 10-minute bus ride to Peter’s Palace.
He was Catherine’s son, but they did not get along at all. It has been restored and is quite
magnificent, of course.
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| Bedroom in Paul Palace |
Since the internet connection is so awful on this ship, I am unable to add many pictures.
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