June 9,  by Karl and Joan

Today we were greeted by fantastic weather as we traveled for about an hour to the town of Peterhof to visit another magnificent palace started by Peter the Great and further renovated by Elizabeth I on the grounds of Peter the Great’s summer cottage.  Peterhof was named for Peter the Great.  The palace is known for its “Elizabethian Rococo” architecture and its amazing fountains that do not have pumps.

The town of Peterhof was occupied by the Nazi’s in WWII and the palace was destroyed except for the exterior walls.  However when the staff learned of the pending invasion, they removed all the art and treasures, including samples of the wall coverings and wood from the walls.  They also removed all the statues and buried them around the property so they could not be found.   After the war, all the statues were dug up and put back in their original locations.  The palace received a complete renovation, still going on, from the samples that were saved and used to create new wall coverings made to the exact standards.  Much care was taken, even down to using original style tooling.  It is a remarkable place.

The building has foundations between it and the Gulf of Finland that were created by Peter the Great.  We took a tour of the grotto, which is like going down into a deep basement. All the fountains are run by water pressure though pipes that are fed from a reservoir above the palace.  Every night the fountains are turned off so the reservoir has time to fill.  Then the water is released and water is fed through unique piping to each pool and fountain.  Gravity and the use of hydraulics to create additional water pressure forces water through the nozzles in each fountain to amazing heights.  In some cases, the designers even added timed areas that would shoot small showers or drip over doorways to get the unsuspecting guests wet!  This was all designed by Peter the Great well before electricity, so it is very remarkable.   All the water eventually flows to the Gulf of Finland.  The grounds are approximately 700 acres, all of which are manicured to look like gardens from Versailles.  Others have extremely long straight pathways flanked by Linden trees.  Peter the Great had his summer residence right on the Bay as well as two other smaller homes.  The walkways to each one, as well as the many fountains, were magnificent.

Some of the fountains are unique and whimsical. There is an oak tree fountain that is surrounded by tulips that also are fountains. Sitting around the oak tree are benches, but watch out for the water that periodically sprays on the benches! There is a fountain with three ducks being pursued by a dog, moving in a circle and powered by water.  There is yet another one with stones and a bench; if you step on the wrong stone, you are squirted by water. Then there are the classic, heavily gilded gold statues that are re-gilded every two years to keep them bright.

We had lunch at the Orangeriere in the gardens, which although a beautiful building, was pretty much a quick serve restaurant. We got back to town via the Gulf of Finland in a hydrofoil, arriving in fashion at the foot of the Hermitage museum.