Peterhof

In the latter years of the 17th Century, in a rather primitive, isolated country called Russia, the boy who would grow to be known as Peter the Great learned carpentry and built boats as a fun hobby, becoming a skilled craftsman in the process. As a young man, he traveled to Holland and England incognito to work in shipyards and further his knowledge.

At 6'8” and undoubtedly speaking with a Russian accent, the presence of this young man wasn't a well kept secret. He sometimes traveled with an entourage of “right nasty” men who weren't the tidiest of sorts, sometimes using paintings for target practice. An earlier version of a touring rock band comes to mind. When he took the helm of yachts loaned to him by King William III of England, Peter sometimes banged into other boats, causing great damage on some occasions. Nonetheless, the King of England gave Peter as a gift to take home one of his most modern ships, used previously for transporting dignitaries between Holland and England. Why?

The King wanted to sell goods like tobacco grown in England's New World colony, Virginia, to the vast, untapped market Peter ruled with his weak half-brother, Ivan. England also wanted to explore potential trading routes through Russia to the silk and spices of the east.

Peter returned to Russia from his travels with not only warm feelings for the modern world of England and Europe, but also the desire to make Russia more European and less rustic. With his love of boats, he wanted a navy. He decided to build a new capital, St. Petersburg, on the coast, replacing Moscow, which was too far inland to welcome the outside world.

During his travels, Peter had visited Versailles. He decided to build a palace even greater than Versailles, and he did so about 30 kilometers from St. Petersburg , making it a lovely stop for European royalty on their way to the new capital city.

Peterhof is even larger than the French palace he modeled it after. Peter himself actually liked to stay in small, rustic cabins, but he wanted to impress the world that Russia was a great country, and what better way to do that than with the greatest palace in the world?

On the morning we visited, rain poured down as bus loads of tourists sheltered by their personal umbrellas hustled past booths selling umbrellas, Cokes, postcards, hats and flash memory cards. Jay needed another flash memory card, since he had filled his camera’s card and had no place to download it, so he stimulated the Russian economy with some Euros.

Because our large shipload of people arrived late, we probably created more congestion than normal, and the rain didn't help matters. Before we even entered the doors, several people on our tour were lobbying our tour leader to cut our trip short, because they had other tours scheduled for that afternoon. We heard their pleading over the headphones our guide provided us to inform us on the tour. I took it upon myself to say, on behalf of the majority of tourists, that we did not want our tour cut short. By the end, I must say our guide took a reasonable tack, and while I would have liked more time in the gardens, we enjoyed the full tour.

Everyone is required to wear booties to protect the intricately patterned wooden parquet floors. No flash photography was allowed inside, and for some reason, we didn’t take any pictures at all, but we enjoyed seeing the interior. The gorgeous fountains and gardens, however, are the true highlights of Peterhof.

The spectacular fountains are powered entirely with gravity, which to me is a true engineering marvel designed over 300 years ago.  During World War II, the Nazis took over Peterhof from 1941 to 1944, and when they left, they did their damnedest to destroy it, creating another ashen monument to their depravity. The restoration is truly remarkable, and Peterhof, as you can see, is a wondrous site to behold.