St. Petersburg
Astonishing !!!
When Peter the Great half-sister sent the young prince in to exile, she had no idea of the consequences. His new home was near Moscow's "foreign suburb, the Baltic", where a sympathetic Westerner taught Peter the sail. Thus his fascination with the West was born, a fascination that would one day result in the birth of a modern "window of the West' St Petersburg.
Criss-crossed by scenic canals and studded with palaces, St Petersburg tells the story of the era of Romanov Czars, which lasted from the early 1600's to 1918.n And with an overnight stay here we had two full days to discover and explore.
BTW, a 300 year anniversary, Tri-centennial is planed for 2003, should be one of the biggest events on plant earth!
The extensive collection of the Hermitage began humbly enough Catherine the Great bought her first painting in 1764 to get one up on Fredrick of Prussia, who couldn't afford them. Today, the Hermitage houses nearly three million works of art including masterpieces by da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Van Gogh. Truly one of the world's great art museums
While overseeing the construction of a naval base, Peter the Great envisioned a grand palace overlooking the Baltic to rival that of Versailles. While the palaces are beautiful, it is the surrounding gardens and the 114 fountains that truly astounding!! The grand cascade, consisting of 64 fountains, 225 sculptures, three waterfalls and two grottoes, is the largest artificial cascade in the world. The entire waterworks is gravity fed.
More to come Soon!