July 31—Peterhoff

Today we set off for Peterhoff, one of the palaces of Peter the Great on the Gulf of Finland. On the way we saw several monuments commemorating Russian victories over other countries. It seems Russian leaders like to create monuments to their victories. We also saw a school that was built in the shape of a hammer and sickle during the Soviet days. We learned it is possible to identify when apartment buildings were built by the style of the building. The buildings are referred to as Stalin houses, Krushchev houses, Putin house, etc. 

Since we were on the road that went to Peterhoff and the President’s residence in St. Petersburg, the side of the buildings facing the road was maintained. The other sides of the building “not so much”.  All we have seen up to this point are apartment building, no row houses, or individual residences except for palaces. Many Russians have an apartment in St. Petersburg and a summer house “dachas” where they spend June, July and August. As we drove further from the city we began to see dachas, which were usually houses or cottages for individual families.

Peterhoff was largely destroyed in World War II “referred to here as “World War the second” and has been recreated. Many of the statues were buried in the ground to protect them. Some of the statues have been rediscovered as recently as the last couple years. We arrived at Peterhoff just after they turned on the fountains. There are over 150 fountains as Peter the Great was fascinated with Europe and wanted Peterhoff to rival Versailles.

The figures in the fountains are covered with gold, which has to be redone frequently. The fountain figures were replated with gold for this summer season so the gold was very bright.

Peter the Great had an interesting sense of humor. On the large walkway back to his private residence he built a fountain under the walkway with small jets on the sides to spray people as they came to see him. In the days of hoop in long skirts and powdered wigs the guests probably were amused, but who would scold the tsar! We visited another joke fountain with a metal tree and flowers spraying water. The stone walkway past the fountain had stones that would trigger a spray of water if you walked on them. The adults in our group carefully followed our guide across the stones and were able to cross without getting wet. The kids didn’t get wet the first time either, but continues to walk back and forth on the path becoming bolder each time until they were jumping up and down on the stones hoping to trigger the water spray. They were successful several times and greatly enjoyed the fountain.

We toured a bath house that had all the comforts of home, a sitting room for ladies in waiting, a tub with steps down to the seat and an overhead chandelier that sprayed water, a dining room for guests, a kitchen and a shower room with water spraying from a center fixture and jets all around the room.

Russian Folk Show—In the evening we walked a few blocks from the hotel to another old ‘castle’ to see a traditional Russian folk show, “Feel Yourself Russian”.  The audience was largely Asian.  Masha had advised us to get there early in order to get good seats, and once again, it was good advice.  We were in the front rows on the side of the theater, which was clearly built as a ballroom/presentation hall with a stage.  The show opened with a men’s quartet that sang traditional songs in rich operatic tones.  It was a great start to the evening. 

The rest of the evening was a mixture of music and dance, some of it elegant, and much of it quite humorous.  It became clear that physical humor translates well from culture to culture, even with a language barrier.  Some of the style and tone made me think of Russian Lawrence Welk, but maybe it was just the accordion music that was the main melody of the accompanying band.  One of the highlights was the dance/sketch that consisted of two small men that were dancing/fighting across the stage and even into the audience.  The two men turned out to be one man in costume who was very skilled.

On the way back from the show, the whole group stopped at a small restaurant below street level across the street from the hotel.  It was a very nice find!  The food was comparably priced and most all of us tried the pirilgi, a small meat-filled pasta, served with lots of butter and sour cream.  There were a few other salads and bread that were shared around the table, as well as pitchers of water with generous amounts of lemon and mint leaves in them…maybe the biggest hit of the meal.  We also tried the dried fruit kissel with whipped cream, which was also tasty.