Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Catherine

She showed the women are just as good as the men when it comes to spending the nation's wealth on some good digs.

Truly, a resplendent place.

Great for photographers.  

Nice Gardens that are actually larger than the ones at Peterhof.

The Germans attempted to blow up the palace when they were driven from Russia.

They put time fuses on seven one ton aerial bombs through out the castle.  A Russian soldier defused the timers before they could go off.

But the place was badly damaged and it took decades to restore it.

Room after room of the Baroque style.

I finally got to see the Amber Room which the Germans dismantled and shipped home during the war.  (I had wanted to see this for years.) It was known to be safe but it was never found.  So the Russians found 12 tons of Amber and restored the room.  It was the only place you could not take photos so this one is from the web.

This ends the tour of Russia.  Tomorrow we cast our fates to the wind at 3am Russian time, 5pm Albuquerque time, and hope the cabin crew strike at Lufthanza doesn't prevent our flights.  We go to Frankfurt.  Then on one of those giant Airbus 380s to Houston, and arrive home at 6pm or so.  Wish us luck.  Anything can happen.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wealth of the nation indeed, created by millions of peasants toiling in the fields. It's easy to see the connection there, but when a truck driver spends 12 hours a night hauling drilling fluid out to a rig so that the Koch brothers can live in a similar lifestyle and spend millions on politics to make sure the driver remains in a peasant status, that, to almost every American, is just fine. It's that entrepreneurial American spirit.

Ahem. For the record.

Spectacular though, like the previous Peterhof, and some beautiful and interesting pictures. (Amazing that they just let you walk around in there.)

That first one in this set could be used in their brochure. The one below that is my favorite, with the domes and the two angling blue walls. An intricate set of visual weights, angles and spaces, lights and shadows that all work together to at once create motion and balance each other out.

There are others too in both sets that are just fun to look at like that.


Imagine the debate among the German staff before the bombs were set. 'No, you can't detsroy this.' 'Oh, the hell with these Russian pigs.'

The final decision of course was made by someone whose trunk was full of pamphlets written by that era's equivalent of Rush Limbaugh.


Have a safe trip home. It's been cooling off some at night. Occasional light rain. Warm sunny days. Thanks for the tour.