Visiting Peterhof

Andrei took us to Peterhof ... a series of fountains and gardens that Peter the Great ordered be built. It is often referred to as the "Russian Versailles" and it is absolutely gorgeous! If you are ever going to be in St. Pete, definitely take the time to go there. It takes about a half hour to get there from the city, but as you can see from the pictures ... it is so worth it!

Below you see the Grand Palace behind us and the canal you see runs from the fountains all the way into the Gulf of Finland. There are over 200 fountains throughout the grounds of Peterhof ... and, there is no electricity involved. Every fountain operates using gravity and some pressurized pipe system {err something}. It is amazing!

The East Chapel ... the gold you see on the chapel is real gold ... it is amazing how shiny it continues to be, even after being weathered ... I guess that is because it is gold! LOL. Stop laughing at me, I really am smart most times.Some of the fountains throughout the grounds ...

There is old tradition surrounding this tree fountain ... it is believed that when you step on certain stones surrounding the outskirts of the fountain, that you will get sprayed from behind {in the trees nearby}. Truth be told, there is an outhouse size building in the trees, and there is a person in the outhouse that sprays the water when people step on the "certain stones". There were a couple of little kids doing it when we were there ... it was adorable ... and they were soaked!

There are identical fountains of Adam and Eve on either side of Peterhof {there is a right side and a left side that each span for a mile or so} ... here is Adam ...Peterhof is built along the shore of the Gulf of Finland ... this is a {far away} view of St. Pete from Peterhof ...