Today we went to a town on the suburbs, Tsarskoye Selo, to visit the summer palace and gardens of Catherine the Great. Described by Ada as "Versailles on crack", it is yet another monument to the excesses of the Romanovs. This is the palace with the famous Amber Room, recently reconstructed. In fact the whole palace was virtually destroyed by the Nazis in WW2, and has been gradually reconstructed over the years, with work still in progress. I find it amazing that the Soviets would dedicate so much time and money to the recreation of the excesses of the Tsars. Lots of gold trim and ornate decoration everywhere, and a beautifully laid out palace grounds, with follies of all kinds, as in a Turkish bath.
The church attached to the palace:
But half the fun was getting there, via the Metro and minibuses through the suburbs. We saw the House of Soviets on the Moscow Prospekt, a grand Stalinist avenue, which eventually becomes a wide avenue of mega-malls, Russian style.
Also interesting to see the smaller villages, in varying states of upkeep, including these Potemkin windows:
The window frames are fake...
The metro is quite an experience as well; the escalator ride down lasts several minutes, and marble is everywhere.
We had an excellent dinner at a Georgian restaurant, with things like eggplant stuffed with walnuts. A bit in the older Soviet style, as in they didn't have any beer left.
