Peterhof Palace, SP. Today we went to Peter I's summer palace on the Bay of Finland, about an hour outside of SP, and it's my favortie palace. And as it would happen, since it is my favorite, it's the only palace we've been to that's super-strict on their no picutes policy. I also learned the valuable lesson to buy a souvenier book at the tour and not assume that the bookstores in SP will have it. So, I need to do a little hunting for a picture book on the palace. We got to see a lot of formal rooms which have been redone after WWII. During WWII the Germans occupied the palaces around SP and did heavy damage (at least to the one's I've seen). It's amazing to see what the local craftsmen have been able to reproduce to try and return these royal palaces to something like their former spleandor. Peterhoss was pretty much gutted by fire, but they managed to get the artwork and artifacts out to and to safety. We saw three private family rooms that were restored to be like the orignials, displaying beautiful porcelain in the Chinese style of the day. The marquetry on the tables and chests are amazing work of art. We saw two of Peter's rooms that have survived unchanged. One of these, his Oak Study, is a beautifully paneled room that shows his interests as a scientist and a scholar. There are numerous paintings of the former emperors and empresses adorning the walls, and they are huge! The majority of the paintings are of Catherine the Great, including paintings of her dressed in her (male) regimental uniform. As the leader of the military she was had an official rank, but I guess she really liked to dress up in her uniform. Our guide liked to quiz us on the who we thought were in the painings and seemed to take particular joy in telling us this story. The gardens at Peterhoff were spectacular. Our tour was moved up so that we could tour the open areas of the palace and then be on hand when they turned on the fountains. Peter and his architect designed the fountains to work without using mechanics, so I assume it's a manipulation of water pressure (I need to find out more about this engineering marvel). There are huge fountains, small fountains, cascading fountains, and trick fountains. One of our previous guides told us that Peter designed his trick fountains to humble some of the aristocracy. When you step on certain rocks in the cobbles around the fountain, they trigger an unexpected spray of water. While this is fine on a modern summer day, I supposed it was more than annoying when you were wearing pounds of formal clothes, full wigs and make up.