Wednesday morning. Our last day in St. Petersburg. We had a full day planned before getting to the cruise ship at 6pm. First on the agenda was Catherine's Palace. As you can see, Catherine opted for a nice intimate place where you might not see your guests for a month or two. Despite its mammoth size, it was by far the most crowded place we visited in St. Petersburg. Crowds inside a room are limited but there are large queues outside waiting to get in.
Our last night in St. Petersburg and we had tickets for the ballet. The theater was much smaller than I expected. Every seat was filled. I think most were filled by passengers from cruise ships. Later on we learned that some of the people on our cruise had also attended the ballet.
The walls along the stairways are decorated with beautiful vases and porcelains.
Catherine must have liked to dance. This magnificent room glistened with all the gold. The ceiling was done in Trompe-L'Oeil so it would look higher that it really is.
There is a FANCY stove in every room for heating. Room after room for banquets. One room is covered with reproductions of famous paintings. These are not individual paintings but one large painting and it is the original wall covering.
The gardens were also beautiful. Close to this pond was a small building where we were treated to another a capella concert. Click on the picture to see and hear the concert.
After Catherine's Palace, we were supposed to go to the Peter and Paul Fortress. However, since it was raining and that would be walking outdoors, we decided to see a bit of the St. Petersburg subway instead.
