5/13/09, 11:54 p.m.

today we only really took one trek:
the петергоф дворец [peterhof palace], right on the baltic
my god, that place was absolutely insane
it was gorgeous, and immense, and covered in gold leaf
there was an entire room just of portraits [over 300]
i could only imagine what it would've been like to arrive there
let alone live there
plus, in the garden grounds on the sea
there were fountains all over the place
some of them were set up to drench the guests
it was great

after we took a boat ride back to the city
we stopped by марсово поле, across the river from the peter/paul fortress
they had this big memorial right in the middle
apparently the bolsheviks commandeered the field
and turned it into a cemetery for early communists
it was really cool
they even had an eternal flame in the middle

we stopped by летний сад [the summer garden] on the way back
there were a bunch of greco/roman statues and busts dotted around it
pyotr I used to use it to entertain guests away from the palace
it was across from a palace that pavel I built around 1800
after pavel was killed, it was turned into an engineering school

and after that, i napped
and it was good