Pavlovsk was awesome, honestly. We hopped the coach and passed Pushkin (the town where the Katherine Palace is located), continuing south to Pavlovsk. Once there, we dismounted and took a short walk to the towns' namesake-- the palace of Pavel I. I haven't completed my Romanov genealogy, but I'm pretty confident that there wasn't a Pavel II, so the I is a little optimistic. Our tour guide to the palace called him Emperor Paul, noting the English version of his name. I prefer to call him Pasha (the Russian diminutive name for Pavel), or sometimes Pashenka (an even diminutiver name), cause he and I are just informal like that. The palace (also called the museum) was very classical in design, in the Hellenic/Roman sense. For example, the front terrace was trimmed with busts of every Roman emperor. But, as I've said before, St. Peterburg, Peter the Great, and the Romanovs were very into western European culture. This is why they always pulled in Italians to design their palaces, and fill their halls with European art.(If you can't tell, in the above photo, a marble statue is feeding me grapes)
The palace itself was a gift to Pavel I from his mother, Katherine II, when he begot his first child. (By the by: Mom, I want a palace when Turok is born) Katherine II, sometimes referred to as 'The Enlightened Despot', was actually a German princess, who married into the Romanov dynasty. Pavel was the Great Grandson of Peter the Great, of which he was very proud. One thing about Pavel is that he established a house law that was totally rediculous. I mean, honestly, Primogeniture? That's wack, dude, wack. I digress...
Just like the Hermitage, I shelled out 100 rubles ($4) to take photos in the museum. The rooms were small compared to the Winter Palace, and very ornate. Upon entering one of the bedrooms, someone in our group commented that they could never get to sleep in a room that was so busy. Statues lined every corridor, and paintings where hung everywhere they could fit a brush. The ceilings had some of the most amazing murals I've seen (granted I've never seen Mike's Sistine Chapel). After we finished the tour, we sat down for lunch at the cafe adjoining the palace. We were then given time to explore the ground if we so desired. I can only describe the grounds as a winter wonderland. I had to explore in increments, because it was so cold outside, but it was well worth it. Sleigh rides were available, but it was a little cold and expensive for our group. I'd be game for it another time though. The forest was blanketed in powdery snow, and there were long paths going deep into the woods. On an adjacent hill, townspeople were sledding and skiing. More on sledding later.
Readers, if any of you come to St. Petersburg, whether for business, vacation, study abroad, or whatever, make sure you leave the city. Even though Pavlovsk was freezing cold, it was an incredible sight.
I don't know if I explained it well in the Hermitage post, but this is a similarly styles design. The bearded man is a statue in the wall, and the ceiling is painted to look like the statues continue high into the air.
Looking through an entrance way at the end of a corridor.
A breakfast table in one of the bedrooms.
Here's one of the classical halls (instead of Baroque, which makes up an equally large portion). There's that, and the tops of Doug and Jesica's heads.
This is the most famous painting in the Pavlovsk Palace. Anywhere you stand in the room, it appears the arrow and cupid's eyes are staring right at you. It's supposed to mean that no one can escape love.
Looking out from the front door of the palace.
Down one of the many wooded trails. This one was a path for the sleighs.
One path goes over a slippery bridge.
I put this up to show the winter wonderland-ness. I actually had to put my camera into the snow to get this angle.
1 comments:
Awesome palace pics, dude. How cold is it there, anyway?
Also, if you're naming your son Turok, your first gift to him must necessarily be a huge hunting knife. Just sayin'.
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