Russia 2019 (67) SAINT PETERSBURG - Peterhof Lower Gardens 2

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Now heading down the stairs to the Lower Gardens and parklands. Along the way, we saw displays of damage done to the palace and grounds during WW II. Again, a huge restoration obviously followed to get to their fabulous current condition.

No way to see all the beauty here in the time allotted. There is over one square km (about ⅔ square miles) of space. We toured mostly the east side of the canal. With no map on hand (get one before you go in), we just wandered the paths. We kept our eyes on the palace to keep our bearings. I mean you could really get lost in this forest / parkland.

This Chessboard Hill Cascade was another spectacular site. Green dragons at top coming out of their "cave."

The Great Orangery Pavilion. Although it looks like a palace, it was originally utilized to grow grapevines, melons, citrus plants, etc.

The Orangery Fountain, man vs. sea monster.

Lots of flowers blooming--tulips, daffodils, and more. Another pathway following the white fencing to get from the Palace to the Lower Gardens for those that cannot take the steps.

One of the Roman Fountains.

Now walking down Trick Fountain Water Road. The trick for this one is you are enticed to rest on the benches beneath the umbrella, but at some point "rain" sprinkles all around you. You have to wait it out or get wet departing. There were at least two other trick fountains. One looked like a grove of pine trees and the other was a tall oak tree.

The Museum of the West Aviary. There's also an East Aviary. The idea of the aviaries was conceived by PtG from the beginning of the gardens. He had observed them in France and also saw bird-houses in Moscow's gardens. Exotic and song birds were housed here in summer. They miraculously were not damaged during the war. As the path leading to it was closed, we could not see if there were birds inside.


This is the Sun Fountain (aviary in back) in a large pond. It was meant to attract water fowl. Originally there were also huge sturgeon swimming here that were brought in from the River Volga. These were other ideas of PtG. The brass ball in the middle spirts water in a pinwheel fashion.

Nearby is the Palace Monplaisir. Colorful gardens surround it.

Within the Monplaisir Garden are four Cloche ("bells" in French) Fountains. This one is the Faun with Kid Fountain. It is a copy of an original from the first century BC. Water flowing from the sculpture forms water bells.

Gardeners working.

As we reached the Gulf of Finland, we could see SP in the distance. That is the 87-story skyscraper Lakhta Center on the horizon.

Out on the bay were several boats. I imagine these are the hydrofoils that transport visitors from the quays near the Hermitage.

This lighthouse was near the canal entrance.

I touched the Gulf of Finland.

This statue on the Sea Terrace is Neptune. It has the "touch me and you'll have good luck" superstition going. So, why not, I touched those toes.

You can see how shiny they are from so much hopeful touching action.

Time was getting short and skies were getting gray. We sauntered back to the meeting place through the souvenir peddlers. It started raining at that point. Our timing was great, as it had been sunny and pleasant up to til then.

As I said, we only scratched the surface, but I bought this book at the second-hand store before leaving home. It gave us a very detailed description (150 pages with many photos) of what there is to see here. Back home we reviewed and read about the things we had missed.