Eluding James Bond in Peterhof

About 20 kilometers outside St Pete, Peterhof is a palace along the vein of Versailles in Palace and is renowned for its fountains. While you can get there by train or bus (or helicopter if you are in a hurry), the coolest way of getting there is by hydrofoil. Six of us had decided to go out to visit the palace and had never been on a hydrofoil, so that was the obvious, if expensive method of transport. Sitting down in the boat I visions that I was in a Bond movie: I was one of the guys running the bad guy secret base and the hydrofoil was about to turn into a submarine and take us down to the lair.

Alas, we did not turn into a submarine and we were dropped off at the bottom of the gardens, immediately granting us a wonderful view right up a fountain flanked canal up to the castle. The group split up quickly as Sarah and Peta wanted to go inside and check out the rooms while I really just wanted to roam the gardens.

The gardens are split in two, with one side being the more serious, while the other side is very whimsical. I, of course, didn’t know this when I set out and I started on the serious side, which was very cool. Even though there were thousands of people around, the sheer size of the place meant that there was plenty of opportunity for solitude and quiet amongst the trees, hedge rows and running water. As seems to be the case everywhere that I go, there were wedding groups taking photos. As a side note, wedding photos in Russia only include the bride and groom and they take no photos of the wedding party or families. I confirmed this in Suzdal, where I was shown a wedding album and the only picture of the mother of the groom was when she was in the background of the actual ceremony.

The other side of the gardens were very cool as they had a bunch of trick fountains. In one, there was a bench under a gazebo but you had to get wet (or use an umbrella) to get there. In another, the fountain is shaped like a tree and kids were playing in the water.

The weather continued to be cold and windy (though thank god, no rain), which brings me to another strange fascination that Russians have: ice cream. They are mad for it. They seem to eat it at all times of the day and in any weather. Young and old, guys in suits, women pushing prams, everyone. This is great for me as you can get it on almost every street corner and there had to have been 30 sellers in the park. So before getting back on the hydrofoil back to the secret base, I mean St Petersburg, I bought an ice cream, sat on a bench next to an ice cream eating babushka and for a couple of minutes, truly passed as a local.

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Part of trip: The Big One

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