St. Catherine Palace in Pushkin Russia
Trip Start
Jun 03, 2010
1
25
154
Trip End
May 28, 2011
Where I stayed
St. Petersburg, North-West Russia, Russia
Monday, July 12, 2010
Our last day here. We took the Metro, then a minibus out to the famous town of Pushkin where the great "Catherine Palace" is located…. It is another huge 18th C palace and garden complex, supposedly Elizabeth and Catherine II's summer place. We spent 3 or 4 hours touring the garden and its lakes and structures… baths, hermitage, gazebos, and then got into line at the Palace itself. Then a big and strange disappointment. The line was not long, but it did not move… 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes in the hot sun, and it did not move by even one person. No one seemed to be complaining, and the only guard was along way up at the castle with his back to us, no announcements, no signs (that we could red anyway). We finally gave up after 40 minutes. Another 40 minues later we strolled back that way… it still had not moved, but most (not all) of the people were still patiently waiting. It appeared to me that what was happening was the were giving priority to tour groups entering from the other side, and the tour groups just kept filling it up, so no regular Joes were allowed in. Pretty ridiculous and pretty disgusting. I was thinking it was time for another Revolution! Anyway, we never did get to see the inside, but, what the heck, seen one great palace, seen 'em all!
