Day 4 : Peterhof & St Petersburg City Tour

Today we decided to go to Peterhof, which is about 29km from St Petersburg city. We took Metro to Avtovo station, and later took bus (or rather a transport in a form of a van!) number 424. The trip took about half an hour only.

Peterhof stands at a center of a magnificent landscaped park, with both English and French gardens. This most stunning of the tsarist palaces around St Petersburg was first built by Peter the Great. In case you guys do not know, Peter the Great is the founder of St Petersburg. Such an amazing man - I presumed the great palace represent the great man, himself! I was told that the vast palace and grounds we see today are a far cry from the original cabin Peter the Great had built! That I can imagine =) I can also imagine that the palace garden would look awesome in summer. But we were there in winter... most of the statues and fountains (which were the garden's main attraction) were closed :(

Peterhof from far.


The Neptune Fountain predates Peterhof by more than 50 years. It would look grand in summer.

Chapel Pavilion (Palace Church of Apostles Peter and Paul) - famous due to the fact that children of Emperor Nicholas II was baptized there.


Neptune Fountain and Chapel Pavilion... beautiful view!

Not many visitors in winter... so we can pose sakan in the garden :)

Anak manja ayah sorang ni :)

Things that we should not do in Peterhof - I presumed! Tak paham sebenonya signboard ni :D

Before entering the palace, we decided to explore the Peterhof Park. The ground of this palace is so huge! Other than the numerous palaces and fountains, there are tree-lined avenues, wooded paths and Baltic shore. We sure had fun exploring it! But it was soooo freezing cold!!! Brrrr.... :P

View of the Sea Canal from the terrace of the Small (Upper) Grotto.

The Grand Cascade. Can you see those green boxes? Those are actually gilded bronze sculptures that are closed to protect them from extreme weather in winter. Kecewa sangat tak dapat tenguk.... :( See this link for beautiful pics of the Grand Cascade.


The Samson Fountain.

The Sea Canal - enabled the tsars to sail from the gulf of Finland up to the palace.

Izzat could not stand the cold weather despite the fact he was wearing a pair of long john, sweater and jacket! May be his jacket was not good enough for Russian weather... *sigh!*

Izzat : Bibir Izzat ni sakit la mama.....
Mama : Hmm... kering lah tu! Come...let mama put lip balms on your lips!

We were at the Gulf of Finland.... the wind was quite strong... Izzat kesejukan. Izzaty and I was trying to re-adjust his scarf.... brrrr... sejuk!!!!!

Hope you're warm enough darling :)

The wind was quite strong... especially near the Gulf of Finland. But the view was breathtakingly beautiful!! :)

Tenguk tudungku dan rambut hubby.... bukti how strong the wind was! :D

Along the landscaped park, tree-lined avenues and wooded paths.... there were lots of birds around. We had fun feeding the birds at the park... :)

Izzat : Cepat la Ayah!!! Sejuk niiii...!!
Ayah : Okay, okay... last picture! Pasni kita masuk dalam palace :)


Ahhh.... warmer in the palace! Singgah sat beli buku on Peterhof kat souvenir shop!

The Great Palace, as stated in the book we bought above, is one of the most beautiful palaces in Europe. It's one of the greatest monuments of the 18th century and it is protected by the UNESCO. It has lots of rooms and halls - all beautiful and grand! Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos inside the palace... but believe me... it's awesome!! Everything is so grand!!!

Before we left the palace, sempat bergambar with these 2 Russians :)

Kena bayar okay!! Nak ambil gambar with them - R100 (about RM10) for 2 pics! Guna camera sendiri lak tu... huhu!

Across the road from Peterhof, where we waited for our bus to go back to the city, there's a unique-looking cathedral - Peter and Paul Cathedral.


Went back to the city by bus and later Metro. One of the MARA students we met yesterday, Shazwan, promised to show us around. Met him at Nevskiy Prospekt's Metro Station. Went back to our rented apartment for lunch and solat first. And ohh... lunch was... MAGGIE... hahaha! Nak cepat punya pasal! :) And after that, sakan lah kami berjalan menjelajahi bumi Allah yang dinamakan St Petersburg :)

The bronze Horseman - a magnificent equestrian statue of Peter the Great - the founder of St Petersburg.

St Isaac's Cathedral - one of the world's largest cathedrals. The golden dome of the cathedral is visible all across the city. The pitstop for the Amazing Race participants recently (Haha! Yeap, I am one of the Amazing Race fan!!)


The statue of Tsar Nicholas I @ St Isaac's Square


St Isaac's Cathederal & statue of St Nicholas I at St Isaac's Square.
Thanks to Syazwan, we were able to take family pictures :)


Izzaty, St Isaac's Cathedral, statue of St Nicholas I and the Astoria Hotel (one of St Petersburg's leading hotels).

Church on Spilled Blood, also known as the Resurrection Church of Our Saviour, was built on the spot where Tsar Alexander III was assassinated - hence the name of 'spilled blood'.
It's also another location where the Amazing Race participants had to pick their clue :)

Opposite the Church on Spilled Blood, there is a small tourist market selling souvenirs at a very reasonable price. There are lots of souvenirs sold here like - Matryoshka dolls, handmade chess sets, watches, fur hats, t-shirts and lots more. Syazwan brought us there for souvenirs shopping :)

Shopping for Matryoshka Dolls - these dolls fit one inside the other and come in a huge variety of styles.


Bought this one for ourselves :) There are 10 other dolls inside this fat doll :) So cute :) And it cost us around R800 (around RM80)... mahal juga ya patung nih!


Faberge Eggs - so nice! but a bit expensive...

Shopping for fridge magnets to add to our collections... and for souvenirs for family and friends.


Posing with the sales girl :)

After keletihan berjalan... we began to search for food!! We asked Syazwan to bring us to a halal restaurant. The restaurant was a bit far... had to get on a bus and later walked a little bit (yeah.. 'a little bit of walking'... but we were so tired that the thought of 'walking' sangat lah tak menariknya! huhu). Tapi lapar punya pasal.... okay lah... kuatkan jugak kaki ni. Izzat dah mula merajuk keletihan... *sigh!*

The halal restaurant where Syazwan bring us... err... how do you pronounce the name of that hotel?? Tak pandai lah... hehe.


Tired + hungry = Jom makan!!!! :D

The food we ordered! :) Our dinner menu for that day - uhh... tak ingat apa nak panggil nama2 menu ni... the menu was in Russian - hahaha!

Izzat merajuk + keletihan.... hahaha! Mana tak nya.. dari pagi sampai petang kami berjalan!! Kaki dah minta ampun minta rehat!!! :D

Izzat (oh now dah tak merajuk! Dah kenyang dah pun lepas makan!) and Abang Shazwan :)

Izzaty has been to St Petersburg... yeay!! :)

St Petersburg at night. That night, St Petersburg's Zenit - their football team won a competition... meriah betul malam tu! Everybody's celebrating the winning of their team! :) We got scared a little bit... ramai yang mabuk2... huhu!

A very tiring day!! Dari pagi sampai malam kami berjalan.... tapi hati puas :) When we reached the apartment, sempat lagi membelek our collection of Matryoshka dolls :)The blue Matryoskha dolls are for our own collection. The one in red is for my friend of 30 years - Zita! :) Those dolls on the front row are not Matryoshka dolls, but key chains that I bought especially for my colleagues at work :) Nothing much I can offer... hehe. Hopes they like it :)