Catherine Palace

Today's destination: The Catherine Palace, home of the Amber Room.  The Palace is located 45 minutes from the city center in a place called Pushkin's town. Pushkin is a world famous Russian writer and the Catherine Palace is located in the town he grew up in. Unfortunately I don't have any photos to show of the amber room, photographing and filming is prohibited as it damages the amber but believe me when I say, the room is incredible.

Let's begin.

Here are the gates which lead into the courtyard

Front view of  the palace. Before you enter the palace to view the rooms, they give these shower cap shoe slippers to put over your shoes which are to prevent damaging the floor. They look ridiculous in photos though. 

The Palace Chapel

One of the rooms in the palace

The ballroom

One of the walls in the ballroom

I thought this lady was made from wax until she moved. The Catherine is complete with costume role players.

One of the staircases

Everything was going well until it started raining, with no umbrellas or coats, we returned to St Petersburg looking like drowned rats. I got a pretty neat photo though.

Some people that were actually prepared for the rain

South side view of the Catherine Palace. The lawns have been designed to match the parquet inside the palace.

There's even a mini Hermitage

A wafer cake is a great way to end the day