I started in the morning with a bus from Moskovskaya metro station to Pavlovsk - the site of the Great Palace that was built on the orders of Catherine the Great for his son and his second wife. The palace was built in the late 18th century and was burnt down two weeks after the end of the WWII by a careless smoking soldiers.
Two Russian words - "Adyn billet" - got me a reduced entrance fee to the park around the palace.
I crossed the park and looked for another bus station to catch a maschrutka to Puschkin.
In Puschkin, I practised my Russian again and entered again a park for less. The estate also known as Tsarskoe Selo was a gift from Peter I to his wife Catherine in 1716. Within the park stands the Catherine Palace - a fabulous building in white and blue. The empresses Elizabeth and Catherine the Great completed the palace in which there is also the restored Amber Room.
Unfortunately, I could not visit the interior as individual tourists are only allowed 3 hours per day: from noon to 2 pm and 4 pm to 5 pm. I already queued for more than an hour when they stopped letting people in and so I left as I did not want to wait another two hours under the burning sun.
I returned to St. Petersburg and took a bus to Peterhof - another imperial site by the seaside.
Peter the Great ordered the Peter's Palace to be built by the seaside surrounded by a park of fountains and cascades. You can throw coins in the fountains and make a wish.
This palace I also visited only from the outside because it is closed on Mondays. For my next stay in St. Petersburg, I will organise myself better and plan more time for all the site and will try to book tours or at least the tickets beforehand.
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