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Summer 2003 cycling

Estonia

Agelasto
2004-05-18 20:00:54

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Anticipating Russian cycle-touring produced loads of anxiety that, in hindsight, seems quite unwarranted. The compass and the following of canals proved more helpful in facilitating a Petersburg exit than following a street map, as the latter was in Latin letters while most street signs are in Cyrillic.

I headed west towards Petrodvorets (Peter's Palace), taking the road along the Gulf of Finland. A little short of what I had figured should be about 30 kms, I found the palace compound, with tourists queuing for entry. It looked brand new; what restoration! How sumptuous the tsars lived. How decadent! I waited and then compared my map of Petrodvorets with the one on display. The Gulf and boat dock were correctly located, but the rest of the plan didn't jive. I had stumbled upon the summer palace of the current president, rather than that of Peter the Great, built some 300 years ago. In 300 years, will crowds be flocking to visit the Putin Palace, as they now make the pilgrimage to Petrodvorets?

Eventually I found and visited the latter and cycled on to Lomonosov, a dozen kms down the road, where P. the Great's deputy built his own palace, Oranienbaum, now a park dotted with out buildings in various states of decay. I had the address of accommodation, the only tourist housing in the area, a building that seemed not to be open. But I then stumbled upon an Ecological Summer Camp for young Russians, Estonians and Finns. They were staying in a park barracks formerly used to house the tsar's troops, now converted into a guest house.

In addition to roofing young ecologists, the guesthouse was hosting 2 weddings. Russian weddings are quite a phenomenon. After the signing of legal documents at the equivalent of city hall or a marriage palace, the couple, along with best man and maid (matron, but I am not sure on this point), both wearing sashes across the chest and a very few friends ...

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