Peterhof Palace May 2013

Peterhof Palace: Peterhof is German for Peter's Court. Peterhof is a series of palaces and gardens laid out on the orders of Peter the Great.  These palaces and gardens are sometimes referred to as the 'Russian Versailles".  

(Click on the pictures to see them in full, beautiful detail.)

 

 

When we came upon this palace, my Father n law must have thought the onion topped domes looked familiar to him.  He pulled out a picture from his wallet taken in 2006.  The picture is in front of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow and has me holding up my son! 

Talk about getting a girl's eyeliner to drip!

 

Here you can see the water goes out to the Gulf of Finland.

 

Corruption is everywhere in Russia. 

We saw this Russian Police/Security Guard encourage people to leave coins for the Neptune statue.  As they walked away, he would scoop up the majority of the coins!

 

This place was immaculate not one piece of trash and I saw people raking rocks in the garden so that they were in perfect place, as well as a few touch up cuts with scissors!

Russia for the Third Time! Catherine's Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia

I thought the Russian Customs may lock me up for visiting too much but all was cool.  lol

Recently, I went on a dream vacation with my in laws, sister n law, and three other couples.  We flew to Copenhagen, Denmark, then took a short train ride to Malmo Sweden.  We got to spend a day and 1/2 exploring Copenhagen and Malmo, and then boarded a ship for a 7-day Baltic Sea cruise.

It's hard to say which county or even countries were my favorites-they all were so awesome to see.  If I had to narrow it down, Russia would come in at number one for all the breath-taking things I saw.  I do mean BREATH-TAKING!

We had a guided tour for 2 days in St. Petersburg, Russia.
From palaces to cathedrals to museums, St. Petersburg, Russia was awesome.

This post will showcase some of the beauty that I saw while at Catherine's Palace-and also some abstracts.  (If you click on the picture, it should open full size.)

 

These are from Catherine Palace:

 

 

I love how the sun is shining down on me here..and what (or who) is that next to me?

 

 

You couldn't just look straight ahead, some of the beauty existed on the ceilings!

 

This mosiac was done all in amber stone.

 

Of course I loved the pink and green room!

 

Most of the Cubans with Maria, our guide, in the brown sweater.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Sergio Zerquera (my great in-laws)

 

Check back-more to come!!

 

 

My Pets Have Personality!

My name is Cosmonaut; Cosmo for short.

I like to sprawl out on leather...really sprawl out! 

When I am awake, I sometimes like to scratch leather too. 

I have a new catnip baby-oddly enough, his name is Cosmic Catnip! 

I really love him. 

My name is Goatee.  Aren't I cute?

Sometimes I escape from my pen and when I do, I like to eat orchids and other tropical plants from my Mom and Dad's front porch.

Hell, I like to eat cardboard too for that matter! 

I am Summer.  I like to play ball with mini tennis balls.

I get tired after a few runs and you have to go get the ball yourself. 

Pollo Tropical

I took SerVlad to the fair last weekend.  Big Serge has been working every Saturday and I like to take SerVlad somewhere-even if it's to the park or beach-just to have a change of scenery and make for a fun day.  He did really well at the fair.  He enjoyed looking at all the animal exhibits, split some fair fries with me, sat and enjoyed an elephant show and some pig racing, and even went on a few rides by himself.

He was super excited when we entered the chicken building-just loved it! He was pointing, look at that one, look at that one over there, look at this one!  He even did a little clucking himself! We looked at every single chicken in the place-had to be over 500 easy!

Here are a few-Enjoy!

Baby chicks are always cute but obviously can't read-poor things were eating from a Buds Fried Chicken box!  :(

 Wash, Fluff and wear!

These were my FAVORITE!  They look like leopard skin chickens!

So cute-I love the chickens that have feathers going down the legs and on the feet!

This gal could have used a hair band!

No wait-THIS ONE was my favorite! A real cutie!

Beaker from the Muppets?  Separated from birth!