add a couple mountains to the front, and i'd take this as my backyard.

our second weekend in russia we had BEAUTIFUL weather, so we took a trip to peterhof! it's so beautiful, quiet and peaceful there i just love it. this place is peter the greats brain child. he loved water, and made ships a priority of st. pete's yada yada yada... well he also took a trip to versailles in france and saw the beautiful fountains there but wanted to make something even better for russia. in versailles, the fountains dont run all the time, only on a schedule and you have to go to a certain fountain, at a certain time, to see it running, get the picture? also, he wanted something that worked completely naturally that used only gravity and stuff. this is what we got :) fair warning- lots of pictures.

 first glimpse!

 fountains in the front

 so pretty! 

destroyed after WWII, and still being restored

 those russians are so smart, they buried the statues so they wouldnt get destroyed

 beautiful church right next to the palace! i'm kind of in love with this building...

 yay jump!

 so pretty!

these pictures can't come even close to capturing the beauty of this place 

 the grand cascade!

 the grand cascade!

those russians are very promiscuous... ;) 

russian legolas? what?? 

i feel like my nose looks weird in this picture.... not a fan. 

 so amazing!

 i can picture this in montana :)

oh, the simple joys in life 

lookin a little roman? 

the very first hermitage! complete with a moat and everything :)  this is their palace for more private conversations. but that balcony.... i totally want to be a juliet for some romeo to talk to me on there! 

 baltic sea!

 the grand cascade again! it goes all the way out through the canal and out to the sea

 amazing? beautiful? wondrous? phenomenal? breathtaking? all of the above.

 king neptune! you put money at his feet if you want to come back to this place again. seems life a scam to me...

 this reminds me of thanksgiving:(

 so, peter the great was a trickster. and a pretty good one at that. tons of these fountains are disguised as just benches and stuff and then when people sit down they spray them and obviously get either wet, or stuck until the water turns off :)

 birds have nice digs over in russia.

 i hate it when i get stuck under a mushroom.

 little kids racing the water :)

 the towered fountain! 7 layers. genius.

 yay for group pictures :) (minus leslie)

lilies are my favorite :)

i like musicians in russia...

 again, obsessed. 

the palace 

 i love this fence. 

 i love these fountains.

these are on a fence. great. so great. 

trick statue. the russian coat of arms usually only has a black eagle with 2 heads. this one actually has 3, but no matter where you are you can only see 2. but... when it has 3, you always see 2! if there was only 2, there would be places you could only see 1. true story. genius russians. so great.