The grand palace faces the Baltic sea, although most visitors approach from behind - impressive enough an entrance that it wasn't until this particular visit that I realized we were entering through the back yard. We were greeted by a long stretch of cultivated land, small stones covering the walkways through the grass. Between the sets of walkways were several beautiful fountains. But this was only a tease compared to what was to come.

Inside the palace is an impressive museum, displaying beautiful works of art and a multitude of differently decorated rooms. But it is in the front yard that the real magic begins. A breathtaking cascade of water and fountains flows down from the porch of the palace, the living water destined for a long canal that stretches through the lower garden and into the Baltic Sea. An orchestra played classical music on the porch, adding a dramatic effect to the scene.

During this visit, I accompanied an old friend and professor, retracing the steps we took during my first visit to Petergof when I was her student. And again, I felt myself her student as she told me about all about this, one of her favorite places in the world. We descended the stairs like the water of the fountains alongside us and entered the lower park, a collection of trees, flowers and nature, artistic fountains and cottages.

Although this entire estate was but one of several Peter the Great knew as home - and although they were enormous - we found three additional palaces hidden within the trees of the lower garden. One of them, the Marly, seemed almost a stately playhouse. A dining room was the main room on the second floor, with two smaller studies off of it. Because Peter didn't like to wait long for his dinner, the dining room included a long wooden table that could be lowered from the second floor into the first floor kitchen. The table could be served, and then hoisted back up to the dining room.

The Hermitage - not to be confused with the downtown Winter Palace that houses the Hermitage Museum - is also located in the wooded land of Petergof. The cottage appears more like a mansion, unless placed next to the larger palace overseeing the lower garden. Monplazier Palace, or the 'Dutch House', was right on the shore across from Finland. It is a long, narrow palace. Like the other palaces, it was filled with furnishings and artwork from Peter the Great's time.

But even with all of the palaces in the lower garden, the true attraction was the collection of elaborate fountains outside. In one area, a trick fountain sprayed water at us from the stone floor when we stepped in the wrong place. In another area, what appeared to be trees turned out to be trick fountains. Water sprayed from their branches, also getting us wet.

Other fountains were less threatening, but much more fun to look at. Some relied on their structure to dazzle, like the Golden Fountain, the sculpted Adam and Eve fountains and the Chess Fountain. Others played tricks with the water, creating designs and patterns, one forming a pyramid out of water. With so much to see, one could easily loose a day at Petergof. Or rather, find it. And we did.

A Taste of Winter

The Winter Palace is the main attraction of Palace Square, in the center of which stands the Aleksander Column, a towering monument topped by an angel holding a cross. At the other end of the square is a crescent of administrative buildings. Palace Square, with its stone brick surface, is often filled with tourists and vendors, photographers, horses and carriages, even young bear cubs on leashes. But it is the majestic face of the Winter Palace that demands attention.

The Hermitage is home to more than three million pieces of art. To see every piece of the collection could take years. Since we only had one day, we overwhelmed ourselves only for several hours. Impressive as the collection is, I find the greatest gem of the Heritage to be the Winter Palace itself. The palace is a work of art without the aid of the old masters - marble staircases, accents of gold and silver, wall carvings of wood, marble and ivory. It is difficult to imagine a family living in such luxury while masses starved in villages.

While it may not have the fountains of Petergof, the Winter Palace remains the most impressive home in Russia. But don't call your real estate agent - it's not on the market. Besides, you're more likely able to afford a small country.

Good Evening - Not!

My two companions and I looked forward to an evening at the theater. Dressed to the nines, we went to the Mariinsky Theater to see their production of the ballet "Red Zhezel". I put on my stern, almost angry, Russian face and stood between my companions as one of them presented all of our tickets to a short, stout old lady with a scarf over her head.

The hunched-over babushka stabbed me with eyes so angry they immediately evoked guilt. Still, I retained my stone, Russian look. With the trained look of a former KGB agent, she greeted me with "dobre vecher" (good evening).

"Dobre Vecher", I returned. But, despite the French I took in high school and the Russian I took in college, I've never been able to roll those Rs. She immediately escorted us out. Thus a controller weeded me out as a non-Russian for the first time.

With our special discounts as Russian citizens, the tickets had been $10 each. My additional surcharge was another $40. Fifty dollars for a show that our professor had seen a month before at the very same theater for 15 rubles, or roughly 50 cents. I began to pay for the foreigner upgrade, but they insisted it wasn't worth the price. So instead we went outside the theater and attempted to scalp them. We had a few takers, but each time our deal was interrupted by the Mafia-scalper standing nearby. We were on his turf. And he let us know it.

Reasonable Paranoia

The most interesting story to come out of the cruise was that of yet another palace. This one built for Tsar Paul I. He was convinced that someone was trying to murder him, so he had his palace built in a place secured by four drawbridges. Every evening, the four drawbridges were to be lifted for his protection. Sure enough, after only four days of residing in his secure palace - drawbridges up - he was murdered. Sometimes a person's paranoia is justified.