Messages

106

Tsarskoe Selo Town / Re: Hotels in Pushkin / Tsarskoe Selo

« on: November 10, 2004, 12:02:46 AM »

Joanna
Thanks so much for the link - imagine waking up in the morning, looking out the window and actually seeing the Catherine Palace!!!
Cathy

107

Palaces in St. Petersburg / Re: Winter Palace, Guest Suites

« on: September 24, 2004, 03:12:40 PM »

A Caviar Bar!!!!  Let me rethink my preference for our next visit.  I love Russian caviar.
Cathy

108

Palaces in St. Petersburg / Re: Winter Palace, Guest Suites

« on: September 24, 2004, 03:08:37 PM »

Hi Harald, thanks for the link.  While in St. Petersburg, my sister and I stayed at the Astoria - I loved it so much. We walked everyday to the Grand to have a tea or Coke, to get/leave a taxi and to visit the WC.  It truly was 'grand'.  If we go back, we may stay there but I do prefer the Astoria (my romantic envisionment of the past). I had no idea that royalty stayed there - I thought that 'palaces' were the only suites, if available, that they would stay in Europe.  I know that Russian does not have an active monarchy but historically, residences remain, which I thought would provide better security than a hotel.  In Canada, we provide hotel space with security, or large stately homes if available but no palaces - sigh.
Cathy

109

Palaces in St. Petersburg / Re: Winter Palace, Guest Suites

« on: September 24, 2004, 02:59:17 PM »

Thanks liljones1968, my mistake - I did mean the Prince of Wales. Cathy

110

Palaces in St. Petersburg / Re: Winter Palace, Guest Suites

« on: September 10, 2004, 02:28:03 PM »

I was also wondering where guests stay today?  At the Winter Palace?  Or the Catherine Palace?
For example, where would Pres. Putin and his many guests have stayed while touring the 'new' Amber room? Or, where would Prince Charles, Duke of Windsor have stayed when he visited St. Petersburg a few years ago?  Or, the Princess Michael of Kent in the late 90s when she visited the Alex. Palace?
So many questions thanks for your replies everyone.
Cathy

111

Palaces in St. Petersburg / Re: Winter Palace, Guest Suites

« on: September 10, 2004, 02:21:15 PM »

Hi Goula
Wow, thank you so very much for this information - I now have my floor plan out and am identifying the rooms.  I have a little more to work with now.

Dmitry2 - you were going to "...I will be able to give you the present rooms and uses...."

Do you know, Goula?

Thanks, Cathy

112

Forum Announcements / Re: System Administrator Appreciation Day

« on: July 31, 2004, 12:57:28 AM »

Dear Bob and Rob
It is so wonderful to gather in such a safe place to discuss interesting topics with intelligent people who have so much information to share. It would never have happened without you. I thank you with delight and amazement every time I logon.
Cathy

113

Palaces in St. Petersburg / Re: Winter Palace, Guest Suites

« on: July 22, 2004, 12:51:38 AM »

Oh Dmitry2, thank you so much for this information and I do hope you post more.  Many of my pictures of the outside of the Winter Palace are from the Admiralty side because that was how I approached the Palace walking from my hotel. At that time there had been scaffolding and tarps from the corner of the buiding while the outside was refurbished. And I do remember being able to see the tarps from the inside so I must have visited at least the corridor! How exciting.
Thanks so much, Cathy

114

Books about the Romanovs and Imperial Russia / Re: Crowns in Conflict

« on: July 15, 2004, 03:19:30 PM »

Thanks so much for your opinions, rskkiya and tea_rose.  I am now reading some of T. Aronson's articles in Majesty magazine about British royalty and I am enjoying them very much.
Cathy

115

Imperial Russian Antiques / Re: Winter Palace, Faberge Display

« on: July 15, 2004, 03:12:16 PM »

Thanks Mike - you provide such detailed information - I really appreciate your posts.
Have any Royal gifts been returned from other countries to Russia to be displayed in Russian museums? Or been sold for private collections?
Cathy

116

Books about the Romanovs and Imperial Russia / Crowns in Conflict

« on: July 13, 2004, 01:53:37 PM »

Has anyone read: Crowns in Conflict: The Triumph of the Tragedy of European Monarchy, 1910-1918 by Theo Aronson?  Is it factual or fiction?
Thanks Cathy

117

Imperial Russian Antiques / Winter Palace, Faberge Display

« on: July 08, 2004, 04:21:22 PM »

Would anyone know where in the Winter Palace, Nicholas and Alexandra had all the gifts that they distributed to visiting Royals and dignataries. Many of the gifts were Faberge. Was there a vault or a display room and where located or has anyone seen a photograph of such a room.
Thanks
Cathy

118

Palaces in St. Petersburg / Winter Palace, Guest Suites

« on: July 08, 2004, 04:12:29 PM »

Would anyone know if there were (and where) rooms or a suite of roomsthat the Emperors' guests-of-distinction may have resided in.
For example, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria had what is known as the Emperor's Guesthouse, a palace (hotel) that he paid for from his private purse in 1908, completed in a manner laid down by himself and to be made available as required for his guests. It is known today as the Parkhotel Schoenbrunn, well within walking distance of Schoenbrunn, the summer palace of Franz Joseph and Sissi, in Vienna.
In St. Petersburg's Winter Palace, across the Dark Corridor from the rooms of Nicholas and Alexandra were the suite of rooms of Alexander II that remained as they were when he died in 1881.  From Nicholas' library down to Palace Square were the suite of rooms of Alexander II's wife Empress Marie that were possibly also left as is when she died in 1880.
So where did the visiting Kings and Emperors reside when they were on official visits to St. Petersburg?
Thanks Cathy

119

News Links / Re: Catherine Palace Antechamber Re-opens

« on: July 06, 2004, 12:05:16 AM »

Thanks Belochka for the translation
Don't you just love those felt slippers!!!  The floors of the palaces are a facination for me; the beauty is almost overwhelming.  I've always been surprised that one does not have to wear the felt slippers in the Hermitage.  I wonder why?
Cathy

120

The Hesse-Darmstadts (Hesse and by Rhine) / Re: Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse, Part II

« on: July 02, 2004, 01:55:16 PM »

Hi elisa_1872
You wrote "It will be great to see what they say about Osborne! Has anyone ever visited? I'd be so interested to hear anyone's impressions!"
My sister and I had the great fortune to visit Osborne House together in 1996. We stayed at the Albert Cottage which was formerly part of Queen Victoria's Osborne estate, designed by Nash and lived in by Princess Beatrice, youngest daughter of Queen Vic and wife of Henry of Battenburg, former governor of the Isle of Wight. The rooms were very elegant (but oh so very cold, in the month of May), the windows were huge with long velvet curtains. It still had the tall wardrobes for the long dresses of the 19th century!
The grounds of Osborne House are absolutely wonderful - we walked for 2 days enthralled with the views, the flowers and the gardens, the house itself.  Victoria died here in 1901 and her apartments have been preserved almost unaltered ever since. Photographs, paintings, gifts from visiting dignitaries and mementoes from travels abroad can be found in every room.ie. the exotic Dunbar Room with its intricate Indian plaster decoration and the Horn Room with furniture made from deer antlers. I loved the Nursery bedroom - it remains just as it was when Queen Vic's grandchildren came to stay in the 1870's.
Outside, there are beautiful terraced gardens and a statue of Eros, the dog of Prince Albert.  And Swiss Cottage, the chalet where the children learnd to cook and garden. And a thatched summerhouse which contains barrows used by the children , each painted with its owners initials
Oh, and Victoria's bathing machine (an enclosed roofed cart that was wheeled into the water). And the Osborne Ice House.  And so much more...
Cathy