Hi all - ironic that I started this thread two years ago last week! I've just come back from my second trip to St Petersburg and spent a day at Tsarskoye. The very day we were there they were excavating the little flower bed in front of the AP. I have photos which I'll get up in the next couple of days. They were indeed excavating the graves and had removed four or five sets of human remains whilst we were there. I ventured to talk to the burly russians conducting the dig (they certainly didn't give the impression of archeologists!) - I kept asking if the remains were SS and indeed as everyone has always suggested they are. One of the diggers even brought over an 'Erkennungsmarke' (a German dog-tag) on which you could make out some sort of name or regiment and the very clear 'SS' runes. It also stated it was a Feldgendarmerie - military police unit. Erkennungsmarkes are designed to be broken in two once the wearer is dead, so that one half remains with the body and the other is sent to the regiment HQ or similar to be recorded. The one that he showed me had been split.
Anyway, the guys doing the digging were pulling out bones all over the place and putting the remians in blue plastic sacks - you'll see in the photos when I get them up. There were a number of skulls etc. I don't know whether the digging was purely to clear the ground for something else or a genuine excavation but I will say there wasn't a huge amount of respect being shown to the remains -- although considering what the Nazi's (partcularly the SS) did to Russia and indeed the palaces themselves, I can't say I felt much sorrow!
I will get all my pictures up on photo-bucket or similar and post the link again. There is a huge amount of work going on across the Catherine Palace and park - even the Turkish Bath is being completely renovated, but as usual the Alexander Palace is not going the same way. No disrespect to all the great work Robert etc do, but the AP is (in my opinion) looking worse than it did when I was there two years ago. Fortunately some work is taking place on the semi-circular hall roof, although as you'll see in the pics this seems to just be the removal of much of the roofing and its replacement with plastic sheeting!
Anyway I'll get all my photos up and everyone can judge for themselves. As always the AP was pretty quiet (the exhibition inside is improved from my last visit) the park was beautiful and the Feodorovsky Sobor is simply enchanting. Nothing and no-where compares to the Alexander Park - I only wish I could spend more time there.
Thanks for listening be good
