A strange thing happened to me when I began exploring the Alexander and Catherine Parks back in September, 2006. I entered the park area by the little gate nearest the entry to the Ekaterina Hotel; after a short distance, I saw the Chinese Village to my right and turned down a walkway toward it. Next, following my map ( or so I thought ), I proceeded down a sidewalk into an area that I concluded was the "greenhouse" area. Not very interesting, no signs, and eventually I reached a fence: dead end. Nearby, on the other side of the fence I saw a ruined Gothic brick structure that I thought would make a nice picture.
Before I knew it, a pleasant, rather official looking woman made it clear that I wasn't supposed to be there. A couple of garden workers ( women ) came over to check things out, and soon a more official and unfriendly-looking young woman wearing a jacket with T.S. on the back also checked in at the site of my crime. As I was led away from this area, the two women gardeners kindly gifted me with 2 apples from the orchard. To make the story a little shorter, I'll just say that perhaps I stumbled into a "prohibited" area and was being diverted by Tsarkoe's version of the "KGB" from an area where GMO's are being experimented upon (LOL)! No, I'm not being serious.
By the time I was escorted to the main gate of the Catherine Palace, an English-speaking guard and 2 policewomen were
laughing hysterically at the spy (me) being brought to them for inspection. My escort was still being quite stern.
Anyhow--it was an interesting occurrence and the guard, especially, was very nice. I was given the OK to go back into the parks, but never understood what I had done wrong!
Any ideas?
