The cost of all this polishing and extreme attention is above 100,000 roubles yearly.
Very odd caprices are exhibited in the decoration of the grounds, several fanciful towers, a Dutch and Swiss cottage, a Gothic building, a marble bridge with Corinthian columns, bronze and other statues, and numerous monuments raised by Alexander to his companions in arms, intermingled with hermitages, artificial ruins, Roman tombs, grottoes and waterfalls.
Like almost all other royal buildings in Russia, Tzarskoe owes its origin to Peter the Great.
He erected the first house here, and planted the avenues of plane trees with his own hand.
We had a great desire to drive about the grounds, and made several attempts with the droshky drivers, but could not make ourselves understood either with regard to the terms or the route we should take.
At length we succeeded in getting a carriage to Pavlofsky, another imperial residence, by mentioning the name and offering a sum which we found afterwards was much more than the distance justified. The palace is not particularly distinguished, and the gardens are resorted to as a sort of Vauxhall, with bands of music and other similar entertainments.
Among other public buildings at St. Petersburg should be mentioned the Exchange.
A stately flight of steps leads to this great hall, which is lighted from above; on both sides are spaces in the form of arcades. In one of the first stands an altar with a lamp constantly burning for the benefit of the pious Russian merchants, who always bow to the altar and sometimes prostrate themselves to implore the favour of some favourite saint to prosper their undertakings.
Here I may mention the several sorts of money circulating in this country. One hundred kopecks make a rouble, about 3s. 4d. English money, always used as the basis in commercial transactions; a few silver coins, 25, 30, 50, and a few 100 kopecks, but of the last these generally appear in notes of 1, 3, 5, 10, and 20 roubles; some coppers, ¼ to 3 kopecks.
The gold coins are the imperial, half imperial, and one between, but these we did not see, being, we suppose, as Cobbett used to say, unwilling to associate with dirty ragged companions.