Our second drive was to the Summer Gardens, which are laid out in long avenues of fine old trees, interspersed with varied walks, flower beds and numerous beautiful marble statues, forming a delightful retreat, but attended with an enormous expense, as many of the tender trees and shrubs, and even statues, require a careful covering through the winter.
From the gardens we proceeded to the original wooden palace, or cottage of Peter the Great, situated on one of the islands.
It consists of three small rooms, one his bedroom, another his reception room, and a third his chapel, where the pictures he worshipped are carefully preserved. Many relics are still to be seen, a boat and sails, with an old armchair, all which are said to have been made by his own hands.
The place was crowded by his devoted admirers, more particularly the chapel, which with numerous lighted candles purchased by the visitors, was heated almost to suffocation. The whole is covered over by a brick building to preserve it from the effects of the weather.
We then proceeded to the Botanical Gardens, situated on another island.
Here are numerous conservatories, comprising a great variety of camellias, heaths and ferns and several very large palm-houses, containing some very fine specimens.
We then visited the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, which we found undergoing extensive repairs.
In this church are deposited the remains of Peter the Great and all his imperial successors, the preceding Emperors having been buried at Moscow.
The very great simplicity and absence of all ornament form a striking but most becoming contrast to the usual display in many other churches.
The coffins, being placed in walls, are covered with a plain stone sarcophagus. On some the pall is embroidered in golden letters, on others nothing but the initial. From the roof are suspended numerous tattered banners, and on one side are hung the keys of Paris and other French fortresses.