2016-07-02

【Aiden in English】

        From hearing the name, you can expect that Peter is an important figure in this city. Not only are you correct, but you also now know one of the largest people in Russian history. Peter is in a long family line of royal blood that has been ruling the country for centuries. There are many Peters in the house of Romanov, seven, to be exact, so to narrow things down, I am talking about Peter the Great, or Peter the Third, or the only Peter that people like in Russia (Peter Tchaikovsky not included). 

        The idea behind today's tour was to visit Peter the Great summer palace known as Peterhof, or "Russian Versailles". When people like you as a king, you can do crazy things. For example, you give an architect an unlimited budget for an ornate building like the best palace as much as possible. Assuming money can buy happiness, and this architect packed so much happiness into a house as he could. To start, the palace had to be big. After getting an image in your head, double the size. Then double it again. To get from one end of the property to the other required a lot of walking, enough to tire many people in our group out. Just saying, the sightseeing was meant to have "severe" walking distance. Now that the perimeter has been set, imagine a regular stone house. Then, make every crease, joint, and ceiling carving in the walls gold, every chair, picture frame, and case covered in gems. Add mosaics of diamonds, emeralds, and rubies, and world-renowned artwork. Finally, you have extremely waxed floors that make everyone shaky and have the tourists wear disposable shoe coverings to make the entire thing seem ten times more expensive. By looking at the items, I still wonder why the palace ever asks for donations for restorations when you can simply pluck off a loose diamond or gold useless door handle and sell it for a few grand. If the idea that every gem was in the palace wasn't even enough, they added an amber room. In case you didn't know, amber, if made correctly, looks like a fire flickering in a glowing, translucent stone. 

        Not only do the Russians like Peter’s, but they also like Catherine’s. Queen Catherine had the second grand palace of St. Petersburg, and it matched Peterhof every inch of the way. In the line of royals, Catherine was not supposed to be a ruler, but she led a revolution against her estranged empirical husband and claimed the throne at the age of 34. As a German descent, Catherine the Great had controlled Russia successfully and expanded its territory from the Baltic Region where Peter the Great had overpowered to the Black Sea for another 34-year ruling until her death. The only major difference between her palace and Peterhof was the outdoor garden. It is said, in rumors, that these are over 150 fountains in Peterhof. I, personally, disagree, but it just makes it sound much more mystical. The Peterhof garden is split by the Sea Channel which consists of a row of fountains, each with perfect symmetry to another across. The most dazzling one was located in the center, featuring Samson prying open a lion's jaws spaying out water that cascaded down the stepped terraces. Very PG-13 if you ask me. 

        The Russians loved to show off wealth, and having their houses covered with money is one way to do it. Whether it makes the audience be amazed or jealous or hatred, that is another matter. It's kind of a waste, though, now that it only becomes a museum.

【紅霞譯文】

        想必你剛一聽到彼得的名字，心中早已猜出八九不離十，沒錯，他堪稱俄國歷史上最為顯赫的沙皇之一，其皇室家族統治俄羅斯帝國長達數百年。當然在羅曼諾夫王朝中前後出現過好幾位名叫彼得的皇帝，準確地說一共七位，在這裡我暫且只想談論有關彼得大帝即第三位彼得，也就是俄國人民唯一喜歡的那位（不包括彼得·柴可夫斯基）。

        之所以道出上述旁白是因為今天我們要去參觀彼得大帝離宮──彼得宮，享有“俄羅斯凡爾賽”之美譽。假如你登上皇帝寶座，難免想以各種形式名揚天下，譬如：不惜任何代價讓建築家為自己打造一座舉世無雙的宮殿，儼然擺出金錢可以買來幸福的姿態，於是這位大師盡其所能將所有代表幸福的元素全部融入使命當中。首先，宮殿必須 “大”，空間大小要比想象得成倍膨脹。第二，再使海大的奇葩翻番變成天大的極品，不讓所有到訪的遊客從宮殿的一頭走到另一頭累個半死決不善罷甘休，正如遊覽簡介上友情提示的那樣，步行距離“艱苦卓絕”。好了，既然你對宮殿規模業已心中有數，那麼就來聯想一下正常的石屋構造，每面牆、每根梁、每塊頂棚全部用純金裝飾；每把桌椅、每幅圖畫、每個鏡框全部用寶石鑲嵌；各件馬賽克藝術品傳世之作不是用鑽石，就是用祖母綠，或者用紅寶石裱背起來；最後，彼得宮的地板統統打上油光鋥亮的厚蠟，滑得大家步履維艱，而且個個事先必須武裝齊備一次性鞋套，其費用消耗大有貴出十倍之勢。留心盤算細目，我禁不住好奇彼得宮幹嗎還要收費集資以便開展修繕工作，何不就近摘取一顆散落的鑽戒，哪怕一個完全派不上用場的金門手把，隨便拿到市場上兜售，怎麼也會撈回幾個萬來八千的，假如寶石還不夠使，乾脆典當點琥珀廳里的家什。萬一你對之感覺丈二和尚摸不到頭腦，不妨告訴你吧，質量好的琥珀是半透明的樹脂化石，光亮如珍珠，色澤如瑪瑙。

        當然俄國佬不僅喜歡彼得宮，而且同樣熱衷葉卡捷琳娜宮。葉卡捷琳娜女王在聖彼得堡建造了第二座夏宮，比起前輩彼得富麗堂皇的宮殿有過之而無不及。當年在皇室成員中，葉卡捷琳娜本來輪不上出馬當政，但她發動政變一舉推翻離心離德的花心老公，於三十四歲那年如願即位。作為日耳曼後裔，葉卡捷琳娜二世成功地統治俄羅斯長達三十四年，並把疆域從彼得三世把持的波羅的海地區擴張到黑海地區，直至六十八歲去世。葉卡捷琳娜宮和彼得宮之間主要區別在於外部花園，傳說彼得宮一共有150座噴泉，我倒並不這麼認為，但聽起來如雷貫耳，令人感覺氣貫長虹。彼得宮花園被一排噴泉組成的“海上通道”平分為二，雙側嚴格講究對稱，最迷人的要算中央大噴泉，神力士師西門用力撥開獅子口犬牙，水柱直衝雲霄，並沿階梯式露台自上而下狂瀉而去。要我說，帶有十三歲以下孩子的家長應格外當心自己的心肝寶貝，千萬別被嚇壞。

        俄國人喜愛炫富善長招搖，巴不得把鈔票貼滿自家豪宅，是否成心惹人羨慕嫉妒恨另當別論，不過實在太過浪費，幸好現在被用作博物館供世人欣賞。