If one day you get to the most Western outskirts of St. Petersburg, arriving by bus or train to Oranienbaum, then one way or another get into a huge Park Menshikov Palace. It is located almost in the center of the town, so it will be difficult to get lost here.

You can tell a lot about the beauty and sights that will meet you there, but I would like to tell you about only one interesting pavilion, which is called the Katalnaya Gorka.

The pavilion building is located, perhaps, at the highest point of the Park. It is built in the corner part and is clearly visible from the Gulf of Finland on a hill, and when you walk along the paths of the Park, it is simply impossible not to see this building.

Mapping of the Park is very unusual. There is a very wild areas, where in summer and autumn grow mushrooms and berries, but there are corners beautifully equipped with smooth channels and planted with tall trees. Once, long ago, walking here for the first time, I was struck by the beauty that suddenly opened to me at the end of the tree alley, at the bottom of which there is no path, but simply grows a smooth carpet of grass.

At the end of this alley is just the pavilion of the roller coaster. Here, from the tall pointed firs, it seems that you suddenly came through the forest to the beautiful castle, but this impression changes if you approach dhania on the other hand, where a wide paved walkway with flower beds on the edges.

The Katalnaya Gorka pavilion was built under Catherine the great. Earlier from the building there were slides made on wooden piles and scaffolding. On them in the summer, the courtiers and the guests of the Empress skated on special wheelchairs. The length of the slides with the building was more than five hundred meters. During the festivities from the pavilion, noise, fun and laughter were constantly heard.

The pavilion building is built in the Baroque style. Inside everything was decorated and furnished no worse than in the Palace. There were often receptions of noble guests, Lunches and dances. In this form, the roller coaster lasted until 1801, when the wooden scaffolding began to gradually collapse and were closed for skiing.

Today from those slides there was nothing left, except the pavilion. It was repeatedly maintained, because after the war with Nazi Germany, the building was badly damaged.

I was lucky to visit the Park several times and every time this beautiful sky-blue building met me with its beautiful appearance. On one of my trips I took some pictures of the building and now I post in my blog.

If you visit St. Petersburg once, be sure to take the time and visit Oranienbaum with its wonderful Park, palaces and museums. It's actually very quiet and beautiful.