Saturday, 12 August

Fine

At 10.30 we started off by car from the hotel and went first to Peterhof. The palace has been completely burned down and even the bronze fountain statue has been stolen by the Germans. The small palace where Peter the Great stayed has also been burned. The paintings on the roofs and walls have been torn off. This was the headquarters of the German army when they attacked the southwest part of the city, and there were many war trenches and destroyed cars everywhere. From here we went South to Puskina and saw the old palace which was also badly destroyed. The person in charge of the place was a young girl. She told me that three women have moved the important things to other places, therefore they could still manage to keep more than 70 percent of them. It was not easy. At 4.30 we returned to the city and went to the old bookshop with Shaozhou and I bought quite a few books.

This morning I dreamt that I wrangled with beloved (name unknown) and I felt bad for the whole day. This was the only regrettable thing about this trip. Probably great happiness will incur small unhappiness, otherwise it will yield bad results if we have enjoyment which is too great. I felt relieved because I am a firm believer in Buddhist karma.