Gate of Triumph at the entrance of the city, was
lined with scaffolding and seats, in preparation for the coronation, to
enable the lieges "to see great Caesar pass that way" from his palace of
Petrofsky, where he was to reside three days before entering the Holy
City to undergo the ceremony of his coronation.

The Gate of Triumph, which forms the northern entrance to the city, is
built of stone, after the model of one at Rome, but with a taste which
would make a Roman stare. All the statues and ornaments about it are
painted of every variety of colour, so that it has the appearance of a
wooden structure put up by the rustic inhabitants of some country
village to welcome the lord of the estate.

The Palace of Petrofsky is itself a curious sight. It is a huge pile,
of a bright red colour, intermingled with white, and covered with every
conceivable device in the way of ornament. It has circular walls
projecting out in front from the main building, in shape and colour very
like lobsters' claws, and there are the brightest green roofs, and
numberless domes, and cupolas, and minarets, and towers, and spires,
covered with burnished gold, which make one suppose that a very rich man
must live within. On a wide, open space in front of the palace,
wonderfully grand preparations were making for a fete which was to be
given to the people on the occasion of the coronation.

At a short distance before the palace stood a magnificent pavilion,
intended to hold the Imperial family. A little of the woodwork yet
unpainted showed that it was not a solid structure of stone. No people
can equal the Russians in making the false pass for the real. On either
side of the pavilion were others, each of a different style of
architecture, for the use of the chief nobility of the realm. Before
them, at some little distance, were two theatres, in comparison with
which the magnificence of the old fair-going booth of Richardson would
have grown dim. They might be called theatres, but they were only the
semi-part of the theatre; the open common, with the blue sky overhead,
was the space intended for the audience. Then there were several
Montagnes Russe, but, instead of being made of ice and snow, they were
built of wood. They consist of high elevations, facing each other, with
a slope between them; people ascend to the top by steps, where they find
cars of wood. They place themselves in the cars, and then are sent
sliding down one slope wit