1715
eter the Great once paid a visit to Padise manor. It must have happened on 22nd July 1715, when the famous Russian tsar was on his way from Haapsalu, where he had spent a day or so, to Rogerwiek, i.e. to present-day Paldiski, the place he had chosen to build a new military harbour. As the story goes, first a courier had galloped into the manor courtyard with the message that his Majesty’s coach was approaching and that a dinner table should promptly be laid for him. Reinhold von Ramm, the then owner of Padise, had the best in his pantry brought out, and ordered the servants to lay the table in the grandest room in the house, the so-called ancestors’ hall. But when the tsar, who was worn out after a long journey and in a grim mood, arrived at the manor and happened to go to one of the smaller rooms, with no dinner table awaiting him, he went into a rage and struck the welcoming host a couple of blows with his long walking cane which he had in his hand. Fortunately the doors to the ancestors’ hall opened almost immediately and when the sumptuous dinner table became visible, with lots of candles lighted, Peter cried: „Oh, boy!“ seeing that he had been unfair. „Ask me whatever you want, old boy,“ he turned to Ramm. The latter understood the situation and did not ask the tsar for anything but the walking cane which had been used for striking. That German spazierstock, made of rattan and with an ebony knob handle, packed in a silk plush case to preserve it, was showcased at Padise during the 18th and 19th centuries as a rare imperial relic. It disappeared in January 1945 when the Ramms had to flee Poznan along snow-melting roads to escape the advancing Soviet troops.
