St Petersburg Day 2
Sunday, June 20, 2010
High 66
Sunrise 4:36 am
Sunset 11:25 pm
Our morning takes us the Hermitage Museum in a drizzling rain. It is but a short ride to the museum and we are the 3rd or 4th bus to arrive. They let the buses carrying passengers from the cruise ships enter at 9am while the rest of the museum opens at 10:30. There can be 20,000 at the Hermitage in a day so we were so fortunate to be so early and were able to move from room to room easily for the first hour. The building is simply amazing with marble, granite, malachite and many types of wood covered in gold leaf. By the time we left the lin
es were way down around the block. Only 20% of treasures are on display at one time. The rest are stored below ground. This part of the city was spared bombing during the war but many of the palaces outside of town were partially or
totally destroyed.
Our evening tour took us to the palace of Catherine the Great for a Grand Imperial evening of the Tzars. We were greeted by Royal Guards at the Palace and musicians played for us as we entered the palace. The lavish palace was covered in gold leaf wherever we looked. As we descended the grand staircase the Imperial Guard paraded by and a horse drawn carriage arrived with a couple to do some traditional dances. We then had champagne to toast the evening and proceeded to go to a Russian dinner at a traditional Russian country house.
We had a wonderful dinner with vodka toasts and singers and dancers to entertain us. Our last picture was of the sunset at 11:30 pm as we departed for the ship 45 minutes away. How mixed up are we if we stay up until 1 am in the morning. The last picture in the center is taken at 11:45 in the evening just as the sun was setting.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
High 66
Sunrise 4:36 am
Sunset 11:25 pm
Our morning takes us the Hermitage Museum in a drizzling rain. It is but a short ride to the museum and we are the 3rd or 4th bus to arrive. They let the buses carrying passengers from the cruise ships enter at 9am while the rest of the museum opens at 10:30. There can be 20,000 at the Hermitage in a day so we were so fortunate to be so early and were able to move from room to room easily for the first hour. The building is simply amazing with marble, granite, malachite and many types of wood covered in gold leaf. By the time we left the lin
es were way down around the block. Only 20% of treasures are on display at one time. The rest are stored below ground. This part of the city was spared bombing during the war but many of the palaces outside of town were partially or totally destroyed.Our evening tour took us to the palace of Catherine the Great for a Grand Imperial evening of the Tzars. We were greeted by Royal Guards at the Palace and musicians played for us as we entered the palace. The lavish palace was covered in gold leaf wherever we looked. As we descended the grand staircase the Imperial Guard paraded by and a horse drawn carriage arrived with a couple to do some traditional dances. We then had champagne to toast the evening and proceeded to go to a Russian dinner at a traditional Russian country house.
We had a wonderful dinner with vodka toasts and singers and dancers to entertain us. Our last picture was of the sunset at 11:30 pm as we departed for the ship 45 minutes away. How mixed up are we if we stay up until 1 am in the morning. The last picture in the center is taken at 11:45 in the evening just as the sun was setting.
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