Tuesday, 23 July. We woke to a beautiful day, sunny and in the low 70s. The bus for the Hermitage tour didn't leave until 9:30, so we slept later and had a leisurely breakfast. Bypassing the long line waiting at the entrance, we were admitted as soon as the doors opened at 10:30. Tour groups are given priority for admission.

The Hermitage Museum is certainly one of the world's greatest art galleries. Its collection is said to be second only to the Louvre in Paris, but the setting is second to none. It is housed in the magnificent Winter Palace (1762), or at least that's what we thought. We discovered during our tour that what looks both outside and inside like a single building (the Winter Palace) is really a series of five connected buildings: the Winter Palace; the Little Hermitage; the Old Hermitage; the New Hermitage; and the Hermitage Theater. These buildings are themselves impressive works of art, adding greatly to the magnificence of the collection. Most of the huge art collection was amassed by the various rulers over many years, but particularly by Peter the Great and Catherine the Great.. It was first opened to the public in 1852.

I'm not going to describe our tour of the Hermitage room by room, nor include all my photos of the exhibits. (The museum has an excellent web site at hermitagemuseum.org .) Suffice it to say that our tour was overwhelming. We saw paintings by Rembrandt, DaVinci, Titian, Rafael, the Dutch masters, the French Impressionists, and many others. We saw Michelangelo's rough sculpture, The Crouching Boy. There was a full-size replica of Rafael's Loggia from the Vatican. We also saw royal carriages, thrones, clocks, and the like. The magnificence of the rooms of the museum was no less spectacular then the exhibits. 

The Hermitage Museum

Rembrandt: Prodigal Son

Grand staircase

Leonardo: Madonna Litta

Leonardo Room

Rafael's Loggia

Rafael: Holy Family

Rafael Room

Michelangelo: Crouching Boy

Room with mosaic floor

Staircase

Small Throne Room

We had entered the Hermitage from the front, along the Neva River. After the tour, we exited on the opposite side, into Palace Square. This huge square has been the focal point of Russia's great political struggles, including the 1917 revolution. Now it is where the tourist buses park after disgorging their hordes of visitors to the museum.

Grand Triumphal Arch

The Alexander Column (1833), erected as a monument to the defeat of Napoleon in 1812, stands in the center of the square, topped by an angel of peace. Unfortunately, like so many other sites in St. Petersburg, we couldn't really see it because it was covered by scaffolding during its renovation for the city's 300th anniversary in 2003. On the side of the square opposite the Palace is a grand triumphal arch, the first Russian monument to the victory over Napoleon. The bronze sculpture on top, Victory riding a six-horse chariot, bears some resemblance to the one atop the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. We found our bus among the dozens waiting in the square and were back at the Tolstoy at 1:30 for lunch.

There was an optional tour to the Peter and Paul Fortress at 3:00, but we had decided not to take it. Instead, Jane rested while I took the subway to downtown St. Petersburg at 2:30. I got off at Nevsky Prospect and walked to some of the places we'd seen from the bus, including the Church of the Spilled Blood, Our Lady of Kazan Cathedral, the Admiralty, and Palace Square. Continuing past the Winter Palace, I crossed the Palace Bridge for a better look at the Rostral columns on Basil Island. (Most of my pictures are included with the description of the July 22 city tour.)

Cossack show

Then I hurried back to the subway. There was a major problem getting to the trains because the most of the turnstiles weren't working. The guard kept motioning for people to go under them, but many just stood there blocking the way. Then when the train finally got to my station and I went outside, a severe thunderstorm was passing by. It was two blocks to the boat, but luckily I had taken an umbrella. Even so, I had to climb over tree limbs that had fallen across the sidewalk in several places. I got to the Tolstoy just after 5:00.

 

Dinner was at 6:00, earlier than usual because the bus for the optional Cossack show left at 7:30. It was a very lively and enjoyable show, lasting an hour. We were back on the Tolstoy before 10:00.