March 18, 2015
We woke up around 9 and had a leisurely morning, it is vacation after all. Our hotel being the official state Hermitage Hotel, offered a shuttle to the Hermitage museum. Also, they were running special promotions that not only gave us a complimentary upgraded room, but also "free" VIP tickets to the Hermitage museum. This meant we were able to enter through the employees entrance and not have to mingle with the common riff-raff at the main entrance... In all seriousness it did mean we had the opportunity to start at a different location, and so we encountered fewer people.
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| The Winter Palace / The Hermitage Saint Petersburg, Russia |
A little background, the Hermitage museum was started by Queen Catherine the Great in 1764, which means it's older than the United States. She traded debts owed for artwork, and purchased a tremendous collection. The collections have been expanded throughout the past several hundred years. One of the most significant additions was the nationalization of private galleries in 1925.
This museum is huge. So large, in fact that we spent 6 hours walking around it with no breaks and just barely saw everything. The museum has work from the dawn of civilization to nearly the present day. There are marvelous marble statues from Pre-Roman times that are only matched by the Vatican. There are significant collections from early Siberia, wings dedicated to Russian, Scandinavian, German, French, Chinese, Japanese and Italian art, and a marvelous mechanical peacock clock. The museum features several rooms of Picasso, a large room of Rembrandts, and several works by Da Vinci. The museum itself is a work of art. The Russian winter palace is integrated within and features a number of ballrooms, staterooms, an incredible chapel and a Lapis Room. There was a difficult balance ensuring that the artwork as well as the architecture and stately decorations were given the respect that they rightfully deserved. This is a museum and collection that is incredible beyond words.
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| Roman Statues Hermitage Museum Saint Petersburg, Russia |
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| A Large Urn (or small swimming pool) Hermitage Museum Saint Petersburg, Russia |
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| Dancing Angels Hermitage Museum Saint Petersburg, Russia |
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| Ballroom Hermitage Museum Saint Petersburg, Russia |
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| Lapis Room Hermitage Museum Saint Petersburg, Russia |
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| Room with Historic Coins and Medallions Hermitage Museum Saint Petersburg, Russia |
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| Chapel Hermitage Museum Saint Petersburg, Russia |
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| Hermitage Museum Saint Petersburg, Russia |
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| Hermitage Museum Saint Petersburg, Russia |
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| Ceiling of one of the rooms (don't forget to look up!) Hermitage Museum Saint Petersburg, Russia |
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| One of Picasso's Instrumental Works Hermitage Museum Saint Petersburg, Russia |
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| The Rembrandt Room Hermitage Museum Saint Petersburg, Russia |
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| Old Printing and Lathing Machinery Hermitage Museum Saint Petersburg, Russia |
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| Armor Hermitage Museum Saint Petersburg, Russia |
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| Historic Weaponry Hermitage Museum Saint Petersburg, Russia |
Following this, we rode the shuttle back to our hotel. We grabbed a quick dinner from the Italian restaurant on site with another wonderful chicken Caesar salad and got ready for our next adventure.
We went to the Mariinsky Theater for a presentation of the ballet Swan Lake by Russia's own Tchaikovsky. This theater arranged the version most often performed, and has been doing so for nearly 125 years. The female lead performing Odile/Odette has been doing so since she burst onto the scene in 2003 as a 17 year old. She has been a Principal ballerina for many years and she is breathtaking to behold. The show was 3 hours long with two intermissions, and was spot on.
Today the temperatures topped out around 57 and beautiful. It turns out these temperatures are 40 degrees higher than average. We definitely aren't complaining.