the hermitage

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What a day yesterday was. Incredible three hours strolling around the hermitage museum. It is a fantastic place. The rooms are huge with ornate decorations and lots of art. What amazed me was lots of the paintings - by \matisse, Da Vinci, Van Gough, Monet etc were just hanging there on the walls and they weren't protected at all. They didn't have cordons and people were strolling past in there hundreds! They are housed in hot and humid conditions as well. Someone tried to deface one once and so a few are under glass but I thought that it wasn't good to put them under glass. Some have a cordon about 18" away and an alarm but they were going off all over the place as people pointed to them and didn't cause much concern. Let's hope they survive.
Going to more sights today and a canal cruise. St \petersburg has 42 islands and lots of canals - natural and man made.
Haven't got the password for the email account so hoping no 1 son will text it to me so I can reply to emails.
Hooroo from Russia. Jayne and Kevxxx

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