Blogs from Saint Petersburg, Northwest, Russia, Europe - page 8

Putin-faced matryoshkas, golden onion-domed churches, and Hermitage artwork galore. One day in Russia, why not? That’s what I thought. Since I was living in Estonia this year we thought that we might as well take advantage of the opportunity. St. Peter’s Line cruises offers a trip that enables tourists to visit St. Petersburg for one day without a visa. So, we took it as an experiment to get a small glimpse of Russia and life on the cruise boat for two days. I would say ‘thumbs up’ to the experience of St. Petersburg but I would recommend other options for getting there and maximizing your 72 hours of visa-free time. Our itinerary was to take the Silja Europa boat (Tallink company) out of Tallinn at 12:30pm on Saturday to Helsinki. The, we left Helsinki on the ... read more

Yesterday, second Hermitage day we went first to see the Rembrandts in the Winter Palace. Awe inspiring, such detailed work, thoughtful faces, visual feasts. And then there was Van Dyck and scores of wonderful Dutch , de Hooch and OTT Rubens! We thought to go and see the Da Vinci in the Italian section but the gallery was filled with hordes of Japanese tours all struggling to take a shot of it. We struggled to escape. We returned to the Staff Building for lunch and to see some more of the galleries there. It is so peaceful and cool there, compared to the Winter Palace which is hot, stuffy and crammed with us tourists. There was. Faberge gallery which displayed objects manufactured by Faberge for the army in WWI.- mess tins, boilers, etc very beautifully made. ... read more

Today was the first Hermitage day for us With our two day online Hermitage tickets. the Hermitage is like an unfathomable labyrinth of treasures of art. The more you see the more there is to see. Every turning gives new choices of which room to turn to next. Luckily, as we both wanted to see the Impressionists rooms first we spotted a sign saying that they were in the Admiralty building across the square from the Winter Palace so we made our way there for our first treat. I have uploaded a few of the treats.... read more

Today we woke to big blue sky and sun streaming through the window - lovely after yesterday's grey rain. Breakfast was in the quirky lounge with chairs and other furniture of mixed Victorian/ regency design. Some ornate gilding, carving, padding, coverings. Plus scattering of musical instruments and other objects... Plus a baby grand piano to be played if you know how! After breakfast we went out to wander, down Nevsky Prospect towards the Hermitage - which we came on unexpectedly having passed many other grand buildings. St Petersburg is full of grand buildings. We decided not to go in to the Hermitage today, but to wander further across the river Neva to the Vasilevsky Island. Wonderful views across the water to the hermitage as we walked. We had coffee from a stall which sold Ken a ... read more

Up at 4.15am tomorrow for an early flight to Heathrow and then St Petersburg!... read more