St Petersburg

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The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes. - Marcel Proust

June 9, 2009, Tuesday, St. Petersburg, Russia. Our bus was waiting at 10 AM and we were off to the State Hermitage. This is the second largest art collection in the world, after the Louve in Paris. The enormous collection (over three million items) amounts to a history of Western European art history. We (the four Americans) had our own English guide and she was wonderful. It was a rainy day as we scurried right past the long line of tourists waiting in line for tickets, right in and on our way. “Irene” knew her way around and was a wealth of information. After 3+ hours we were mentally saturated.
After a pleasant lunch we did a bit more city tour by bus and returned “home”.
Our French fellow travelers organized an impromptu “picnic cocktail party” …everyone brought something and we talked and told stories and laughed and did not understand a word!!

June 10, 2009, Wednesday, St. Petersburg, Russia. This is a free day so we are off on our own to the Metro to fill in the blanks. With our trusty map in hand we successfully managed the Russian language and found our way.
A walking tour was our choice, it provides a different perspective of a city. Strange as it may sound, the Metro does not get one close to the main tourist sights, but today is to be a walking day! We walked from Nevsky Prospect, Russia most famous street (like Fifth Avenue NYC), and found our way back to St. Isaac’s and began “the walk”.
After discovering the Admirality Gardens we passed the Hermitage and found the Porch, with semi-clad musclemen supporting the pillars of the New Heritage. Going straight we found the Eternal Flame honoring the fallen soldiers then onto the Summer Garden. A lovely park laid out for Peter the Great. It feels good to be out and walking! Returning to the “planned walk” we went to the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, but it is closed on Wednesdays. Back to Nevsky Prospect, we walked its length and found a different Metro to return “home”.
Tonight is our final dinner with the group and it was grand…at the St. Petersburg Restaurant, nice meal, great entertainment and a sample of vodka and caviar, neither our favorite, but this is RUSSIA!
We returned, like experts on the Metro, some of the others continued on the bus for a Night Trip ‘til 2AM. Time for us to sleep!

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Photos

Mosaics this whole church was made this way
We will go inside tomorrow