Nicole Writes:
Today we toured the Hermitage museum. The State Hermitage Museum is a museum of art and culture. The second-largest art museum in the world, it was founded in 1764 when Empress Catherine the Great acquired an impressive collection of paintings from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. It has been open to the public since 1852.
Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise over three million items including the largest collection of paintings in the world. The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors.
Truthfully, it is totally overwhelming and the maps and guides are really confusing. (The Fodor’s travel book we were using confirmed this.) But we did our best to see some of the highlights and there’s really no reason to stress when everything in front of your eyes is amazingly beautiful. The art and objects on display in the museum are stunning, and on top of that they are housed in a lavish palace! A feast for the eyes.
Nicole’s friend Sasha Naumov from the Theater of Moscow South-West had recommended the evening river cruise in St. Petersburg so we booked ourselves on a 6pm cruise. Unfortunately the guiding was all in Russian and frankly too much for Nicole to translate, so we sat back and enjoyed the sights while following along on the map. The cruise went all the way down the Neva river to the “end” of “old St. Petersburg.” There was a very sweet and casual family vibe on the cruise. After a long day out, Nicole prepared some of the food that Bocho had sent along—her homemade sauerkraut and pickled tomatoes with fried potatoes. Nicole taught Bonnie how to toast with Russian vodka and then pop a pickled tomato in her mouth.