We boarded the bus in Tallinn in a chilly drizzle and it didn’t improve for 9 hours as we drove to St Petersburg. Border crossing formalities in Narva were a bit nerve wracking more because the place looked like a scene out of a bad novel, two 17th century fortresses facing each other across the river Narva and stone faced Russian boarder guards scrutinizing our documents not once, not twice but three times. Our initial impressions of Russia and St Petersburg were colored by the weather and exhaustion.
We awoke today to a forecast of mixed weather, rain, snow and sunshine. During our two hour morning city tour we experienced all of that more then once, we’ll it didn’t snow until later in the day. Our guide, Ivan, told us not to complain about the fact the sun was in the wrong place for our photo stops. They only get 60 days with sun a year. You can see great pictures of St Petersburg by using Google, they will be far better than mine since Carol and I are shooting on the run and mostly into the sun.
After a group lunch we donned head sets so Ivan could talk to us in The Hermitage without shouting and disturbing everyone else, this is required for groups of 6 or more. Over 3 and a half hours we walked through every major room on the second floor (of 3) we had wonderful explanations of key pieces of art and building design. Then we were turned loose with 30 minutes to run through the French Impressionists on the 3rd floor. My back hurts, my brain is overloaded and in an hour we will be attending a folk dance event. We had hoped for Kirov Ballet, but now I think folk dance will be easier to absorb, especially as we saw a reasonable regional production of Swan Lake two nights ago in Tallinn.
Brief impression of the Hermitage; it is hard to believe I had the chance to see with my own eyes, however briefly, so many works of art that were like old friends from books and slides going back to when my parents collected books of prints and a certain highschool teacher made us learn to recognize them over 50 years ago. The buildings are immense, gaudy and grand. Every detail from the floor to the ceiling demands study. As I waited for Carol outside the ladies room I noted the wall sconces were labeled Versace, couldn’t be, could it? Again, I took pictures, so what. What is online is far superior, search for Hermitage.
In the morning we continue the city tour and after lunch we go to Catherine’s Palace for more art and the Amber Room. After a fairwell dinner we will part company with our guide, Baiba, and four of our crew. We continue on to Moscow as a well oiled travel crew of eight by air for 3 days.