Russia

September 19, 2006
The Hermitage Museum is among the top three museums in the world along with the Louvre, the National Gallery in London and the Hermitage. Five main buildings, 1057 rooms and 117 staircases. It houses works from da Vinci, Rembrandt, Titians, Michelangelo, Rubens, Picasso and Mattise.

There are over 3 million exhibitions! Our tour guide said that in order to see every exhibition it would take years. In fact, to spend one minute at each exhibition it would take 8 years to see the entire collection. Needless to say, I saw just a fraction of it.

The Hermitage started with Catherine the Great purchasing 200 paintings from a German merchant. Catherine the Great was trying to follow in the footsteps of Peter the Great, in enlightening her country. Catherine turned part of her Winter Palace into the Hermitage which means “Hermit’s Place”. Before passing away, Catherine collected over 10,000 pieces and although quite sizeable, she still referred to her museum as the Hermitage.

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September 19, 2006
Peterhof (Peter’s Palace) is by far the most amazing thing I have seen on this trip. It is situated where the Neva River meets that Gulf of Finland. There are over 140 fountains. Peter himself help engineer many of the fountains and seeing the park gave me a real appreciation for Peter the Great. He was truly brilliant and a visionary but he also had a sense of humor as well. Throughout the park there are trick fountains, that are designed to lure and soak unsuspecting guests.

When the Germans invaded during WWII, everything in the palace was removed and the fountains were buried to prevent the Germans from finding or taking them. Although the palace was heavily damaged in the war, the majority of items in the palace are original.

Hitler decided that he would celebrate New Year’s eve at Peterhof when he realized that he wasn’t going to be able to celebrate victory at the Astoria hotel in St. Petersburg. He went so far as to draw up invitations. Stalin responded to this by heavily bombing the area and successfully prevented Hitler from holding his party there. Continue reading →

Mosaic Tiles a replica from one found in a Roman Bath

Sept 19th, 2006 (Continued)

Catherine the Great was impressed with the Vatican that she had them replicated at the Hermitage.  There was no shortage of things to look at – Leonardo da Vince’s “Madonnan Child along with the “Madonna with a flower”.  Works by Michelangelo, Vincent Van Gogh and Rembrandt.  Unfortunately, I had just a few hours and wish I could have stayed days.

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September 18, 2006
In the afternoon, our tour bus drove us out to see Catherine Palace. It is situated in Tarskoe Selo just outside of St. Petersburg. Peter the Great’s wife, Catherine, had the first part of the palace built as a surprise for Peter. Peter however, spent little time at this palace due to his passion for sailing, he preferred to be closer to the sea.

Empress Elizabeth (Peter and Catherine’s daughter) built the largest section of the palace turning what Catherine had built into guest rooms. Catherine the Great added to the Palace during her reign.

Enormous, luxurious and ornate do not begin to describe the palace. Did I mention the extensive gardens, man-made lake and bath houses?

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September 18, 2006

St. Petersburg, named by Peter the Great for his patron saint, was founded on May 27th in 1703. Peter the Great created St. Petersburg to rival Venice. Situated on the Neva river, St. Petersburg consists of 101 islands, 66 canals, and hundreds of bridges. It is known as the Venice of the North.

The statue of the Peter the Great on the left faces west. It represents Peter the Great’s efforts to Europeanize (Westernize) Russia. Peter was a traveler and spent two years traveling throughout Europe. Peter knew that Russia needed to develop if it was going to survive. Continue reading →

September 17, 2006, Day 8
We were up at 5:00 AM to get our bus to St. Petersburg. I must admit, I was a little nervous about the bus ride. This wasn’t a tour bus but rather regular public transportation. All week-long, others in the group made jokes about riding with the chickens.

Well, upon boarding of the bus, we were faced with our first challenge – how to fill out the forms required at the border. I thought I was rather witty pulling out my visa and matching up the words with the Cyrillic letters. Unfortunately, that only worked to a certain point. I still had many blank spaces left on the form.

Meanwhile, some others in the group were spreading stories on how you might have to pay extra if you don’t have the form filled out completely, you will have hard time if you don’t complete the form. I don’t think I ever heard so many unfounded horror stories in such a short time. At least one person had decided to use good sense and decided to ask a Russian. In no time, we completed our forms. Continue reading →