What an action packed day. We had to repack our bags, the contents of which had somehow managed to spread themselves over the entire hotel room in the three nights we were there, checked out of our room, and headed off to the Hermitage where we spent most of the day. Fortunately the hotel had a luggage room where we could leave our big bags while we were out and about.
The Hermitage was incredible. It’s housed in the Winter Palace of Peter I, with an exterior much like Catherine Palace but in green.
We arrived around noon and we were glad we did since about an hour later we looked out the window and saw this:
The inside was pretty much all beautiful rooms filled with beautiful artwork, such as this room full of Dutch paintings.
I could post oodles of pictures of artwork from inside, but here are just a few of the highlights…
“Crouching Boy” sculpture by Michaelangelo
Beautifully framed Da Vinci painting
“Lady in the Garden” by Monet
We also saw some really cool ancient Siberian artifacts. Your new fact for the day: people used salt shakers at least as far back as the 3rd century.
We had dinner at an awesome restaurant called the Idiot Café (named after a character from Dostoevsky), where we finally had our first vodka since coming to Russia - complimentary from the restaurant.
The restaurant was decorated in such a way to make you feel like you’ve been transported back to Dostoevsky’s time. There’s lovely wooden tables, couches, comfy armchairs, and bookshelves stacked with old books. It was the perfect place to spend a couple hours before heading back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and make our way to the train station.
1 comments:
Bridgit, this is wonderful! Thanks so much for posting these photos and narrative! It's so great to read about your adventures. The buildings are incredible, the art even more so. Astonishing!
When I first heard that you and Cale were going to Russia, I thought, "Huh? Why Russia?" I am not wondering any more. This is an amazing trip!
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