Baltic Cruise July 2019: Tuesday, July 23, 2019: Day 4; St. Petersburg, Hermitage Museum, Catherine's Palace

Had breakfast in the room again this morning. We docked at 8:00 am, right on schedule. We are to meet in the Grand Salon at 8:15 am this morning with a departure at 8:45 am for the Hermitage Museum and the French Inn. The weather is clear and 64F. The forecast is to be clear with a high in the upper 70's today. There were three cruise ships at dock when we arrived and another followed us into port. One of the ships is the Cunard Queen Victoria 2, the same ship that Terri, Mary, Suzanne and I took on the Atlantic crossing and then up to Norway back in 2005. She was a new ship back then, now she is 15 years old!

Tonight, we travel to Catherine's Palace.

Whatever the designer was trying to compensate for, the "needle" on the horizon is supposedly the tallest structure in Europe.

The Cunard Victoria 2

The first hurdle on our morning tour was getting through Russian border security. We stood in line on the pier with our passports and our Seabourn passes. Each person seemed to take about 5 minutes to be processed by their border guards. They spent the most time evaluating Megan. They talked to Laura several times about her, who was with her, where she was going, etc.

We finally boarded the motor coach and headed into traffic. We passed some military vessels along the way.

The Hermitage Museum is the second largest museum in Europe, next to the Louvre. The museum consists of five buildings and millions of exhibits. The guide told us that if one spent just 30 seconds in front of each exhibit, they would finish all in 11 years.

We visited only two of the five buildings. The first was Catherine's winter palace. It was early and we did not have to wait in line at all. Even so, the crowds were very large and it was very uncomfortable. In addition, we only had about an hour to get through the entire palace.

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Throne Room (St. George's Hall)

The crowds just got thicker and thicker.

Beautiful inlaid floors

Peacock clock

The palace has 21 Rembrandt paintings.

The grand staircase entry

Granite statues carved from a single piece of rock

They also had a small Egyptian section.

We then walked across the Saint Petersburg Square. This is where many a civil unrest came to a bloody conclusion.

Exterior of the Winter Palace

At the center of the square is a 600 ton column of granite carved out of a single piece of rock. It is not held in place by anything except its own weight.

A military band was playing as we walked across.

The second building of the Hermitage we visited was the General Staff Building which contained the French Impressionist gallery we were going to tour. The art was mostly from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The crowds here were much more manageable.

The Seamstress - 1925

Lots of Picasso works.

Even Picasso ceramics.

These next two works by Carriere were stunning to me. Very phantom-like.

Even a van Gogh.

And Monet.

All together, we were in the museum about three hours. We could have spent several days.

Coming back aboard ship, passing through border security, was as time consuming as it was this morning. Megan and Laura got through fairly easily, but, for some reason, they questioned me about my intentions. We are going to go ashore at least four more times before leaving St. Petersburg!

We leave for an evening at Catherine's Palace at 6:45 pm. We had an early dinner of Russian beef Stroganoff.

We boarded the bus for an one hour drive to Catherine's Palace. This is the palace of Catherine I, not Catherine the Great.

A Russian military band welcomed us.

We took a tour through the palace. It was nice since it was "after hours" and our group had it all to ourselves.

Heater in the picture room.

Famous Amber Room.

At the end of the tour we were treated to a glass of champagne and a concert with a opera singer. They were very good. The concert lasted about 45 minutes.