Day 8: St. Petersburg

FOUNTAIN AT PETERHOF


GILDED OPULENCE, PETERHOF


AT THE HERMITAGE

Sunrise: 5:10 a.m. Sunset: 10:42 p.m.
Arrival: 7:00 a.m.
Today's Treat: Cookie Assortment
Today's Towel Art: Hmmmm. Looks like another kind of dog or maybe a baby with pointed ears.

Wow, what a day. We had fantastic weather, yet again. And our full-day excursion nearly wore us out. We toured Peterhof in the morning and The Hermitage in the afternoon. We've got to save up our energy for more touring in St. Petersburg tomorrow.

The ship sat very low at the pier where we were docked and we were warned to watch our heads at the abbreviated exit on the gangway. Well, I guess I wasn't paying attention cuz I bumped my head rather sharply on exiting the boat. Ouch! I found out later that the low overhead was not because the ship was low in the water but that the pier was high. We are docked at a commercial port and the piers are designed for cargo ships not cruise ships.

Our Russian guide Galina filled us in on some facts about St. Petersburg during the 45-minute bus ride out to Peterhof this morning. For one thing, she confirmed our suspicions about the weather. We have managed to catch one of the very few warm sunny days of the year. According to Galina, St. Petersburg only gets 36 days of sunshine a year. It is 9:40 p.m. and the sun is still shining quite brightly. It won't set for another hour. You can see that most of the trees have not even begun to sprout leaves. And the flowers are several weeks behind those in the U.K. When we left Harrogate the tulips had already begun to fade and shrivel. Here they are just beginning to bloom.

Galina also explained that our ship is docked in a busy commercial port in an industrial neighborhood. I had certainly been underwhelmed by the view when I peeked out our balcony this morning. Loads of steel containers and cranes. Quite a contrast from the scenic ports we've already visited. And on the ride out to Peterhof we passed by many rundown shabby buildings. Through the course of the day we drove through some of the main squares of St. Petersburg and along the Neva river and got a glimpse of the grandeur of this fabled city.

St. Petersburg was built according to the vision of Peter the Great, the first Russian czar to travel extensively in Europe. He liked what the saw and decided to build a city as grand as the grand old cities of Europe. The plan of the city, itself was inspired by Amsterdam while the model for Peterhof, the royal summer residence, was Versailles. There are many manicured gardens and fancy fountains on the grounds of Peterhof. Some of the fountains are "trick" fountains that will douse you unsuspectingly by hidden sprinklers -- a hit with children, according to Galina. Several of the buildings on the grounds are gleamingly white with shiny gilded domes. The domes were positively aglow in the bright sunlight. Inside the palace we were confronted with more sumptuous gilding and many other over-the-top features. Paintings. sculptures. Silk wallcoverings. Exquisite porcelain. Parquet floors that required us all to wear protective slippers. Two chinese rooms. All cordoned off for security. Many alarms were set off. And we were scowled upon and yelled at by dour babushka-type security guards.

Our guided tour of Peterhof included lunch at the Orangery, and elegant semi-circular building, originally a greenhouse. We sat at a table with two other guests from our cruise ship, a woman from Philly and her son who lives in CA now. She works for US Airways and he is a pilot for Continental. Our lunch was tasty and filling: Salmon roe appetizers. Salad with creamy feta-like cheese. Champagne. White and Brown bread. Greenish cream of mushroom soup. Grilled chicken, veggie medley and potato blinis. Vodka. Icecream with strawberry sauce. Coffee.

Whew, after a lunch like that we all felt we needed a nap, so the only thing for it was to a catch a few zzzz's on the bus ride back into town. The bus stopped for a photo opportunity at St. Isaacs' Cathedral, situated in the city's most recent square, completed in the mid-1800s. Opposite the cathedral and at the end of a parklike median stands the equestrian statue of Czar Nicholas I. After our brief stop we headed off to the Hermitage.

Words really fail me when I try to describe the Hermitage. To start off, it is absolutely huuuuge. It is comprised of several buildings situated on the Neva River. One of the buildings is the Winter Palace; the other buildings were annexed to hold the ever-growing art collection of the czars. The collection consists of a staggering three million works of art. The name Hermitage does not really seem to fit such a grandiose collection of buildings. The name derives from Catherine the Great, who identified her private apartments as places of retreat and seclusion. It was difficult to conjure up that image while jostling elbow to elbow with the mobs of people touring the Hermitage. We walked through more sumptuously decorated rooms in the Winter Palace. Then we hit the art collections. There was a room full of Impressionist works. Then 13th-18th century Italian art by the likes of DaVinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. There was such a clot of people gathered in front of a Madonna with Child by DaVinci that I never even caught a glimpse of the painting. I could not appreciate it while smothered in a crowd like that. We saw the little Dutch masters, Frans Hals, Rubens, Rembrandt. Exquisite illuminated manuscripts and mosaic paintings that defied belief. These paintings were made up of teeny tiny mosaic pieces, each about the size of a red pepper flake. The end result was so effective that you had to practically press your nose up to the work of art to realize it was made up of mosaics rather than brushstrokes. The Hermitage is truly one of the great museums of the world. It is worth considering going back to St. Petersburg during the winter when there will not be the crush of tourists to deal with.

The Hermitage has quite a nice museum shop and cafe area. Off a long hallway were several shop areas and different cafes. There was even an internet cafe, but I didn't have enough time to log on. We bought a print of a scene with bridges and Brad had some not-so-good Russian beer.

By the time we got back to ship we were exhausted. we rested up a bit and then went to dinner. Tonight it was open seating so we sat with some other folks at a different table: an Australian couple and an English couple from North Devon. After dinner we played a round of miniature golf. As I'm typing, Brad is watching Retro TV, one of many channels on on the ship's TV network. Two different movies are aired several times throughout the day. The previous evening's live performance is aired on another channel. There are some other stations picked up by satellite. And then there is our favorite, RetroTV where we can watch the likes of Spanky and Our Gang, The Addams Family, Gilligan's Island, Mr. Ed. etc.