Day 10 September 17th St Petersburg

St Isaac's Cathedral

We arrived overnight in St Petersburg having sailed to the far end of the Gulf of Finland.

The Hermitage

  We had arranged two full days of tours and for the first one we were required at the meeting point at 0820 so we had an early start (some people had already started at 0700).  This day consisted of a coach tour of the city followed by a visit to St Isaac’s cathedral and then a visit to the Hermitage museum/palace.  We took hundreds of pictures each day in this beautiful city but you will be pleased to see that we have 

Interior of St Isaac's

included a small taster selection here.  I had been here in about 1971 and it was good to see that restoration work is continuing after the extensive damage suffered during WW2.  When the city was established as a summer residence of the czar every other Russian noble wanted to build a palace in the neighbourhood and so we passed several of these beautiful palaces.

hall in the Hermitage

  We also entered the Russian Orthodox cathedral of St Isaac’s which has multi-domes and a lavish interior and is now a museum.  It was not bombed during WW2 because German pilots used it as a marker.  We found the interior very lavish but quite inspirational artwork.  We then had some lunch in a local restaurant who had laid on some

singers in traditional dress.

Hermitage clock

  We were soon on the road again and were dropped off at the Hermitage Palace/Museum .

 

Rembrandt's prodigal son

hallway in the Hermitage

 



grand stairway at the Hermitage

This guided tour was really good, we were taken through reception rooms, throne room,  dining rooms, ballroom, bedrooms and ancilliary rooms.  Decorated with plenty of gold leaf or silk wall coverings.  The museum artefacts included paintings by Da Vinci, Titian, Rembrandt etc.  There were also incredible clocks and some of the china was commissioned from Wedgewood.  Altogether an incredible tour with too much to take in but so, so interesting.  We arrived back at the boat fairly exhausted and were pleased that dinner was informal.  A good end to a fantastic day.