What a day! More than 12 hours on our feet checking out the Hermitage museum (one of the largest in the world). Weather is still no good. 1 hr 45 mins in the rain (getting to the museum and standing in the queue) and no sign of a leak in our snazzy jackets. The Russian behaviour of just pushing into or jumping queues is really annoying but we knew about, it so just need to accept it or do the same (not really our style).

The section of the Musuem we visited (housed partly in the Winter Palace) was immense beyond anything we have seen. The collections go on forever in the most lavishly decorated rooms and halls (Gold leaf was the paint dujour) The first hour in was frustrating. It’s too big and confusing with a really bad free map. There seemed to be little or no structure to the layout – it’s as if everything that the Russians have ever collected has been distributed randomly with no info on the displays (I guess they want you to pay for a tour or audioguide).

If you every want to see my V annoyed, give her a bad map 🙂 she’s my navigator – I have a defective compass gene (tks Mom) After a guided tour of the Gold Treasure Room (not really worth the price tag) we had a better idea of now to navigate. Oddly, the highlight for me was the art ! I think I’m a Monet fan, but there was plenty to see from Da Vinci to Piccasso.

Dodging the vast tour groups wasn’t easy and we did overhear at least one other Safa. Most unusual are the hundreds of soviet era grannies dotted around and watching your every move. I assume they have had trouble in the past or it’s just job creation. I doubt that even deep brain stimulation would illicit a smile. Sitting on a chair all day and barking at the odd tourist must be a terrible job.

By the end of the day our feet were killing us and with a 3km walk home we decided to sit for a bit on a 2hour boat cruise around some of the islands. Unfortunately they have ‘forgotten’ to tell us that the commenary was in Russian only so we just watched the sights go by. I dozed of a couple of times woken only by the blarring Russian guide.

Then just to nail us to the proverbial X we decided to visit St Isaacs Cathederal and pay an overpriced fee to hike to the top of the dome (250 plus steps – the cities highest official viewing platform). The views were panoramic (no kidding) but not the best weather for photos.

A little bad news: Our tour of Star City (Russia’s NASA and one of the highlights for us) has been cancelled because there are not enough people on the tour. This means that all our rushing to get to Moscow has been in vain. Annoying Ruskies! We’ll just have to go to the real NASA one day.

Photos will be in the gallery (soon)

Travel Tip

For the Hermitage
– You need at least a full day in the main section.
– Get to the ticket office early. Beware – they don’t seem to understand English at all.
– Get on a guided tour or you will get lost, if your go yourself maybe a guide book or audioguide.
– We had to pay an extra 200p for a ticket that allows you to take photos. Nobody was checking – don’t bother.
– Flash photography is not allowed, but everyone still uses a flash (we didn’t).
– The cafes inside are a rip-off and you cannot go out and back in on the standard ticket so prepare to starve or pay.
For Channel Cruizes
Check if the commentary is in English before getting on !

– Posted from my iPhone