Viking Star 2015 - Day 12

The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg is one of the largest in the world and is a tourist "must see". Jan and I toured this venerable place three years ago with the Viking River cruise. But we heard at that time of a museum repository where were stored items which could not be displayed for lack of space.

So our first tour today was to this Hermitage Repository, where we saw rooms full of icons, paintings by Russian artists, 18th and 19th century furniture stored in warehouse-style, imperial gifts and royal carriages and sleds -- all in temperature and humidity controlled rooms, ready to be moved to special exhibitions or swapped for present museum holdings.  As impressive as the number of items was the technology and security surrounding them. It was worth the trip.

The afternoon tour was to the Russian Museum, housed in Prince Michael Romanoff's former palace.  Its holdings included a vast collection of icons and works by Russian artists - tracing the history of Russian art from the icons to the 19th century realism. Our guide was very knowledgable and led us through the historical transition by showing us representative works from each period.

Our second day was also marked by warmer weather and a good deal of sunshine.  Tonight our ship is on the way to Helsinki, Finland, and we look forward to tomorrow's adventures.

Viking Star 2015 - Day 11

St. Petersburg was built on the orders of Peter the Great because he wanted a seaport in the north, and the Gulf of Finland was convenient. He had to drag nobility and merchants to this new colony but he persevered.

Our visit to this once powerful city, badly damaged by the Germans during WWII, no longer the nation's capital, but now booming again, started with a bus tour of the principal sights including the Church of the Resurrection (above), the harbor and fortress, the Cathedral Church of St. Isaac, a drive past the Hermitage, Peter the Great's statue, to name just a few.  In the "small world" department, our guide was the same person who helped guide our Russian river cruise three years ago.

By the end of the tour the sun had come out in full force, so after lunch we went swimming in the ship's main pool, had a cappuccino in our Explorers Lounge retreat, then enjoyed a three-course dinner in the main restaurant.  Tonight we will enjoy an onboard performance by a soprano and mezzo-soprano from the Marlinsky Theatre.

Tomorrow in St. Petersburg includes a tour of the Hermitage repository (areas holding items not on display) and a second tour, that of the Russian Museum, full of classic and modern Russian art.

Russia Cruise About to Begin

The Viking River Cruise of the Russian waterways between St. Petersburg and Moscow for Jan and me is about to begin.  My goal is to use this blog to keep a record of the journey and provide a running commentary of our discoveries.  I hope you will enjoy it.  More to come...