After a safety drill in which we had to demonstrate to the captain and crew that we knew the correct way to don and secure our life vests, we were off to visit the Hermitage, amid some significant but short-lived snow flurries.
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| Not dandruf |
The museum, which sprawls over five buildings along the Neva riverfront, was Catherine the Great's Winter Palace and its origins as a royal residence are obvious. The baroque opulence of the interior architecture decoration is unrestrained; what it lacks in subtlety it makes up for in power to overwhelm. Gold leaf, carved marble balustrades, and intricately designed parquet floors were the order of Catherine's day, and they remain so today, as the backdrop and stage for a museum of astonishing scope.
It would be overstating it to say that we even scratched the surface of the Hermitage's collections, but our escort, Vadim, did an expert job of shepherding us to some highlights, keeping us moving, and navigating the crowds.
Vadim warned us more than once about pickpockets, but perhaps we could have used one more warning; to our chagrin, Tom's phone disappeared during the course of our museum visit. There wasn't much to do but have his account suspended and the IMEI number locked, limiting further damage to him and some of its utility to someone else.
After an early dinner back aboard our ship, we headed back into the city center to attend a performance of Swan Lake, in the ornate Alexander Theater, located in a square just off Nevsky Prospekt. We enjoyed the ballet, the music, the Old World setting, and the ride past the beautifully lit buildings along Nevsky Prospekt.
Art,, music, and dance -- this was a day for cultural highlights, but not for a bumper crop of photos. Apologies to Tom's fans for that!
Tom's fans??
ReplyDeleteЗдравствуйте,
ReplyDeleteGlad to see your adventure is off to a good start, phone loss excepting. I do wonder if Tom has been mistaken for another well known American and this caused Kremlin operatives to snatch the phone for investigation and perhaps alteration so caution if the device re-appears. Hope you are enjoying outsourced driving and look forward further dispatches...
Several days behind in posts....laptop taken too?
ReplyDeleteDon't know if my original reply ever went through, Steve. Lack of bandwidth and/or Internet availability once we left St. Petersburg has prevented uploading. Text and pix have been prepared each day and will be posted when possible. Thanks for checking; it's nice to know that somebody's noticed! ;)
DeleteI'm so impressed that Tom had his iPhone pickpocketed at such a famous place ----love reading your posts -----so fun !!!
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