Wednesday, June 26, 2013
St. Petersburg, Russia - day 2
We started the day at Catherine's Palace which was built for the wife of Peter the Great in Pushkin, about a 45 minute drive from St. Petersburg. The exterior facade extends for about 1,000 feet. I asked our mean tour guide (many good stories about her) why the statues were all looking down, she said can't you tell, it's because they are holding up the palace. The interior was another amazing display of extreme opulence. Built in the grand Baroque style, this palace closely resembled the extreme gilding and decoration of the Peterhof Palace from yesterday, but it far exceeded the size. We toured the "lost Amber room" where pictures were not allowed. This room was covered in amber mosaics, floor to ceiling. It is believed that amber has healing powers and the amber room was used for healing. There was room after room of gold and ceiling paintings all of which are completely unbelievable. We had lunch in the palace which was interesting and fun.
Peter and Paul Fortress and Cathedral were the next stop in our tour and it was a fairly quick stop since we all wanted to get to the Hermitage. Peter and Paul fortress was built in 1703 to protect the area from Swedish invasion and the first site chosen by Peter the Great to build his new city. Inside were the impressive Citadel and the former Royal Mint and the Peter and Paul Cathedral, with its tall golden spire. The cathedral is the burial place of all the Russian Czars and their wives and children, including Peter the Great and Catherine.
Our final stop was at the Hermitage Museum is located on Palace Square in the former winter palace. This is one of the world’s largest exhibits of treasures of fine art and applied art with over 3 million exhibits. This enormous collection is in direct competition with the impressive palace and its furnishings. Unfortunately we were 1.5 hours late arriving at the museum so we practically raced through and saw only a tiny portion of the rooms.
It’s been two days, but we believe we are close to finding moose and squirrel. At the Hermitage we found squirrel and maybe moose, but it looked more like a deer (I have photos to prove it).
No comments:
Post a Comment