DAY 12 & 13 - St. Petersburg

DAY 12 -

Peter & Paul Fortress

Today we headed off just after sun rise, about 10am (the sun rises later and sets earlier in St. Petersburg than Moscow) and took the St. Petersburg metro to see the Peter & Paul Fortress on its own little island know as Hare Island, founded by Peter the Great in 1703.



Cathedral inside Fortress

Inside cathedral

There were many buildings to see. We tried to buy a pass that allowed us into all of the various exhibitions and buildings, but I guess with translation or perhaps that's just how they run it here, we needed to buy separate tickets for a lot of them, so we ended up seeing just the things that the ticket allowed us to. The first building we saw was the Peter and Paul Cathedral which was magnificent.  They really know how to decorate their cathedrals here in Russia.  Beautiful paintings and gold

everywhere and chandeliers, again, very stunning indeed.  After taking in the view from the docking area (views of the Hermitage Museum and neighbouring buildings across the canal) we looked at the prison which was fairly grim as you would expect. During our wanderings the bells of the cathedral were being chimed every half hour resonating across the fortress.
 

Mikhailovsky Castle

We filled our tummies and walked across the lovely St. Petersburg bridge for Mikhailovsky Castle, the afternoon sun already starting to set. This castle isn't a big tourist attraction but we were pleasantly surprised by the old classical style paintings and items it held, not to mention, extravagantly decorated room after room.  Certainly a taste, I think, of what is to come at the Hermitage Museum tomorrow.

Our wonderful friends

DAY 13 -

This morning there was a light covering of snow on the ground, very fitting for visiting the Hermitage Museum today (one of the world's largest and best museums set inside the Winter Palace - the residence of the Tsarist Romanov family until their assassinations). Upon entering the palace square, a beautifully decorated Christmas tree stood before the vast green and white palace.  This palace is amazing from the outside and massive.  We got there in good time so we didn't have to wait too long in the queue to get inside.  The palace was extravagant in every way possible - marble, gold, silver, bronze, crystal chandeliers, decorative flooring,

grand staircases. Apparently there is a diamond room, but there are so many rooms, you can't possibly see them all in one day.  Each room filled with paintings or artefacts from all of the world and different periods of time. It has been calculated that if you looked at every painting or artifact for one minute each, it would take you 11 years to get through this museum (Mark read it would take 5 years - I don't know which one is closer to the truth but either way, it's a very long time).


Another beautiful hallway

Armour & weapons room

 We spent most of the day here and easily could have spent more time but we were all a bit tired and on our way back to the hotel, stopped for a Russian hot chocolate treat.

Massive marble (bowl?)