The Hermitage......A Must See

We made it to the Hermitage and with the help of our guide, Melishka, we had a most enthralling
experience.  We walked for almost three hours through magnificent rooms and corridors viewing
many of the world's priceless objects, portraits and sculptures.  This note is for granddaughter, Amber,
if you have the chance visit this Museum in St. Petersburg.

It was an exhausting trip on this day, August 2, and although we often had to navigate many marble
staircases, Annabelle was up to the task.  She probably did as well as other folks half her age.

It is clear that the Russian Tsars had expensive tastes because money was no object as they scoured
all of Europe for the art treasures in this collection.  The collection is so vast that they tell you it would
take almost 11 years to see everything if you spent just one minute looking at each object.  We
walked at a rather brisk pace to keep up with Melishka who kept on speaking about the objects
in front of her.  Fortunately, we had an electronic device on our ear to listen as she broadcast her
information on a microphone.

This will be my last blog from the ship.  We sail this evening to Estonia where, in Tallin, we're
scheduled for a lunch and tour, then on to Gothenberg, Sweden for a visit to the Volvo museum..
Back to Harwich, where we will have transportation to Heathrow and a flight to New York.
We should be back at the homestead on August 8 if all goes well and we don't get caught in
the Olympic crush around London.

Goodbye to all you patient readers.  This was a great journey and glad you came along.

Duz vidania or Hasta Lavista!

St. Petersburg....We made it

We will spend two days in this town.  This morning we took a panoramic tour of the highlights and tomorrow The Hermitage Museum.

Our guide, Yanna, opened up with the statement that if you want to get things done here you have to bribe the officials.  All during our ride, she kept describing the bad conditions in Russia; the low
salaries, poor housing, etc. I began to wonder how she ever obtained a job as a tourist guide.  When
I was here 50 + years ago as a guest of the Russian gov't everything was milk and honey.  Of course,
that was under the Soviet Union.  Nevertheless, St. Petersburg is a remarkable city, filled with history
of the early Tsars, founded by Peter the Great in the 1700s after his visits to Western Europe where
he was enchanted by its culture and buildings.

I tried to get a picture of the last tsar of the Russians but I could only find one of the early monarchs
and his royal family. (Please note that this photo was taken many years ago)

I'll try to write tomorrow after our visit to the Hermitage.