Thur. July 21: Exploring Splendid St. Petersburg, Russia(Day 2)

The sun rose over St. Petersburg, Russia at 4:15 AM. Today we were ready to explore one of the largest and oldest art museums in the world, The Hermitage, founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great. Catherine was an avid collector of art and bought collections from all over the world for her own personal enjoyment. In her lifetime she collected 4,000 European paintings and thousands of relics- a huge achievement in the art world. She took great pride in her collection and was acknowledged as a patron of the arts. Today the Hermitage has expanded to occupy 6 buildings around the Palace Square, including the vast Winter Palace, former residence of Russian emperors. The museum not only contains priceless collections of art from all over the world, the buildings are a work of art in and of themselves with their lavish interiors that were once the palace rooms of the Russian royal families.

 

We entered through the Winter Palace gate, beneath the gilded double-headed eagle and passed into a lovely courtyard before entering the museum.

 

Inside the museum, we started up the grand staircase, immediately captivated by the grandeur of this palace.

 

While the walls and ceilings were covered with art, we couldn't help but look down and admire the wood parquet floors. In every room there was a different design and so many types of wood arranged in a myriad of patterns. 

  We passed through one of the throne rooms and then entered a room with portraits of Russian military heroes. Our Hermitage guide, Natasha, was a wealth of information. It was like having our own private curator!

One of my favorite artifacts in the Hermitage is the Peacock Clock, made in 1772, and housed in the Pavilion Hall.   It is made of gold and when it is wound (which they do only a few times a year), the pieces move (peacock, rooster, squirrel and other animals). The mechanism is housed under the mushroom. There is a You Tube video that captures the movement when the clock is wound. 

In the small Hermitage, Catherine's own "smaller" building where she retreated to be alone with her art (she is quoted as saying, "There is only me, my art, and the mice."), there is also a roof top garden. Rooftop gardens were quite novel at that time.

As we entered the Italian Renaissance collection in the old Hermitage, we timed our visit just right! Usually there is a long line waiting to catch a glimpse of the DaVinci paintings.

 

We continued gazing at the collections of Italian and Spanish collections, including Giovanni Tiepollo's Triumph of Manus Curius Dentatus depicting an ancient conquest on elephants. Since the artist had never seen an elephant, the imagined features of the elephant are quite interesting!

 

There was also a huge vase on display in this section, taking up the entire room! It is 8.4 ft tall, weighs 9 tons and is made of Jasper.

We saw some Rembrandts in the collection of Dutch Golden Age painters. We next saw the collection of Greek Classical Sculptures and ancient Greek pottery. The men in these sculptures had abs without ever going to the gym and there were muscles in places where anatomically, muscles do not exist!  

 

There were several Greek wall reliefs. Gary mentioned this one "looks like an early attempt at photobombing!"

We concluded our visit looking at the ancient Egyptian antiquities, including sarcophagi.

We returned to the ship, prepared to set sail for Tallinn, Estonia. At 6:00 we went to the Explorer Lounge to savor a flavor of Russia- Russian black beluga caviar with blinis and champagne.

Dinner tonight was at the Chef's Table. This was our most interesting meal on the ship thus far- a 5 course chef's tasting menu designed to feature a variety of spices and prepared with molecular gastronomy techniques and a wine pairing for each course: starter- carrot and cardadom cream with orange and star anise foam; 1st course- spicy tuna tataki with szechuan peppercorns and coriander, followed by a granita of ginger and tarragon with infused vodka and lemon foam, main course- beef tenderloin (prepared sous vide) with Spanish paprika, cumin, coriander, and cinnamon served with a purple potato mousseline and oyster mushrooms, and dessert- apple tarte tatin with cinnamon and a butterscotch calvados sauce. It was amazing and each of the wine pairings brought out the flavor of each dish so remarkably!

We ended the evening listening to a cabaret song and dance performance, followed by an after sunset (9:53 PM) performance of the Rat Pack Revisted.