Day 22 - Tour Day 11 - Wednesday 24 July 2019 - The Hermitage Museum.

Sunrise:         4:20am                                              Sunset:          9:48pm

Forecast:       13 to 22 AM showers and cloudy

I went down to breakfast around 7:30 this morning and put my bag out when I went down.  It was gone when I came back to the room.  

We departed at 9:20 for our optional Neva river cruise.  I like seeing cities from the water, if there is the optionto do so. The navy is celebrating their Navy Day here in St. Petersburg next Sunday, July 28^, and they have been practicing this week, closing some roads etc.  There are 4 ships, Destroyers (I think) anchored in the river, with all their flags flying from front to back.

This is the blurb about it. A striking event will be the main parade of the Navy. It will be attended by warships of four Russian naval fleets — the Baltic, Northern, Black Sea and Pacific, Caspian divisions, as well as naval aviation. In the first, historical part of the parade will participate artillery boats. They will pass along the Neva River and carry the flags of heroic formations that defended the sea borders of our Motherland during the Great Patriotic War.
In the second part of the parade, modern ships of the Russian Navy will demonstrate combat power. Here you will see the latest models of weapons. In addition, aircraft and helicopters of naval aviation will take part in the Main Naval Parade. In the sky over St. Petersburg will fly planes, fighters of the last generation.

Celebrations will traditionally end with a festive concert, which will be held at the Palace Square, as well as fireworks in the waters of the Neva.

The Peter & Paul Fortress viewed from the river

In 1917, as the main training ship of the Baltic fleet, the Aurora took an active part in the Revolution. On the night of October 25-26 1917, it fired a blank shot at the Winter Palace (then the residence of the Provisional Government), giving the signal to the rebellious workers, soldiers and sailors of the city to storm the palace. That moment triggered a dramatic episode in Russia's history and was the start of over 70 years of Communist leadership. 

The Aurora is now maintained by cadets from the nearby Nakhimov Navy School. 

Once the cruise was finished, we walked over to the Winter Palace, where we had a 12:30pm entry time. Julia, the local guide pointed out a few eateries, as it was just before 11am and then Anna told us where the bus would be if we wanted a lift back to the hotel and at what time we needed to be there 2:45pm.   We were meeting at 12 noon at the column,

to have our group photo taken before entering the Hermitage Museum.  Someone asked "which column". I'm hoping it was a tongue-in-cheek question. 😕

The Square is immense, as are a lot of things in St Petersburg.

Nicole & I wandered off and found a café and just had french fries for lunch (165 rubles). Whlle we were there another dozen or so people from the tour arrived to grab a bite to eat.

We eventaully gathered for the group photo but not all of us. We were lined up ready to have our group photo taken and Anna was counting us and 1 person was missing.  Anna went off for a walk around the column, in case the person was standing somewhere else, which she was.  Finally had our photo taken and we headed around to the other side of the Winter Palace to start our visit.

Seems like lunch time is the best time for entering the Hermitage, as the queues are fairly short. 

 I think all up, it probably took 15 minutes to enter and then go through the security screening, instead of the often hour plus waits. No bottles of water allowed in the museum. I had drunk all my water, so just put the empty bottle one the table near the screening guy and after passing through, asked for my empty bottle back. Thankfully he spoke English and when he checked that it was empty, I got my bottle back.

We then started the tour. 

One of our solo ladies from the Florida, walks at a slower pace than most of us, and after we went up the first staircase, she lost track of the group, so when she realised that we had vanished from view, she did her own thing in the museum. I was talking to her earlier this evening and she has been here before and she knew where the bus was parked and what time we needed to be on it, if we wanted a lift back to the hotel, so all was good as far as she was concerned.

After our 1.5hr guided tour, Nicole & I found the exit and just sat on a seat in the gardens around part of the Winter Palace and people watched. Neither of us wanted to do any souvenir shopping and it was much cooler outside that the hot & stuffy conditions inside, with all those people milling around.  Julia was saying that they don’t have air conditioning because it is bad for the paintings.  I’m just wondering what the thousands of hot and sweaty humans breathing, is doing to the paintings. 

The bus had us back to the hotel by about 3.15ish.  

A couple of policemen, discussing something.

The traffic here is full on and I have heard that it is worse in  Moscow. After dropping some things in my room, I then went over to the shopping mall across the road, to buy some snacks for the train trip tomorrow afternoon and something to eat for dinner this evening.

I went down to the bar at 7 for a nightcap and Diane was there, ordering some bar food for her dinner and drinking a ‘White Russian’.  I ordered a ‘Black Russian’.   Nicole arrived and the 3 of us chatted for a couple of hours.  

Another free morning for me tomorrow, as I don’t have to check out until 12 noon. Depending on the weather, I’m planning on going for a walk around the neighbourhood.

Steps Walked                     8,421

Hotel: Crowne Plaza St. Petersburg, Ligovsky