St Petersburg, Russia. August 12, 2018
In St Petersburg, we wanted to be very close to the Hermitage Museum, clearly the key attraction of the city, and the Summer Gardens by The Neva River. The DOM Boutique Hotel was a good choice. As soon as we arrived, we took a stroll around the city.
The Nevsky Prospect - This famous avenue that cuts through the center of the city is a hub for shopping, nightlife and entertainment, and is lined with historic palaces and buildings. The most famous are: the Stroganov Palace, the Singer Company Building, the American sewing machine company wanted at the time a building in Russia similar to the skyscraper that was then being constructed in New York. We ended up our reconnaissance at the Eliseyev Building, home to an amazing grocery store,
where we bought caviar, cream and blinis in preparation of a very yummy dinner in our hotel room. Not quite as the Romanov’s! but it worked very nicely….
The Palace of Peter the Great - The following day we took an hydrofoil boat on The Neva River to Peterhof Palace, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a series of palaces and gardens sometimes referred as the "Russian Versailles”. Definitely, a very impressive site with its gold, beautiful gardens, grand cascade and a total of 64 fountains.
We came back with the same boat with plenty time left to walked around the city to admire its treasures:
The Admiralty Building, the former headquarters of the Imperial Russian Navy and still today the headquarters of the Russian Navy.
Peter and Paul Fortress, it is the original citadel of St. Petersburg founded by Peter the Great in 1703. In the early 1920s, it was still used as a prison and execution ground by the Bolshevik government. We ended the afternoon with high tea at The Four Seasons situated in a 19th-century royal palace.
The State Hermitage Museum The Hermitage Museum complex is constituted by the Hermitage Theatre, the Old Hermitage, the Small Hermitage, the Winter Palace and the "New Hermitage" located behind the Old Hermitage. It is the second-largest art museum in the world after Le Louvre. It was founded in 1764 when Empress Catherine the Great acquired an impressive collection of art.
Our visit was planned for the following morning.
The Winter Palace was, from 1732 to 1917, the official residence of the Russian Monarchs. Today, the restored palace forms part of a complex of buildings housing the Hermitage Museum. We highly recommend you reserve your entry with a guide.
The richness of the decor and the arts are unbelievable…
Magnificent paintings from Caravaggio, Rembrandt, sculptures from Michelangelo and……
The Peacock Clock is fascinating! It is a large automaton featuring three life-sized mechanical birds. It was manufactured in England in the 2nd half of the 18th century and acquired by Catherine the Great in 1781. The clock is shown daily on the Russian TV channel Russia-K… The clock begins its show with some eerie chime music to which the owl turns its head. Then the peacock gracefully turns its neck and lifts its tail slowly before quickly turning around to display its fan of golden feathers. The spectacle concludes with the crowing of a rooster below. The cycle is meant to represent the end of night and the rise of the sun, suggesting the continuity of life. The actual dial of the clock is hidden in a mushroom, and a squirrel, fox, and other creatures can be spied among the metal foliage.
The General staff building nowadays holds the Impressionists Collection. This collection of impressionist and post-impressionist art is among the most famous in the world. Surprisingly we did not need to reserve our time in advance and it was way less crowded than the Winter Palace.
Lots of Picasso’s.
Matisse’s like we have never seen before…
Some Gauguin’s and Cézanne’s and so many more!
The Saint Petersburg Metro - The system exhibits typical Soviet architecture and features exquisite decorations and artwork making it one of the most attractive and elegant metros in the world. Due to the city's unique geology, it is also one of the deepest metro systems in the world, it is almost 100 meters below ground.
St Petersburg is absolutely spectacular. There are so many Palaces, quite a few have been restored but you can clearly see the need for a lot more to be done.
We truly enjoyed “The Venice of the East“.
