St. Petersburg, Russia | Day 3

St. Petersburg, Russia: It rained all night and we woke to black skies and pouring rain! My first thought was about the thousands of people who were in town for the Naval Parade! After two beautiful days, it was so unfair! At 9:30 we were loaded on a bus and headed to the Hermitage Museum. The Hermitage is rivaled only by the Louvre in Paris. The Hermitage sits on the banks of the Neve River in the former Winter Palace of the Romanov's. Of course, it is fantastic and the reason thousands of people come to St. Petersburg. We had a group of only 16, so were so lucky and our guide (a different) Svetlana was first-rate. (Our driver today was Vladimir.)

St. George Throne Room
(photo is Peter the Great and Catherine I)


The ballroom

The museum has over three million pieces of art - enough to take over ten years if you wanted to see everything. We had the two hour tour and after thirty minutes I was in sensory overload. It wasn't enough that the walls were covered floor to ceiling with fabulous European paintings - they were hanging in another extraordinary Russian palace - the ceilings were gilt, or painted with a larger-than-life mural and so many of the floors had intricate inlaid designs in wood! Unreal!

The Hermitage has two rooms of Renoir, dozens of Monet's, fifteen of Gauguin's Tahaitian period, three dozen Matisse, two rooms of awful Picasso blue period, two DaVinci Madonna's and assorted Rembrandt's (including Prodigal Son, 1664), Raphael, and the fabulous Crouching Boy statue by Michelangelo.

Alexander I


Palace Square in the center of the Hermitage -
with a column honoring Russia's victory over Napoleon

Seriously, by the time we left, I thought my brain was going to explode from too much beauty. I think this museum must be explored two hours at a time - we only were shown the highlights. I would like to see the porcelain and silver collections one day... okay, one week.

Our bus brought us back to the ship for less than two hours, but it was enough time for DT to get in three miles and we both had a light lunch before getting on our next - and last - tour of St. Petersburg. Don't forget that each time we get off the ship, we must clear Russian immigration, have our passports stamped, inspected, then someone scowls at us and we are given us a red card that we guard with our lives. According to the stamps in my passport, I have been to Russia six times now! This afternoon, it stopped raining, warmed-up and the sun was trying to shine.

The magnificent Grand Choral Synagogue is one of the largest in Europe. It is over 100 years old and the center of Jewish life and education in St. Petersburg. The design is Moorish and the temple was completely restored in 2002.

Grand Choral Synagogue

The Cantor greeted us, invited to take photographs, and spoke to our group about the building, the congregation and Jewish life in St. Petersburg. He said every Jew of every matter of observance worships at this synagogue - because this is the only major temple in a city of 90,000 Jews. (Nearly five million people live around St. Petersburg.) The complex has another smaller temple, a wedding room, a kosher restaurant, gift shop and kosher market. Just in case you wanted to know, there is only one kosher butcher in St. Petersburg.

The history of the Jewish people in St. Petersburg is interesting. When Peter the Great decided to build this fantasy city, he brought all sorts of engineers, designers, architects and craftsmen from Europe and, of course, many of these men were Jews. Peter said, "Baptized or Circumcised - all are welcome to St. Petersburg". After his death, later rulers were not so generous. There is not a "Jewish neighborhood" in St. Petersburg - everyone is spread-out. But the community is growing - 90 boys celebrated their Bar Mitzvah last year. Grand Choral Synagogue celebrate group Bar Mitzvah's (and no Bat Mitzvah's), 10 or so at a time. The Cantor sang for us - he had a powerful voice, and the acoustics in the synagogue were remarkable. Thank you!

Fantastic idea - Wall mural at the temple

After our tour and a spin through the gift shop, we boarded the bus. But wait - 3 passengers were missing. We waited. Hmmm. Poor Svetlana is sent off to Siberia if she lets one tourist slip through her fingers, so she was absolutely pacing the street! Finally, they came around the corner, bottles of bodka in hand. On the way back to the ship, we were driven by many of the buildings we had seen earlier - but this time we were told their Jewish heritage. Svetlana's monotone explanations had me dozing in no time.

The ship was getting ready to sail and the sun was shining! A band was greeting all the very tired returning passengers (the group that went to Moscow yesterday arrived back to the ship this morning at 2 am). As I type this, we are sailing in the Gulf of Finland and DT is on the balcony watching nude sunbathers on small islands, while pretending to search for Peterhof Palace with the binoculars.

"Metro Ride & Shopping" tour arrives back to ship
(note lovely Immigration "trailer" in the background

We enjoyed another wonderful dinner in the dining room and then went up to watch the sunset.

Dessert tonight

 
11 pm - sailing from Russia to Estonia


Baltic Sunset

Notes:

1) St. Petersburg was a beautiful city. Was. It is now in crisis. There will never be enough time, money, or workers to get the city back to its original glory.

2) Thanks to my Asian-Trained bladder, I never had to experience a Russian toilet. I think I missed out. On the night we went to the Dinner with the Tsars, an elderly woman told us she was escorted into the WC at the St. Peter and St. Paul Church. Inside the "stall" she found a toilet, a urinal, a bidet and a sink. She was so confused at all her options, she said, "I couldn't even go." Of course, DT said, "Wait a minute, you weren't considering the sink as one of the options were you?" She loves DT now.

3) There are no pews or seats of any kind in any Russian Orthodox churches. People stand. Even if the service is a three-hour wedding, Grandma stands.

4) I never did have to phone that snake-eyed Putin because I learned St. Petersburg is constructing a fancy-new cruise ship terminal.