Day 10 - Sunday, The Hermitage, St Petersburg

The setting for the Hermitage museum sometimes threatens to overshadow the artworks it holds. The state rooms are dazzling and the art is too much to take in, but rather gloriously so. Sensory overload. We took the included tour, which was a crush with hundreds of other tours, but found that things calmed down as we left the Da Vincis and Rembrandts behind and explored on our own. We refrained from snapping everything in sight and bought a guide book, but I couldn't resist snapping some rooms and the crowds around the poor little Da Vinci madonnas. We plan on going back, having bought extra tickets online, so we only cover a few sections, but are tired out after spending the day on our feet. I have museum neck from looking up, down, left and right.

The Winter Palace, Hermitage Museum

The prettiest room, where the peacock clock is housed

Looking out of the peacock clock room into the inner garden

There's a Da Vinci behind there!
You can get much closer than you can to the Mona Lisa, but all the cameras clicking away are a bit distracting.

Room after room after room

 By the way, here is a symbol of St Petersburg, the statue of Peter the Great on a horse. You can't see it at this angle, but his horse is treading on a snake. The official explanation is that it is a symbol of the Swedes, who were defeated by Peter. Locals say it is his first wife.
There are many horse statues around the place, many of them accompanied by nekked men.

Behind Peter is the top of St Isaac's - the third largest cathedral in the world. We will be staying opposite it when we leave the boat.