Sept. 6, 2017
We
spent the whole morning of our third day in St. Petersburg at the
Hermitage Museum. This
is a huge museum, housed in what was originally the palace built
by Peter the Great's daughter Elizabeth. It was later filled with
the art collection of Catherine the Great. The Hermitage now has
over 3 million works including some by the Old Masters such as Rembrandt,
Matisse, and Leonardo di Vinci. It was all overwhelming and crowded
but amazing to see.
After
lunch we visited the Yusupov Palace. It was built in 1770 and is
where Prince Felix conspired in 1916 to kill Rasputin. He was regarded
as a threat to the future of the Russian empire because he had gained
extraordinary control over the tsar's family through his alledged
supernatural powers. The palace tour led us through the basement
rooms containing life size portrayals of the mysterious legend.
We
then stopped for a brief visit to the Jewish Synagogue. It was built
in 1893 in the Moorish style and is the 2nd largest synagogue in
Europe.
Our
final stop was to a farmer's market with it's fresh produce and
meat.
St. Petersburg is an amazing city. They have done an incredible
job since the war restoring buildings to jaw-dropping opulence.
We were very happy we had chosen to tour with TJ Travels and would
highly recommend them to others visiting the city.
To view more photos from our third day in St. Petersburg, please
go to St. Petersburg Photo
Gallery III . To read about our next day on our cruise, go to
Helsinki.
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