Sunday : Rain

We woke early today, due to the hostel being a noisy one. Oh Yippie! But at least it includes breakfast. It was raining already today so after a simple breakfast we went to the State Hermitage Museum early.

We took the metro because of the rain, and it couldn't be easier with only two stops and English of course. The line at the Hermitage was massive, but Kim being so well on top of things pre booked our tickets yesterday. All we had to do was exchange the print out tickets to electronic ones and we walked straight past the line of 100+ people trying to purchase tickets at the door.

We couldn't have asked for a better rain day, being here at the Hermitage. Or being woken up and getting here early because this place is absolutely freaken huge!

We spent six hours walking around this amazing museum. Everything about this place was spectacular, the artworks and pieces on display, to the building itself. The painted ceilings, the timber work, the staircases, doors, lights even the timber floor. The patterns in this floor were incredible, just throwing it out there but I think it may be the best floor I have ever seen.

Part of the building used to be the winter palace for the Russian Tsars. Built in the mid 18th century and then four more additions were added. Giving the museum over 1000 stunningly decorated hallways and rooms.

Although it wasn't built for Catherine the Great, she was the one who kicked it all off. Founding the Hermitage in 1764 when she purchased 255 paintings from Berlin. Now the museum has over 2.7million displays from all over the world.

All the big names are there, Monet, Renoir, Picasso, Rembrandt, Van Gogh and three of the ninja turtles. There are exhibits from Asia and Egypt, but after going to the Egypt and the Egyptian museum it could never be as good as that.

We loved this place so much it could be the new number one for museums. The Vatican museum blew us away when we went there too. So it's pretty close for number one. I loved the Egyptian museum and Kim the Louvre, but the range of artworks and exhibits at the State Hermitage was so much more, The building itself was a piece of art itself too. We spent just as much time looking at it, as we did the hanging on the walls or on stands and in cabinets.

Well what a day, we got out of there right on closing time and started our walk home again along Nevsky Prospect. We were feeling pretty peckish and we stopped at a traditional Russian restaurant for some local tucker. I had spicy beef pelmeni it's a Russian ravioli, and Kim had a Borscht a very tasty Russian tomato based soup. To drink we had some kvass thats like coke tasting beer, it was the same liquid that went into the cold soup from yesterday.

After a very nice dinner we walked for a little bit past our hostel just to have a bit more of a look around while it wasn't raining. Outside the main tourist a
lot of the buildings are still beautiful. Although there seemed to be a lot in need of repair, and the footpaths and roads were also a bit dodgy.

Back at the hostel we just got ready for bed and did a bit of reading, waiting for everyone to be as ready as we were for some sleep. Its funny the way some people at the hostels seem to never leave the place. The same bunch of people were hanging out on the couch when we left like 10 hours later they are still there? Maybe that's why they all go to bed late too?