Feeling refreshed after a good night's sleep, we fueled up for the day at our hotel's breakfast and then headed to one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, The Hermitage. It was founded by Catherine the Great in 1764 and has been open to the public since 1852. The scale, grandeur, and masterpieces within the museum rival the Louve in Paris. We had the opportunity to marvel at pieces by the great Leonardo di Vinci, Pablo Picasso and Rembrandt to name a few. The art spans the globe from the beginning of time through the mid 20th century with over 3 million pieces in the museum's collection.
Henry slept through most of our visit at The Hermitage, but I'm pretty sure he is ok with that considering that he has probably yet to develop much of an appreciation for art. After scurrying through the three floors and hitting all the highlights while dodging massive crowds, we left the museum for a bite to eat.
Our handy travel guide once again didn't disappoint as we decided to take their recommendation on a Georgian restaurant just around the corner from the museum. We ordered an eggplant dish with an almond paste, a cheese bread that was a mix between pizza and quesadilla, and finished our meal with a stuffed bell pepper. All three items were exceptionally good and we were pleased with our restaurant selection. Oh, did I mention that in addition to eating the chair, Henry enjoyed the cheese bread and meat in the stuffed bell bepper?
With our bellies once again filled, we headed over to St. Isaac's Cathedral. The church was constructed over a 40 year span from 1818-1858 and like everything else in this town it is beautiful inside and out.
Before entering this beautiful cathedral, we climbed 300 plus steps to the top of the church's dome to get a bird's eye perspective of St. Petersburg. The climb was worth the struggle as the view provided us with a great perspective of the streets and canals we have aimlessly been walking over the past 48 hours.
After returning from the cathedral's roof, we went inside to view the fine gold and religious imagery that adorns the church's interior. As a quick side note, I'm sure that those of you from Wisconsin are probably already familiar with St. Isaac's Cathedral considering that, "The design of the cathedral in general and the dome in particular later influenced the design of the Wisconsin State Capital in Madison, Wisconsin" (Wikipedia).
After leaving the birthplace of Wisconsin's State Capital, we returned to our hotel for a quick happy hour while searching for another restaurant gem in this massive city. Fortunately we scored again with a Russian fusion sort of a place where we started with a beer and tandoori chicken salad, followed by a roasted eggplant appetizer and a final course of pumpkin risotto. All three of us enjoyed the meal, ambiance and close proximity to our hotel making the return to our hotel quite convenient even while stopping off for a beer-run along the way.
Tomorrow we hope to take a quick canal voyage over to one of St. Petersburg's finest palaces before heading back to the port and leaving the country before our "72-hour" visa free entry exception expires.
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