Lots of Art and Museums

The Hermitage is a massive art museum. Much of the art that was in palaces and other historic  in St. Petersburg has been moved here. During World War Two, much of the art had to be moved in order to be saved. Many of the pieces were buried under St. Isaac's Cathedral. 

Part of the Hermitage is the winter palace. We spent nearly 3 hours and only saw one floor of one wing of this museum. Like I said, its massive. We decided to see the exhibits that were of the rooms of the winter palace and the Russian art. 

Hermitage - Winter Palace

Another Building - Another Part of the Heritage

Monument outside of the Hermitage

Like any good palace, there is a grand staircase. Oh man, it this one grand! At the top of the stair case, we went into a small throne room. Many of the historic sites in St. Petersburg have had to be majorly refurbished. Many were destroyed in fires or were bombed during World War Two. A lot of what is seen is recreations of what was there originally or rooms have had to undergo massive restoration. The restoration process is pretty fascinating. The attention to detail is incredible. It's a shame so many of the original objects and designs have been destroyed but I am glad there are people with the desire and skill to preserve what's left and help tell the stories of the past.

The Armoury Hall (ballroom) in the winter palace is rather plain for a ballroom  its vintage, but it's a pretty neat place - during World War One it was converted into a hospital for injured soldiers. 

Armoury Hall

 There was a long narrow room full of portraits officers from the war of 1812 and as I walked through, the audio guide read a poem by Pushkin. I had been commenting to Christina that I hadn't read any Russian literature, at least not that I'm aware of, and I'd never even heard of Pushkin before this trip. Now I've heard a poem by him while in Russia. 

The large throne room was magnificent. You have to look both up and down in these Russia palaces. The floors and ceiling are so intricate. In the throne room, the parquet floor mirrors the details of the ceiling. With the exception of the emblem of the palace because it would be rude to walk on that. Some of the parquet floors are made out of up to 9 different types of wood. 

Parquet Floor

Large Throne Room

Throne - Winter Palace

Each time a new person takes the throne, they redecorate the palace according to their taste and the style of the time. In 1837, much of the palace was destroyed in a fire and when it was rebuilt and decorated it was decorated in the style known as eclecticism. This was a rebirth of classical style with new "modern" elements. Artists began deviating from the standard elements of style.

Piano

Library in the Winter Palace

Door Handle

Orchestral Clock

Wine Vat

Carriage for snow

After the Hermitage we walked over to the Kunsthammer Museum. This was on the recommendation of the American we met at the ballet. She described it as babies in jars, and in fact, that is one of the things in this museum (and by far the most popular exhibit in the museum). It is an anthropological/ethnographic museum that happens to contain a collection of human anatomical specimens. 

Babies in jars is a really graphic, morbid way to describe the exhibit. But, it is what grabbed our attention. We had not flagged the museum in the guide book prior to this description. Really though, it's quite a collection of extraordinarily well preserved embryos and fetuses. There are some other anatomical specimens including reproductive parts, digestive system parts, and some parts of children that were really uncomfortable to look at. But, overall it was an extraordinary exhibit. 

Peter the Great was really interested in science and began collecting these "monsters" as they were called at the time. He collaborated with doctors and scientists all over Europe to collect the specimens for educational purposes. Many of the fetuses were collected, studied, and preserved by a Russian doctor that taught midwives. Most of the fetuses had rare birth defects or malformations and were spontaneously  aborted or died shortly after birth. If you have a strong stomach, it's well wort a visit (or a quick google image search). It's amazing how far humans have come in understanding how these things occur and how to have healthy pregnancies and how to deliver a complicated pregnancy safely for the mother. 

On this day we also visited the History of Russian Politics museum. This is something that would need to be delivered in a much more interactive way for me to enjoy it. The audio guide was boring and I got lost in all the names and acronyms. But, that being said, there were some interesting Soviet era propaganda posters including one that said something along the lines of 'vodka is bad, put your money in the national savings bank.' What's interesting about this, is that most of the money the government was investing in the bank came from the sale of alcohol. 

Yusupov Palace and a Cool Monument

I've been doing something I used to make fun of my family for - being "boring,"old and going through museums reading the signs and listening to the audio guides. Well, now that I'm grown up (I think) I really enjoy these things. I've rented/paid for the audio guide at every museum we've visited on this trip. Partly because most of the signage is in Russian and partly because I love the little anecdotes shared through out the guide. I'd rather have a real life guide - maybe next trip I'll splurge on a real guide at a few of the museums. 

My favorite museum/palace we visited in St. Petersburg was the Yusupov Palace. This home was huge, but not totally ridiculous for a palace. We weren't allowed to take photos, because we didn't buy a photo ticket (language barrier issue, I'm sure). But we managed to sneak a few. 

After ascending the grand staircase (yes please) we went through the ceremonial bedroom. No one actually stayed in this room. But guests had to walk through it to get into the entertainment spaces including 3 parlors, a dance hall, a banquet hall, and a dining room.

I enjoyed the dance hall with its beautiful parquet floors (who knew parquet could be beautiful)! Another group of tourists waltzed through the dance hall, it was quite cute. I also really enjoyed the dining room. The legs of the table were griffons.

This palace had a beautiful theater in it. Many amazing performers have graced its stage including Lizt and Berlioz. We were fortunate to walk into the theater just as a performing group was beginning a demonstration. Amazing. If we had more days/evenings here, I would have love to take in a full concert.

Downstairs we went through part of the living quarter - a spectacular library and a beautiful fountain room and the biggest billiard table I've ever seen.

The best part of the of the palace is the basement. It felt very secretive. We had to ask to go down and it was entirely in Russian. We were escorted through the exhibit by a museum staff member. It was an exhibit reenacting the death of Rasputin. Rasputin was a spiritual advisor/mystic. He was invited over to the palace for a private party. He was then led to the basement rooms for dessert. The desserts had been poisoned. When he was weakened, Prince
Felix Yusupov shot Rasputin 4 times. They thought he was dead, only he wasn't. They dragged him to the river and dumped his body. When he was discovered, it turns out the real cause of death was drowning. The exhibit also included many original documents and articles written about Rasputin and his death. 

In the basement was also an example of the original kitchen. On display were kozoulya. These are hard cookies that look a lot like gingerbread. They are made in Russia for special occasions like weddings or new babies. They are also made for Christmas. The horse and the deer were historically known as being holy animals with protective powers so the tradition kozoulya are traditionally cut in those shapes. It's considered bad luck to eat the, right away and some people simply keep them and never eat them as to keep their protective powers intact. 

On the day we went to the Yusupov palace we did a long self-guided walking tour. We walked past St. Isaac's Cathedral. This is one of the largest cathedrals in Russia. We decided not to go inside. If I ever come back, I will. But, we were feeling a bit churched out.  Outside of the cathedral in the square is a monument to Nicolas first. Is was my favorite monument in the city. It features Nicolas on his horse. But around it are 4 women. 1 his wife the other three his daughters. They are holding objects to 

represent faith, wisdom, justice, and might.  

St Petersburg -The Ballet

St. Petersburg is a city rich in culture and history. This music nerd has geeked out a few times, like this time in front of a statue of Rimsky-Korsakov. There are so many great composers to come out Russia and more specifically St. Petersburg. There are roads named for great composers, musicians, and writers. There are so may statues and monuments. I was a bit bummed not to be able to see the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, it's currently completely under scaffolding. 

Rimsky-Korsakov

Glinka

We wandered through the theater district and moseyed down one of the canals. There are many
bridges crossing the canals. Some are for vehicles and others are spouts for pedestrians. These
bridges are known for being romantic hangouts. One of the most famous is the Lion Bridge over the Griboedov Canal. My favorite bridge was the Bank Bridge. This bridge was built in
1826. It used to be in front of a bank (go figure). Now the building is the St. Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance. 

The Bank Bridge

The Bank Bridge

The Lion Bridge

One of the most special experiences of the trip was our evening at the ballet. I abandoned the notion of being a ballerina many years ago. But my love for ballet has remained strong. We saw a production of The French ballet Giselle. A Russian dancer collaborated on the oginal choreography, but the ballet was never performed in Russia, only by the traveling Ballet Russe. Recently, the Mariinskiy (Kirov) Ballet has been reviving classic ballets. 

Christina and Janet in our hotel lobby before the balleg

The theater is gorgeous both inside and out. We sat in a box at the back of the main floor and had a perfect view of the entire stage. It was so nice to see a ballet with a live orchestra. For a long time after I gave up on being a professional ballerina, I thought it would be fun to play oboe in a ballet orchestra. I did once in high school for a local dance school production.

Model of the inside of the Miriinskiy Theater

I'm partial to (and often critical of) the oboe parts in orchestral music. The oboist I'm the pit was incredible. I'd venture to say this was a flawless performance. Seeing the ballet in Russia is just a tourist experience but rather a full cultural experience. People really appreciate the art and show it buy shouting "bravo" and buying the dancers flowers. I'd go again, only the tickets are sold out! 

Final Thoughts on Moscow

One evening we went to the Pushkin Cafe. It's a super swanky restaurant. It's a total tourist attraction in that it is modeled after an aristocratic Russian home. It isn't actually a historic building of any kind. But, since Pushkin is a famous Russian and we wanted to try some Russian desserts, we went. We went there after eating a traditional Russian meal at a small local restaurant by our hostel. The employees didn't speak English, which we figured they wouldn't, so we resorted to our usual pointing and smiling. I ended up with chicken noodle soup. Oops. And a mushroom filled pastry. Oops. I ate as much as I could! Christina ended up with meat filled dumplings. We aren't entirely certain what kind of meat it was, but she said it was good! 

Most of the places we've gone have an English menu. Most of the people we've encountered seem to be more upset that they don't speak English and can't help us as easily than we are that we don't speak Russian. We aren't particularly concerns about it because so much more communication happens non verbally than through words. Tone of voice goes along way, too! Obviously we appreciate when we can speak English with someone and can ask for help easily, but it's not a requirement of traveling.

On our last day in Moscow, we went exploring outside of the city center. We rode the metro out to a park northeast of Moscow. We walked and walked through the snow and enjoyed a slice of winter. This park was absolutely huge. Clearly Muscovites are used to winter so they don't let it get in the way. There were so many families out especially fathers and their kids. They were ice skating and playing on the snow covered playgrounds. There were go carts, too. We saw quite a few snow men, too. There were even kids riding bikes! The strangest thing about this park were the carnival rides. I'm sure in the summer it's bustling but it was a bit like a scene from a horror movie - carnival music playing, rides running, but no peopler. Picture a swing creaking in the wind on a cold misty day and you'll get the right sensation! 

We also visited another Kremlin, the Izmailovsky.  Next door is a HUGE souvenir market. The stalls were mostly full of nesting dolls ( matryoshka dolls) and fur hats (which yes, people really do wear). But there were other trinkets, scarves, and wood carvings. There were artist stalls and food vendors. We didn't stay long because our feet were soaked from our walk in the park.