EuroChristmas: The Hermitage

December 30, 2015

27 December 2015
St. Petersburg, Russia

Step Count: 29,701 (12.66 miles)

Sunday was Hermitage day--the museum is one of the oldest in the world, opened to the public in 1852. We explored so many different sections of the museum and I took a ton of pictures. I'll let the images do most of the talking in this post!

We stopped for coffee en route to the museum in the morning

I wonder how many countries will have a sign with a sentiment like this or similar :)

Rick and I loved the thoughtfulness of the displays, even the design of the items of the street. Very fun.

In front of the Winter Palace, home to the museum

Dad taking photos of the exterior of the building

Bucket list item--check!

Rick in the square in front of the museum

Inside the ancient artifacts section

The oldest pile carpet in the world. From the 3rd or 4th century BC

mosaic tiles from Turkey

I spy an ikat flag in the Islamic armor room

Disclaimer: I am obsessed the floors in the state room sections of the palace. Or even all over the palace for that matter. If you aren't following @ihavethisthingwithfloors on Instagram, you should be. This was was #ihavethisthingwithfloors heaven, and I was dying. So much fun.

The floors!

I mean, just look at them

Literally obsessed.

You should be, too.

Amazing, amazing stuff.

exploring the state rooms

ornate and gold leaf details everywhere

aaaaand floors

The Ambassador's Staircase

one of the few throne rooms

a room for balls and receptions

the main throne room

Greek and Roman artifacts

great floors here, too!

My Kappa husband found the homegirl

So, he got his picture with her, too :)

always on #fleurwatch

more floors and great details in the Greek and Roman exhibit

Still Greek/Roman, not sure what the fount/tub is for

Staircase selfie

The Peacock Clock is a fixture in the museum. We tried to see what it would do when it chimed 2pm, but nothing too spectacular happened at all! But, it had a rooster, squirrel, owl, and a mushroom, so everyone in our family was represented there in one way or another!

Rick and I managed to get through most, if not all, of the first and second floors of the Winter Palace. We moved over to the General Staff Building next, in search of Impressionist/post-Impressionist art (we never managed to find it--it may have been in the Winter Palace normally but currently on loan? Maybe the exhibition was closed? Needless to say, we were bummed). The space is incredibly modern, home to modern art and post-WWII Soviet protest art. Rick and I both really enjoyed the photography exhibit by Steve McCurry, who has taken most of the famous Nat Geo photos you would recognize (remember the Afghan girl with the eyes?).

walking in to the museum

modern art

some examples of art nouveau

there she is

I love the colors in all of the photos

such a contrast from the main Winter Palace spaces

One year ago to the day, we were at Angkor Wat in Cambodia. It was fitting to see photos of the temples there.

Kandinsky

After the modern art, we were pretty museum-ed out. We stopped for a quick shopping break, at Rick's personal mecca--Zara. This was the first time I had seen a store with Zara Home, too. Of course, he picked up a few new things we liked :)

Our final sightseeing stop was the Church of the Savior on Blood, one of the few "onion dome" churches in St. Petersburg. The entire interior is covered in mosaics, and was very impressive!

After the church, we walked over to Kafe Bontanika, a vegetarian cafe Dad had found on Instagram a few months ago. We had fun enjoying a variety of classic Russian dishes in a "safe" environment--no chance we'd end up with meat due to a translation issue! :)