Delectable delights! (Hermitage Museum)

Member Name: moongod

Product:	Hermitage Museum
Date:	11/04/01 (13 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Relatively cheap, huge collections, quality

Disadvantages: Too much to see!

I’m only going to write on the Hermitage and Peterhof, because I can’t remember the names of the other places I visited (which were also superb)

The Hermitage is the most awesome cultural collection in the entire world. The building is a wonder in itself, with beautiful ballroom after beautiful ballroom. You can’t fathom just how much there isn’t to see there – it’s worth the £15 or so pounds that foreigners have to pay, unless you can do as I did and sneak in as a Russian student (free). Surely it’s worth studying in St Petersburg just to be able to visit on a regular basis for free…and it would still take a lifetime to view everything there.

The opulence is carried through to Peterhof – Peter’s Palace on the Finnish Gulf, a short boatride away. Based on the palace at Versailles, Peter the Great’s vision of a palace for his capital to shrink all others in comparison, was spoilt by the insistence of the fog that rolled in from the sea…This place is indescribably beautiful and immaculately maintained. The tour around the palace is informative, although the queues are extremely long. They cater for English speakers, with a requirement to wear special slippers to protect the exquisity marquetry.

Hope for a gloriously sunny day as we had and you’ll be able to enjoy the gardens and the Russian love for ‘morojenoye’ (ice-cream). I swear that the fountains that, much to the delight of children, switch on and off when people run across them, are actually operated by an old man hiding in the bushes! Go yourself and discover the delights!

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