St Petersburg Day Two

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On day two we had our original tour guide, Olga, with whom I began an e-mail correspondence in February. Our plan was to focus on the Winter Palace, which houses the Hermitage one of the greatetst museums in the world. The art collection is so huge that if you were to stand in front of each work of art for one minute each it would take seven years to complete the tour. Our plan was to focus on the Winter Palace rooms and works by the impressionists (IMonet, etc.) We had recently visited the Van Gogh and Rembrandt museum in Amsterdam and we had been to the Uffizzi in Florence twice, so it seemed appropriate.

There are no photogrpahs of the works of art because I couldn't use a flash but I could for the rooms. The photographs of the rooms and floors of the Winter Palace give you some sense of the opulence there. This is in stark contrast to the everyday homes of Russians many of whom share bathroom and cooking facilities and live in small apartments 4 floors up, without elevators.