scubacruiserx2

The next place that we visited was the amazing St. Isaac's Cathedral .

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/cathedrals/st-isaacs-cathedral/

The view from St. Isaac's Square

We will be using some photos from our 2015 visit

It took 40 years to complete , but it's beautiful

It's about 100 meters to the top of the dome and the statues there are larger than life .

It was much more crowded when we visited this year .

I had the same thing happen as we were getting ready to leave. We were trying to make our way to the stairs for the restrooms/coat-check. There was a HUGE group following an umbrella guide, and they were all pushing and shoving. When we got to the top of the steps one of them shoved me in the back...if it hadn't been wall-to-wall people I would have tumbled to the bottom of the marble staircase. I was shaking like a leaf, and the lady was laughing. It really soured what I thought would be the highlight of the trip.[emoji22]

 

I swore I would never go back, but your posts have shown me it can be done. I would have to do some research, but I love that part![emoji1]

 

 

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Wow !

I never cease to be astonished at the horrible behavior of some people !

:eek:

The crowds in the Yusupov Palace were the noisiest, one of the guides had a large group of Japanese and no one had been supplied with the ear buds for the address system. The guide spoke in such a loud voice to enable her group to hear, that she was told off by our guide.

We did hear some noisy groups in the churches with the high ceilings , but not that noisy ! Fortunately , your guide had the presence to speak up to them ! And hopefully it worked .

Goodness! Your pictures of the Hermitage are stunning not just for the wonderful photography but for the absence of crowds! I was incredibly disappointed in our "early entrance" to the Hermitage in 2013...it was packed, and I didn't even feel safe because of the pushing and shoving of a couple really large groups.:mad:

 

I'm making a mental note. When we go back, we will hire a PRIVATE guide who can truly get us in to the Hermitage before the crowds.

 

Look at the difference --

 

What you saw:

:D

 

What we saw:

:eek:

Thank you Cindy , it certainly is more enjoyable to have fewer people , especially for taking photos ! Our preferred visits are a stay in the shoulder season of May or September and DIY with the SPB card . You have fewer crowds and more time , but it requires a visa . The private guide works good for a family or a small group , but they are not all equal , so confirm a truly early entrance at the Hermitage or Catherine's Palace ( if you go ) , before you go . We have skipped Catherine's Palace several times because of the crowds there and the 4 hour time block needed to visit there .

We feel your crowd pain from your photo , and as a result we try to avoid them as much as possible ! The crowds in those places usually come in waves . We were in the first at the Hermitage and had about an hour before the second wave caught us near the da Vinci room . At about the 2 hour mark and with the third wave crashing - we headed out . As we were exiting , a rogue Chinese lady chasing to catch to group , gave Patty a hockey - style shoulder check which left her sore for a couple of days ! :eek:

Two last photos before leaving the Hermitage .

A giant vase

And a mummy

And NO , it's not Lenin - he's in the Kremlin !

Finally , one last set of comparison and contrast photos

The Hermitage and Palace Square in early May 2015 :

And in mid June 2016

Palace Square was being prepared for a Russian Day holiday concert , later that evening , which we choose not to attend .

I am becoming so excited now seeing all your wonderful pictures. It's a shame we miss out on Stockholm but there is so much to see everywhere anyway.

 

 

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We missed Helsinki on ours and spent an extra day and night in SPB . On our first Baltic cruise (NCL) we had 2 days and a night in SPB , a day in Helsinki and 2 days and a night in Copenhagen . We did prefer the extra day in SPB , and so something had to give . ;)

The Three Graces

Through this window you can see several Atlas statutes supporting the porch roof

Going down

and looking up .

And while the Rembrandt gallery was packed , this one was empty !

The Small Italian Skylight Room

A vase in the room

The Death of Adonis

The Crouching Boy - Michelango

The Raphael Loggias

Have you decided yet? If you're diving in Cozumel, I'll need you to leave space in your suitcase for me to stow away! :D Oh, wait! I have to get my regulator serviced before I can dive. I will have it done soon, though. :cool:

 

 

You are having your reg. serviced ? We thought that you might be diving lobster mini season ! Yum :) :D We are thinking about staying in the end of October / November and meeting friends there . We rent apartments and eat , sleep and dive - like a cruise with diving !!

 

 

 

So that's where my knight in shining armor has been hiding! Who knew? :confused: I have been looking for him for years, but finally stopped looking when I met & married Barry. Now he is my knight in shining armor.

 

That sounds like the Blackmore's Night video - Once in a Million years . Have you heard it ?

You and Barry sound like a perfect match !

 

I loved your helicopter video. I have never flown in a helicopter. It is a bucket list item for me, one I hope to check off my list when I finally manage to get to either Hawaii or Alaska. Both of those destinations are also bucket list items.

Thank you , it's so much more fun riding on one than working on one ! Those are both excellent choices for a place to fly and we are hoping for next Summer - in Alaska ! :cool:

We did the same last year and used Ronys taxis. Just emailed them and agreed the times. They quoted us €50 each way for either a car for 4 or a minibus taking 8. So I booked the minibus for 8 and then filled it with members of our roll call.

It worked out at €25 per couple in total. We took the free shuttle bus to the edge of the port and met the driver there. On the way back he took us all the way to the ship.

Thank you for sharing that great information with us bremenkat ! :) :D

Rembrandt's Abraham and Issac 1634 , from the Bible story .

 

 

 

 

 

Danae 1636

 

 

 

This is the painting that was attacked , by a man with a knife and acid in the account that follows from wikipedia :

 

On June 15, 1985 Rembrandt's painting was attacked by a man, a Soviet national later judged insane; he threw sulfuric acid on the canvas and cut it twice with his knife.[2] The entire central part of the composition was turned into a mixture of spots with a conglomerate of splashes and areas of dripping paint. The worst damage was to the face and hair of Danaë, her right arm, and legs.[2]

 

The process of restoring the painting began the same day. Following consultations with chemists, art restorers began washing the surface of the painting with water; they kept the painting in the vertical position, and sprayed water at the painting to prevent further degradation of the painting.

 

The restoration of the painting was accomplished between 1985 and 1997 by staff of the State Hermitage's Laboratory of Expert Restoration of Easel Paintings: Ye. N. Gerasimov (group leader), A. G. Rakhman, and G. A. Shirokov, with the participation of T. P. Alioshina in matters of scientific methodology.

 

 

And finally , Rembrandt's last great painting The return of the Prodigal Son 1669

 

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Return_of_the_Prodigal_Son_(Rembrandt)

 

 

It is a renowned work described by art historian Kenneth Clark as "a picture which those who have seen the original in Leningrad may be forgiven for claiming as the greatest picture ever painted".[2]

 

The quote above and the following photo are from wikipedia :

 

 

Post # 2

I was able to take a updated version of Danae this visit , before moving on .

Outside of the Pavilion Hall is the Council Staircase , room # 206 on our map . And now , we are in in Large Hermitage . In one direction is the Italian art and in the other direction , the Rembrandt room #254 , seen across the way .

 

 

 

 

While art is highly subjective , Rembrandt through his contrast of light and darkness , subject matter and technique , remains one of my favorites . The Hermitage has 20 of his paintings . Like many artists , he used self , friends and family as models . The is his young wife , Saskia , as the Roman goddess of flowers and sex , Flora .

 

 

 

 

He also used her and self in The prodigal son in the Tavern painting - which is not found in the Hermitage .

 

 

 

 

"Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 139" by Rembrandt - http://www.mcah.columbia.edu*: Home*: [1]. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_139.jpg#/media/File:Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_139.jpg

 

 

There is a lot of glare in the gallery so I reduced the photo sizes of some of the pictures .

 

 

 

The old man in red

 

 

 

 

Portrait of an old Jew

 

 

 

 

Young woman trying on earings

 

 

Post # 1

With the Da Vinci Room becoming crowded , we moved over to one of my favorite artists in the Hermitage - Rembrandt .https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt

They have a large gallery with some of his more famous paintings there which we had hoped would be less crowded . We were wrong .

Flora

In the room with the painting

The Return of the Prodigal Son

Viewing the Prodigal

In order to portray the painting and the museum in it's best light , I 'll borrow a couple of previous postings from our Total Eclipse thread . The photos were taken last May when we stayed in SPB - BEFORE THE BUSY SEASON , and it's the reason that we prefer , and would recommend , a stay in SPB . :) :D

Here's a close up of the Benois Madonna .

And with a quick pause between groups , I could get a quick picture of it , with Ty .

This is the Madonna Litta , also by da Vinci . A passing guide shared it's story with us also ( my , what big ears you have grandma ) .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_Litta

The doors in the room are a work of art themselves .

They are decorated in the Boulle style , and made from tortoise shell and gilded brass .

Thank you so much for this excellent thread. Your photos are amazing and your posts are a great read.

We did a Baltic cruise 2007 on celebrity Century and enjoyed it. Your photos bring back good memories. Thanks very much, Jean.

You're welcome Jean , and thank you for your kind words . There have been a number of positive changes since you last visited . More people speak English , and the signage reflects it also . And many of the building have been further restored as a result of , and in search of tourist revenue . Also , the new port and the Fabrege Museum are first rate . On the down slope however , there are many more visitors now , than before . :eek:

The clock comes to life when it's wound up . Please see the video here :

There is also a large , beautiful mosaic in the room .

We now entered room 214

The da Vinci room

The room features 2 paintings from the true renaissance genius , Leonardo da Vinci .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci

The first is the Benois Madonna - 1478 .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benois_Madonna

At this point there is a transition between buildings with some nice windows and views .

I do love this piece of glass

and the garden

In the next room is the peacock clock

And the crowds began !

Lol! No - we have two Cocker Spaniels!

 

 

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Very nice , my wife's parents had one also .

Ty could see the crowd in the courtyard growing

The next room was The Hall of 1812 which was filled paintings concerning the war after Napoleon invaded Russia .

Field Marshal Kutuzov is considered a major hero in the war against Napoleon . In this painting , he appears to have three arms to me .

The next room is The Saint George Hall

with it's beautiful throne .

And directly behind it in the next room is this hand carved piece .

The top of the Jordan Staircase

In the next room was this display case

It contained Prussian Military Batons

The next room was the Hall of Peter the Great

The next room was even larger , The Armorial Hall .

The golden hue there ,reminded us of the Golden Hall in Stockholm .

Loving your review and photos. Will be in the Baltic next summer and hoping for good weather!

 

 

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Thank you , and we hope that you have great weather also . Are you any relation to Joe , cocker2 ? :) :D

I got a Fujifilm X-T1...I'm going mirrorless to lighten the load. Trudging through the rainforest of the Dominican Republic earlier this month I really struggled with the weight of my camera, even on a sling. I also know I need to cut down on my carry-on weight because we're flying Lufthansa. Now, I'm certainly not ready to get rid of my Canon, but I might consider it down the road if this new camera works for me. I will probably, however, sell a lens or 2 since I seldom use them and I want to get, at the very least a wide angle and a good low-light fixed distance lens before the trip. I figure parting ways with my 70-200 L will help in the funding department!

 

Sorry to hijack your thread with camera talk. I'm a little apprehensive because I used a Sony NEX for a while and HATED it, but I'm going to try to take the time to really explore this camera and see if it will work for me.

 

 

 

 

That's about the temperature it was when we convinced our guide to change the afternoon's itinerary. We were cold and wet! Here's our group (plus some other people) waiting outside Catherine Palace while our guide got our tickets. It was a long wait...the computers were down, and they had to hand-write the tickets for each group wile we waited. In the cold. And the rain.:rolleyes:

 

That's my mom in the middle (with the hat under her hood). She was trying to smile, but I think at that point she was probably secretly wondering what the heck she was doing in Russia. Standing outside. In the cold. And the rain.:D

No worries about a hijack since camera speak , is spoken here ! ;) . It looks like a nice system (I took a peek ) . And at first glance with the 3 dial array , it looked kinda familiar !

And it looks like a fun group enjoying the Russian Weather ! That reminds me of our Moscow guide's comment about the cold , rainy weather when we first met her ; " Russian weather , 9 months of anticipation , and 3 months of disappointment ! " :rolleyes:

Strange, I always understood that the coming of the Wise Men was celebrated on Epiphany (my birthday, January 6 th) which in Catholic countries is Christmas Day. Certainly in Tenerife they we have seen processions which include camels, which the wise men were thought to have used.

 

My mother used to tell me I was born on 'old Christmas Day.'

A great observation Jackie , so I looked and I found this article on Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_water_in_Eastern_Christianity

A partial quote :

Jesus' baptism is commemorated in the Eastern Orthodox churches at the Feast of Theophany (literally "manifestation of God") on January 6 (for those Orthodox Christians who use the Julian Calendar, January 6 falls on the Gregorian Calendar date of January 19). At the Vespers of this feast, a font of holy water is typically blessed in the church, to provide holy water for the parish's use in the coming year. The next morning, after the Divine Liturgy a procession goes from the church to a nearby river, lake or other body of water, to bless that water as well. This represents the redemption of all creation as part of humanity's salvation.

Photo: Blessing the waters of the Neva on Theophany

Thus it seems that January 6th is Epiphany is the West , but celebrated as Theophany in the East . And so it seem that you hit a trifecta Jackie , a birthday , Epiphany and Theophany ! :cool:

An early opening at the Hermitage .

With a nearly empty hall

Waiting for the ladies

Entrance to the Jordan staircase

A horizontal view

The principal or Jordan Staircase of the Winter Palace, St Petersburg is so called because on the Feast of the Epiphany the Tsar descended this imperial staircase in state for the ceremony of the "Blessing of the Waters" of the Neva River, a celebration of Christ's baptism in the Jordan River. The staircase is one of the few parts of the palace retaining the original 18th-century style. The massive grey granite columns, however, were added in the mid 19th century . From Wikipedia

A vertical stitch to show the ceiling

Anna took this group shot using Pat's little pocket camera .

After a great nights sleep and breakfast we were downstairs at 9 am to meet Polina and perhaps , her daughter . She was to be our guide and driver for the day and we had hoped that her oldest daughter may go along , as her younger had on a previous tour . But , at 9:30 we were becoming concerned .

About that time Anna showed up and explained that Polina's daughter was ill and that she would be guiding us for the next 2 days . Additionally , we also had a driver . This explained the call from Alla .

Next stop , the Naval Cathedral .

She was up to speed on our flexible plan of what we wanted to do and this stop was a bonus before an early opening to the Hermitage .

The Bell tower

I took an upper and a lower photo and stitched them together , but you can see a misalignment of the columns , at the blue arrow .

Here's a nice article and photos , including an interior shot , which we are not supposed to take . But of course , some people did anyway .

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/cathedrals/st-nicholas-cathedral/

And a couple from a previous trip . First from the park in the rear .

And one on a clear day with the sun back lighting the cupolas .