hermitage museum

[jmezmom]

Hi,

 

We will be on the Emerald in July.

 

Has anyone been to the Hermitage museum in st. Petersburg?

 

Any info is appreciated!

[dinosaurdem]

Absolutely amazing. The Picasso rooms alone are worth a visit. Comparable to the Louvre, but different.

[coiran]

Hi,

 

We will be on the Emerald in July.

 

Has anyone been to the Hermitage museum in st. Petersburg?

 

Any info is appreciated!

 

Yes, we have been there - not much info, but it is worth taking the time to see.

Ron

[desertminky]

We were there last summer and took a private tour guide - Viktoria from SPB tours. That way we were able to skip the entrance lines and she gave us a tour of the highlights where we slid around large groups of people. Originally I thought I would want to spend an entire day there, but it wasn't as large as I imagined. As I recall we went through the museum in about 2 1/2 hours. Perhaps more with the gift shops. One do not miss was the portraits of the Russian leaders through the ages. I read extensively about the history so it was wonderful to put faces to the names. The Picaso rooms were great, some Impressionists, old masters, lovely modern art and the building itself was fabulous. We really enjoyed the cruise around the city by boat and St. Issacs and the Church of the Spilt Blood. We were lucky enough to be in town three days so we went out to Catherine's Palace and Peterhof as well. Let me know if you'd like more specifics, it was the highlight of our trip and a private guide was less expensive and wonderful. It made our trip. desertminky at aol.

Catherine

[Andee]

We spent two days touring St. Petersburg with Red October, and I highly recommend them. We spent several hours at ther Hermitage; we had talked in advance about what sections we wanted to see. It's enormous, and only a small part of the collections can be viewed.

[luxurysailer]

If you see nothing else while in St. Petersburg, the Hermitage Museum is not to be missed.

[neepawa]

Recommend half a day at the Hermitage and half day at Catherine's Palace at Pushkin. the Amber Room is beautiful.

 

Don

[Coral]

The best art museum I have ever been to! I wish I could spend days there.

 

There is so much to see in St. Petersburg - it is tough to break up your time. While I love this museum - if I only had 2 days, I would probably spend it otherwise on other things and save this for another trip when you have more time.

[suzyluvs2cruise]

We were there in September. We did a private tour with Alla Tours...........excellent all the way..........and had about 2.5 hours in the Hermitage. Beautiful artwork and architecture and a must see that we have crossed off our list.

[FredS]

There are about 4,000 works of art in the Hermitage. Only parts of it are open and the crowds can be large. Display cases can be difficult to get close to. DON"T touch anything, the guards in each room can let you know in no uncertain terms, even in Russian, that you better not do it again. The cafe had reasonable internet access rates; although quite a few people seek to use the computers there. Peterhof is also an amazing place to see.

[SoCoCruiser]

The Hermitage is not to be missed. It's one of the world's great museums.

 

I went on the 2 day Princess St. Petersburg tour in July 2007. The tour saw the Picasso room, Impressionist, Da Vinci's Mother and Child, and a Michelangelo. The entire Museum about 1000 rooms spread out over 5 buildings. The tour went through 50 rooms.

[NVCLVR]

Have been there 2x and can't wait until we return! Agree w/others...absolutely not to be missed. If you take a pvt tour (like Denrus, Alla or Red October), you can spend more time and bypass all the lines. If you can, try to get a pvt tour into the gold and treasure rooms..absolutely fabulous! There's so much to see, one can only scratch the surface w/ one or two trips. Enjoy!

[Pam in CA]

We were there last summer and took a private tour guide - Viktoria from SPB tours. That way we were able to skip the entrance lines and she gave us a tour of the highlights where we slid around large groups of people.

Another very, very pleased patron of Viktoria Rother from SPB Tours. One huge benefit to her tours is that she, the owner, is with you all along the way, making sure everything is going well. You won't find the owners of Alla or Red Oktober on your van for two days. We were able to adjust and modify the tour on-the-fly according to traffic and # of tourists; her vans are very comfortable and easy to get in and out of, a big plus for us in that you don't have to climb over anyone to get to the back.

 

Viktoria's husband runs their tours in Berlin if you are taking the itinerary that goes to Warnemunde. You coordinate both tours through Viktoria, which simplifies things. Our tour guide in Berlin was an American married to a German, which made the tour very interesting and absolutely no language barrier. I highly recomment SPB Tours (http://www.spb-tours.com/flash.html)

[suzyluvs2cruise]

Another very, very pleased patron of Viktoria Rother from SPB Tours. One huge benefit to her tours is that she, the owner, is with you all along the way, making sure everything is going well. You won't find the owners of Alla or Red Oktober on your van for two days. We were able to adjust and modify the tour on-the-fly according to traffic and # of tourists; her vans are very comfortable and easy to get in and out of, a big plus for us in that you don't have to climb over anyone to get to the back.

 

Our experience with Alla Tours was like yours even though Alla was not with us in the van. She met us on both the first and second mornings and was in communication, by cell phone, with Angie (our wonderful guide) on both days. Our tour was adjusted or modified as needed and we were even able to add some additional stops when we were ahead of schedule. We had 12 in our group with a van that was like a small bus and easy to get in and out of.

 

My DH left his jacket in the van on the 2nd afternoon. I called Alla and........presto........the van came back with DH's jacket. We were on the promenade deck and they were almost pulling up the gangplank so Angie ran into the building and gave the jacket to the Russian guard who came out of the building with DH's jacket in hand. We called to one of the crew who were pulling up the gangplank and asked them to take the jacket. The Russian guard did so and we went down to deck 4 where they bringt in the gangplank and retrieved DH's jacket from the crew member. Now that's what I call great customer service. :)