Elbrus Expedition Dispatch
August 3, 2008 – Kate and John Adore the Wonderful Art at the Hermitage
John, Kate, Lina and Leila having champagne at the Nevsky Palace
On the morning the 3rd, Kate, John and Lina took off to visit the Hermitage. They walked down the street from the hotel and went into this massive and wonderful museum. It is always worth visiting and always a bit overwhelming just based on its size and the numbers of people who visit the Hermitage each day. By late afternoon I had to tell Kate that she and John had the BAI all time record for the number of hours spent in the Hermitage. I know of Kate’s love of art and art history and John’s as well, and they had more stamina for the Hermitage than any other BAI group has ever had and I know they left wanting more. They especially enjoyed seeing the work of the impressionists and seeing up close the art that they have looked at in photographs and reproductions for years.
Going for dinner before leaving for the
midnight train in St. Petersburg
Towards the afternoon we were all thinking about that night train to Moscow. All of us went out to a nice dinner on Nevsky Prospect and then we met with Sergei, one of the bellmen from our hotel. We loaded our large duffel bags into a minivan that will head to the Caucasus Mountains and then we walked a short distance to the Moscow Railway Station. Lina was still with us and we were very aware of how sad we were to be leaving Leila and Lina behind in St. Petersburg as we got on the train and headed south.
Michael had contacted us from his journey over to Europe and on to Russia and informed us that he had a delay in Frankfurt and this delayed affected him meeting us in St. Petersburg. He said not to worry and that he would be staying at the Hyatt in Moscow and then he would meet us at the airport on the morning of the 4th. He got through security fine at the airport and was sitting at the gate ready and waiting for us. We all sat down at the gate and got to know one another as we were waiting to board our flight from Moscow to Mineralnye Vody.
Hermitage is one of the largest museums in the world, with 3 million works of art, one of the oldest art galleries and museums of human history and culture in the world. The vast Hermitage collections are displayed in six buildings, the main one being the Winter Palace which used to be the official residence of the Russian Tsars
The Catherine Palace is the Rococo summer residence of the Russian Tsars, located in the town of Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin), 25 km south-east of St. Petersburg , Russia