Day 26 - 16/8/11 -Tuesday

Overnight buses are much cheaper to operate than trains, however whoever made the decision to cancel the overnight train to Tallin from St. Petersburg..... well they suck!

My experience with overnight buses is that I usually get about 20% of the time asleep, and given the upright nature of the seat, it effectively feels like about 5%, rendering me a walking zombie for the next day. Cinthia is a champion sleeper, and can almost fall asleep whilst walking.

This trip will be further interupted by whatever passport requirements Russia and Estonia enforce upon us. Cinthia is a little concerned by the fact that we do not have a 'proof of residence' card for our first hotel stay, which is actually a Russian law requirement. I'm hopeful it won't be enforced in practice, however time will tell. If our blogs stop for a while, it could be account of diplomatic entanglements.

Given today was our last day in St. Petersburg, and Russia, we had to make it count. This meant our two necessary options were to visit the Church of Spilled Blood, and the Hermitage Museum.

The Church of Spilled Blood is built on the site of the assassination of Alexander II (not to be confused with the assassination of his grandchild (Nicholas II) who was also assassinated. Assuming your knowledge of Russian Tsars is a little rusty, Alexander II was actually seen as a fair positive Emperor/ Tsar for the people, and actually agreed to liberate the serfs during the 1860s (a similar time to Abraham Lincoln abolishing slavery, and the American civil war). Ironically, the freedom and reforms Alexander II delivered was not fast enough for the common people, however it was enough freedom to organise an assassination.

From the outside, this church was built to rival the more famous St. Basil's in Moscow. With the architectual and engineering experience of several hundred years (given it was constructed in the late 19th century, not the early 17th century) they managed to do any excellent job. The aspect we found impressive was that both the inside and outside of the church are amazing, a characteristic that is rare in many world famous buildings. Hagia Sophia (in Istanbul) is amazing inside, however ordinary from the outside. Conversely, St. Basil's is amazing from the outside, however does not have a significant interior.

The outside of Spilled blood is actually a pretty red brick facade. I guess this sounds like your standard brick veneer house, however the facade itself is very well done. Like St. Basils, it has both gold and multicolored domes. Also like St. Basils, the roof looks much like a series of lollipops, and hence Cinthia was again dissappointed that no lollipop stalls were to be found inside. The dissappoitment soon dissippated, once we took in the fact that the entire inside walls and ceiling (not one wall, or a part) was made up of mosaic tiling. Everywhere you could looks, mosaics, blended in beautifully with chandeliers, arch strucutes, and of course, the large central dome. Just marvelous that! (as Richie would say when Steve Waugh would back foot cover drive at Lords).

The Church of Spilled Blood, combined with good weather put us both in a positive mood, such that we were ready to attack the Hermitage Museum. The Hermitage Museum may be one of the world's top dozen art museums, however it's standout feature is the building itself, probably the most elaborately and superbly designed and decorated building in the world. Certainly we can't think of another that is more specie!

One other key feature of the Hermitage Museum was its size, with the main museum alone containing nearly 500 rooms. I would like to type that Cinthia and I marched through each and every room, committing every painting and monument to memory..... however that would not be true. Eventually the sheer mass of paintings, shiny stuff, and the crisscrossing hordes wore us down, and we retired to the banks of the Neva river, to rest our weary feet and legs. In the end, culture was the winner.

A couple of the highlights were-

The room with amazing silver ornaments (I mean why make bronze or copper ornaments when you can make silver?)
The pavillion with its chandelliers
The ceiling paintings
The staircases
The Italian artwork
It is a museum we won't quickly forget, and especially when considering the opulence of each and every room, we will consider ourselves quite moderate compared to how the Russian Tsars and aristocricy once lived.

Hermitage

Hermitage

Hermitage

Hermitage

Hermitage

Hermitage

Hermitage

Hermitage

Van Gogh

Picasso's Room

Michelangelo

Hermitage

Hermitage

Church of Spilled Blood

Church of Spilled Blood

Church of Spilled Blood

Church of Spilled Blood

Church of Spilled Blood