August 3, 2012
Saint Petersburg Day 2
Day 2 in Saint Petersburg started out a little easier in
general – fewer people were going on excursions, making the disembarkation
process less frenetic. For the second day in a row, we were given stickers for
bus #22. Of course, we remembered our goal of NOT being on the same bus as
Obnoxious Woman. Very important.
And, since we already had the official Russian stamps in our
passports from yesterday, getting through customs the 2nd day was a
breeze. I even got a (very quiet) “thank you” from the customs agent! I almost
tripped over myself in shock. I’m sure the poor woman will be fired for such exuberant
behavior.
Got on bus 22 with a little trepidation, scanning the
passengers for Obnoxious Woman. At the very least, we had a different tour
guide, Maria. We saw yesterday’s tour guide, Nickolai, on bus #23. Then, we saw
Obnoxious Woman and her posse climb on board – bus #23! We had escaped! Ah, but
alas, poor Nickolai - he was stuck with her again! We felt truly sorry for him
and hoped he had enough fortitude not to strangle her before the end of the
day.
Yesterday, the bus made various small stops on the way to
Saint Issac’s church. Today, the goal was to beeline to the Hermitage and get
there by 9:30. The museum normally opens at 11:00, but the Holland America has
an agreement with the Hermitage to open early for this excursion.
Maria made it clear that the goal was to get through the
museum by 11:00 when it officially opens. Obviously, in 90 minutes we were only
going to see the most famous/important items in the collection. In retrospect,
what we really needed was roller blades. Though possibly the stairs might have
been just a little tricky.
The following are a few of my favorite things that we saw as
we raced through the halls:
This may look like a peacock sitting in a tree with a
rooster and a squirrel, but it is actually a clock, presented to Catherine II
by one of her lovers:
The Hall of Raphael (I think) – I could take this photo only
because we were in the museum before it was officially open:
My buddy, Leonardo (notice (if you can) baby Jesus’ intense
gaze – in person, it was startling):
A painting of a rabbi by Rembrandt, after he became
interested in Judaism (never heard of this - haven’t had the time to look that
up yet).
Matisse:
And this one by Paulus Potter. Never heard of this guy, but
the subject is a dog. Doesn’t take much, now does it?
We raced against the clock. By 11:00, we just about done,
heading towards the Meeting-Spot-In-Case-You-Get-Separated as the museum doors
opened. We could see the hordes flooding into the building. As we zapped
through one final room, I saw this really nice – thing – sorta looks like
gazebo made out of green malachite. I stopped for 2 seconds to take a photo.
Out of NOWHERE, this little old lady literally jumped in my
face squawking,
“NOPHOTONOPHOTONOPHOTO!!!!”
GAH.
Scared me half to death.
Our travel guy, Ian Page, had in fact mentioned that the
little old ladies (who are everywhere in every room) can indeed move like
ninjas when they see a rules infraction. And was he ever right about that!
Note the following:
- · There was no other place in the Hermitage where we were explicitly told not to take photos. We were warned about not using flash, but not once did the guide mention any other restrictions.
- · The guide had said nothing as we entered this room other than “Keep going, keep going, we will be turning right, we will be turning right….”.
- · We were literally running through this room at this point.
- · And therefore, I completely missed the teensy little sign (that I am assuming was at the entrance of the room, probably on the wall BEHIND me as I entered) that showed a camera with a line through it (i.e., “no photos”). I did see it as I exited the room – but only because I was looking for it.
·
It was too late. I had already taken the photo.
And here it is, whatever it is. No idea why I wasn’t
supposed to take a photo:
We continued to race out of the museum into the square, and
then proceeded to a chachkie shop down the street. Besides having a few minutes
to shop, there was also a bathroom – a brilliant strategic move to avoid the 30-minute
bathroom line inside the museum.
Andy saw a sail boat made of amber – amazingly beautiful
craftsmanship – for only a mere $1,000. Yeah, I think we’ll pass on that one.
But he also found – an elephant matruska doll! YES. SUCCESS.
Our tour guide took us to a “working” neighborhood in St
Petersburg where there were restaurants and shops – and we had almost 90 minutes
to wander about. This time it was easier. We found a restaurant that served
food cafeteria-wise. This meant communication by pointing and nodding worked
just fine.
After lunch, we went to the government owned chachkie shop. Really
nice stuff at very good prices (as we were promised, how weird). We did end up
buying a high-end matruska doll – it is signed by the artist. Having absolutely
no luck in finding anything remotely Jewish in theme, we figured we could fake
it with this one: A woman holding a tray with a loaf of bread and a salt shaker.
Our tour guide said it was a very traditional Russian theme – the bread with
salt being a symbol of “welcome”. Which is also a Jewish concept – it is
traditional to bring bread, salt and wine as a housewarming gift.
After shopping, we drove to the Peter Hoff gardens, first
built by Peter I (the Great). I slept through most of the explanation. But the
gardens themselves are gorgeous:
We took a hydrofoil back to the city center where we met our
bus. On our way back to the ship, we had one more opportunity to annoy the
Russian customs officials by being annoying cheerful. I could have sworn I saw
a smile flash across the official’s face. But it might have been a twitch.
At dinner, we compared notes:
- · The people in the streets of St Petersburg seemed to be uniformly grumpy. Hardly ever saw anybody smile.
- · The different tour guides each would take their bus to their own specified lunch destination, but each guide always went to the same place. So if you had the same tour guide two days in a row, you went to the same lunch place two days in a row. So Obnoxious Woman, who had complained so bitterly about the fast food court on Day 1, got to go back to the very same food court on Day 2.
An amazingly successful day!
Tomorrow: Finland! (and we get an hour back, woohoo!)
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