5 August- had lovely dinner last night at local Georgian restaurant. Tried local dishes- pressed chicken and chicken livers dishes both with a red ajika sauce- sort of a spicy, paprika, tomato sauce. Tried Georgian wine- a red and white and finished with some baclava. Food was very good- quite plain with a sorta smoky flavour. Wine OK- not bad but not outstanding. Baclava seemed to have more of a honey and less of a clover like taste. This morning we got taken to the Hermitage. The entrance is off Palace Square which is where the 1905 'bloody Sunday' massacre took place and from where the Bolsheviks stormed the Summer Palace in 1917. The Hermitage is mind blowing. We had our guide thank goodness so we did not have to queue and he took us through the various buildings for some 3 hours. The most impressive is probably the Summer Palace in terms of the rooms themselves- never seen so much marble and gold leaf in one place. Quite overwhelming. Saw a variety of sculptures and art as well including Rembrandt and Michelangelo plus De Vinci. The sheer volume of art is impressive but I think the buildings themselves and probably the amount collected esp. By Catherine the Great takes a bit to assimulate. The history itself is hard to take in all at once- oppulent dressing rooms, throne rooms, a chapel, a smallish dining room where the Romanov families dined even up to the last Tsar and where the Bolsheviks stormed in in 1917. Not hard to see why there was a revolution. The Russians are very proud of the collection- some of the vases, tables, doors, walls and ceilings are the most beautiful I think I have ever seen. not just tourists wandering around. Our guide told us some of the collection was sold off in the 1950's for hard currency and wealthy Americans bought up a fair bit. Some art work was exchanged/ sold during Brezchnevs time as well and they now believe some of the art received are fakes. Also found out when looking at a portrait of him that the Duke of Wellington fought in the Russian army- the things you learn. Also told that Catherine the Great had many lovers and no one knows who the father of her son actually was. Saw an official portrait of her- not a beautiful woman but I guess who was going to refuse the Empress of Russia.
After a short rest went out for a boat ride on the canals. The commentary was only in Russian but was still very interesting- very impressive houses/palaces/bridges lining the various canals. We started in the Moyka then exited onto the river Neva and went along the Hermitage on our right and the Peter and Paul Fortress on our left . Back into the canal system we went alongside the summer palace gardens which look stunning to me. This canal is the Fontanka. We went past some of their theatres including the Mariinsky ( probably spelt wrong) and again various grand houses and palaces. Some are in disrepair and some are in the process of being repaired. There are also rather incongruously factory chimneys peeking just behind some rather grand places. The boat turned into a smaller canal- the Krukov and then back to the start. The houses less grand on the smaller canal but still pretty impressive- looked like some were being done up. Many apartments/ houses have huge archways in the middle so you could imagine the horses and carriages riding through these. Mainly 18th century buildings. Was great idea to get out on the waterways. We went for a beer/cider afterwards- tried to get adventurous in one place but very hard when no one speaks English. Ended up at nice place where some English spoken. Extremely difficult when you cannot work out from menus what anything is. SA also very excited as went to local food store to get some juice and nuts and found local Russian chocolate. Bought a couple of bars for investigative purposes only.
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