Mouth of the Neva.

After a good night's sleep aboard the Viking ship, Ingvar, we set out to explore Saint Petersburg, the second largest city in Russia. There are quite a few "must-be-seens" in this city, which is situated where the Neva River enters the Gulf of Finland. We were very excited to see the Hermitage, one of the greatest art museums in the world. The large fifty passenger motorcoaches were waiting on the pier for us. We each picked up a bottle of water as we left the ship. It was going to be a long day. On board the bus with us was Natalia,our Russian guide.  Unlike our other river cruise this one had on board guides. I must admit I liked this idea.  Natalia spoke excellent English and had visited the U.S.A. I found her quite knowledgeable, although I did not agree with some of her political views.

Our bus let us off in front of the eighteenth palace built by Catherine the Great. Natalia told us not to expect the bus to be in the same place after our tour because parking was not allowed

where we disembarked and to leave our bottles of water on the bus.  They would not be allowed in the museum. One thing we noticed immediately about Russian street traffic was the speed at which everyone drove, fast.  And how courteous they were to pedestrians.  If you put your foot in a pedestrian crosswalk the traffic comes to an quick halt,  According to our guide there are severe penalties to those who violate pedestrian rights.  There was not as much traffic as I would have expected for a city of almost five million people. There was a long line to enter the museum, but it moved quickly. Security at tourist sites in Russia is unusual.  I would prefer the term "quirky". Sometimes handbags are allowed and sometimes they aren't. Sometimes long coats are allowed and sometimes they aren't.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason for some of their rules.  It is easy to see why Saint Petersburg is called a very western city.  The czars liked France and sought to copy its architecture.  The interiors as well as the exteriors reflect this.  But I don't think I saw a blue building in Paris trimmed in white.

 Catherine the Great founded this museum in 1764 which, incidentally, was about the time my ancestors were  building their log cabins in the new world. There are three million pieces of art, antiquities, sculpture, and culture in the museum, which is comprised of six buildings.  When you visit one of the great palaces of Europe you become aware of what the wealth of the purveyors of

absolute power can buy.  All of the great masters are represented there. From Egyption art to the

present there are paintings and sculptures. I was fascinated by the collection of twenty-three Rembrandts, an incredible collection  of the Dutch master's work. The tour of this museum, which also included some palace rooms, was five hours long.  Although we did not see everything, we were ready to leave. It was crowded, although we had seen greater crowds at the Louvre in Paris and the Prado in Madrid. We found our motor coach a few blocks away from Palace Square, 2.

Back aboard the Ingvar we had an early dinner. We dined with a lovely couple from England. They lived near the Cotswolds, one of our favorite areas of the UK.  After a brief rest, a shower, and a change of clothes it was time to attend the ballet.  I am not a huge fan of the ballet, but I was in Russia and Russia is famous for ballet. Therefore, I put aside my prejudices and attended a performance of Swan Lake.  Once aboard the motorcoach we were told we were going back to one of the Hermitage  buildings. It seems one of the buildings was a theater. Many of us changed into some dressier clothes for the event. I put on a new pair of blue jeans. One fellow whom we would get to know better wore a Scottish outfit but with trousers instead of a kilt.  He said that he had heard that Mr. Putin did not care for men in skirts.The performance was great and was accompanied by an orchestra. The story was quite simple, and the dancing was fantastic.  Nevertheless, there is something about men in tights dancing on their toes that's not quite my cup of tea. But I do admire the athleticism required to dance the ballet. There was one ballerina that caught my attention. She was buxom! A rarity. After this performance, which we were not allowed to photograph, we returned to the ship slightly after ten o'clock.  There was plenty of daylight at ten o'clock, because St. Petersburg is at the same latitude as Anchorage, Alaska. A buffet awaited us.

We enjoyed our first full day in Russia and were anxious to see what tomorrow would bring.