St Petersburg Day 3. Hermitage Still Life

** WELL WHAT DO YOU KNOW! THIS TURNS OUT TO BE MY 1500th BLIP, AS I'VE JUST NOTICED AFTER UPLOADING. WHAT A SHAME IT'S A BACK-BLIP AND OUT OF SEQUENCE BECAUSE I'M DOING HOLIDAY CATCH-UP. **

[Actually, I'm quite pleased that this turned out to be the 1500th. I rather like the shot, this was one of the best days of the holiday, and uploading without realising it was a special number took the pressure off coming up with something special.]

We'd missed breakfast yesterday and were determined not to do the same today. True to our intentions, we were back in our room all ready for the day's adventure before 10.00. Having missed out on the Hermitage on Monday we decided to make good today and, now being old hands at the St Petersburg metro, got the underground to the closest stop to the Winter Palace/Hermitage. After the crowded masses and congestion of yesterday, today was surprisingly quiet and easygoing, and we soon found ourselves at the Royal Square, having time for a few photo ops on the way. The queue was long (actually, two of them were), and I was tempted not to bother, but Carl rightly insisted. We, and others, still had time for some more photos while we waited, and then finally we were inside, wandering through the opulence of the state rooms of the Winter Palace.

Afterwards, we set out to find the wing containing 20th Century European art but didn't succeed due to the inadequate signage and the misleading map on the information leaflet we'd been given. I'd said from the outset that the only thing I really wanted to see in the Hermitage was Matisse's The Dance, but, sadly, I didn't succeed. An unexpected bonus, though, was actually getting to see Catherine the Great's mechanical peacock clock in action. After two and a half hours traipsing around, we felt well entitled to a bit of a rest afterwards, and sat and quietly enjoyed a couple of beers at the café in the courtyard, which is where today's blip hails from.

We were on a few other missions after our refreshment break, so off we set again on a long, long walk along the longer-than-it-seems distances of the city. The Bronze Horseman was on the way, so we paid due deference there after a bit of a walk near one of the canals and a stop to enjoy one of St Petersburg's finest views before continuing on to sample Crocodile, a restaurant/bar highly recommended in our guide book. What a place! Carl's birthday meal on Monday had been good, but what we had in this little unassuming place was better. My starter, which was Strawberry Salad with Mango and Shrimp was glorious, but that's just to single out one thing among many. Next on the guide book list was a place called Lenin's Mating Call, which we'd actually considered on Monday. We eventually found our weary way to the address, only to find that the place had closed (a notice in Russian included a reference to a date of 20th June, but we couldn't decipher if we were being re-directed to a new address or what it was all about). Close by we came across a place which we decided was cashing in on the success of the original Lenin's Mating Call, and in we went. It was all a bit tame compared to the outlandish description we'd read about the original venue, but we stayed for a couple of beers anyway, as proved by this shot of us reflected in the mirrored ceiling.

Writing this rather a long time after the event, I'm a bit vague about how our last day in St Petersburg ended. We may have made our way back to the hotel for a bit of a rest after the day's exertions, but there's photographic evidence that we were out and about again later on, and we seem to have got the last Metro back home.