St Petersburg Part 5 - My present location along the Seine, & even more of the Hermitage

Today, after leaving Rouen early this morning, our river ship has now entered the tidal part of the Seine River. As we glide along we can see muddy embankments and marks showing where the river reaches at high tide. Apparently there is a six-foot difference between high tide and low tide. The river water still is a murky brown colour, and as we approach closer to the sea, I have noticed that the ship is stirring up mud. 

Before we approached Honfleur, we saw occasional villages, some very old and some fairly new, with a background of low hills covered in trees, broken only by chalky outcrops. It looked as though blocks of limestone have been carved from some of them. But closer to Honfleur the landscape changed. The land was flat. And now we have entered the port area I can see two cruise ships and the marks of a well-established town, with people strolling along a path that is near the water's edge.

 I am looking forward to a walking tour of the village. I hope that will shake off the sadness I feel having spent yesterday at the Somme battlefields and seen all the graves of so many young men who never had a chance to fulfil their hopes and dreams. They and their grieving loved ones were all innocent victims of those who lusted for power and for land of those whom they never met. 

But I digress. Back to St Petersburg . . .

Despite the problems with the coding of my photos when they were uploaded to my computer, which I mentioned in a previous post, I am fairly certain the following photographs also were taken in the Hermitage Museum, formerly the Winter Palace of Peter the Great and successive tsars. It has undergone several considerable reconstructions and redecoration over the centuries since the first simple wooden palace of Peter the Great. The communist regime allowed the magnificent buildings and their content to remain as a treasure of the people and visits to continue provided it was classified as a museum. 

Some of the photos were taken in a gorgeous small, intimate theatre that was used to present plays. It even had a royal box. I think this theatre was established by Catherine the Great, but I am not fully certain. 

We were told so many stories and provided with so much verbal information over the two full days it is difficult to recall much detail. We were never given time to purchase booklets, maps or even postcards when in St Petersberg, and the ship provided very little information. When describing this shore excursion, the tour staff did not even list all of the nine or so places we visited. The dearth of information is really disappointing when you pay such substantial amounts to participate in the shore excursions. With the limits to the weight of your luggage, you cannot carry around books, and with the limitations to WiFi on ships you cannot readily access the internet either. So you are reliant on the ship to help enrich your knowledge and to inspire your interest. My first ship provided much more comprehensive information about each place we visited than the ship that took me to Russia, and even then I would have liked more. Ideally I should had researched all this before I left home, but I was too busy working to investigate '8-months worth' of different places.

One of the balconies in the small theatre.

Another pair of balconies. 

The royal box.

One of many superb ceilings decorated with a fresco.

Part of a stunning staircase.

More of the staircase.

The beautiful marble staircase.

One of the rooms that featured lovely carvings, sculptures and paintings, apparently used for receptions. This photo was taken when the room had cleared a bit. When we entered it, it was packed.  

Standing under one of the chandeliers in the room (the one in front in the previous photo). This was a view that intrigued and enchanted me. Some chandeliers were made from paper mache to reduce their weight. I think this may have been one of them.