This was our last chance to see the Hermitage. We decided, on Veronika's advice about the 'see-worthiness' of the Metro, to take the Metro towards The Hermitage so we walked up Nevsky Pr to the Mayakovskaya Metro station. Having purchased tokens and taken the escalator down to coal-mining depths we were able to view the tiled architecture which Veronika had told us about.
This picture doesn't really do it justice but what it shows is the name of the station in Cyrillic script done in reddish/black tiles on the wall. Just to the left of this, and immeditaly opposite those is a series of doorways (lift elevator doors) which is where you wait to get onto the train. The train pulls up and the doors open and you get on without seeing any sign of the train before the doors open.
Being so deep underground and very enclosed can bring on acute claustrophobia in one so inclined so we decided not to wait for the train but instead to walk to The Hermitage. The unfortunate aspect of that was that it made us a little later getting to The Hermitage and there was the inevitable queue. Hoever, in contrast to Sunday's abortive attempt, the queue was actually moving in increments of about 30 people every ten minutes so we eventually made it inside at about midday. This gave us just over an hour to 'do' The Hermitage before we had to head back to the hotel. Since our main aim was to view the Leonardo da Vinci paintings this was doable.
Inside the building we first made our way up the magnificent staircase. The tread height is only about 100mm which is probably OK for a lady wearing a long gown but would be quite wearying if you were a poor servant having to run around after the royals. Maybe the servant's stairs are a more appropriate height of tread for efficient ascent and descent.
Having no idea where the LDV paintings might be we asked a babushka which way to go and after quite alot of walking through huge reception rooms we eventually came to the paintings. Along the way we took a few illicit photos (if the babushkas see you taking a photo they will shoo you away) including this reception room.
The Da Vinci paintings were, in the end, worth seeing given that we had limited time available.
The immense size and opulence of The Hermitage are staggering. It would probably take many visits to really do justice to the experience. However, now it was time to leave so we had a very brisk walk to the hotel arriving back just after our 2PM checkout time and had time to finish off our final packing and checkout before Alex arrived to take us to the airport.
The trip to the airport was full of mixed feelings for me. I was about to start the next part of my trip - three weeks in England with wife Patricia. I was meeting her and son Garth in London that evening.
We had been warned to be at the airport early to make sure we weren't held up by any of the security checks but in the event we had no problems getting through. There were some people at the terminal entrance, however, who were not being allowed in yet because their flight was some time away. I even offered to go through the outgoing customs check and was waved away with a smile.
On the BA flight to Heathrow I sat next to a Brit who was returning from a 5-day short holiday with his partner and two friends so we had a bit of a chat to while away the time. He told me they are coming to Oz with the Barmy Army for the Ashes tour in December. On touchdown at Heathrow there was no spontaneous applause on landing as there had been when we landed at Pulkovo on Friday evening. Most disappointing. I think it would be a good thing to do on any flight. (Any landing is a good landing).
At Heathrow immigration control I got the Spanish Inquisition (no one expects the Spanish Inquisition - Monty Python) since I was arriving from Russia, had been to the UK in August and must generally have looked a bit sus. Eventually I got through and after collecting our baggage we hopped onto the underground in to Earls Court (previously known as Kangaroo Valley during the heyday of Aussie working holiday trips in the late 60s and 70s). We managed to flag down a traditional London Cab and after dropping Mike and Sandra at their hotel I got to my hotel in Lancaster Gate and met up with Pat and Garth. We had dinner in while discussing plans for Thursday when we were to pick up our rental car and depart London pronto. Then to bed in a small over-heated room, but the story of our English experiences will be the subject of another series of posts.
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