Wed29Jun16: Pulkovo Airport & The Hermitage

By 9am we were down in the lobby having showered, dressed, been fed & watered, totally ready for our taxi to Pulkovo Airport.  My bicycle-in-a-box and the equipment bag didn't make it on the flight from Brussels to St. Petersburg eleven (11) days ago, but the Lost & Found section has now confirmed that they now have both items at airport storage, although I have to go there and personally pick them up.
Budget Travel appears to have hired an Uber driver for this ride, but he speaks enough English to make the 40 minute drive interesting.  When we get to the airport, he gives us a 'burner' (untraceable cell phone) - because he can't remain or park in the Arrivals area - and shows us how to call him when we've got the bags and are ready to be picked up.  Customs & Immigration processes in Russia involve the normal bureaucratic hassle of paperwork and signatures, but after 40 minutes we have the two pieces of baggage and are ready.
Since we're back at the Andersen Hotel before noon, this is an opportunity to take the Metro downtown and spend the remainder of the day touring The Hermitage - the world's largest single collection of art and artifacts.

History notes that in the 18th century Catherine the Great was scouring the European flea markets for bargains in paintings, sculptures, and trinkets by all sorts of artists.  She then built an entire 3-storey building adjacent to her house - the Winter Palace - to display that art.

When the Bolsheviks took over the country in 1919, they simply confiscated all the art held by the nobility & wealthy middle-class across Russia and moved it into the rooms of the recently vacated Winter Palace.  So, now there's this monstrous sprawling complex of 300+ rooms with wall-to-wall treasures on display.   

Walk, walk, climb stairs, walk, walk, descend stairs, walk, walk, so by 7pm we're finally exhausted and 'burned out' from so much artistic beauty.









Back to the Nevskiy Propekt Metro station, pasta supper at Pizza Hut, and a final walk to the Andersen Hotel to rest our weary feet.