St. Petersburg, Russia on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of The Sea’s was one of my favorite stops. If you didn’t already know, my great grandparents are from St. Petersburg, making me half Russian. We had three full days in Russia and although this was one of our longest stops on the cruise, three days is not long enough to see everything in this beautiful city.
There was so much I didn’t know about this amazing place. For example, did you know that it is the home to two Leonardo da Vinci paintings? Or did you know that there are 70 theaters in St. Petersburg? That’s just the tip of the iceberg on the long list of new things I learned. St. Petersburg is also home to The State Hermitage Museum. The State Hermitage Museum is one of the oldest and largest museums in the world. It is a museum of art and culture. It was created by Catherine the Great in 1754 and opened for the public in 1852. The State Hermitage has 1,057 rooms in total and around three million pieces of art! In order to see every work of art for one minute, one mesley minute, it would take up to eight years of your life. Eight to eleven years people! You would also have to walk around 22 kilometers to walk all parts of it. Which translates to 13.67 miles. It is made up of five interconnected buildings that has grown with time. When the museum was created, it was filled with 255 paintings from Berlin in Germany. Over the years, Catherine continued to collect paintings and to this day they are still there. To protect these priceless pieces of art, The State Hermitage Museum actually hires cats! They have employed about fifty cats now. Their job and sole purpose is to protect the art from mice and rats. Its also the residence of some very famous paintings created by Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Picasso, Rubens, Matisse and others. It houses quite elaborate collections including Classical Antiques, Egyptian Antiques, prehistoric art and decorative art and jewelry. I only could see a glimpse of The State Hermitage but from what I saw, I was in awe and stunned.
The weather in June can average between 50s to 70s, which wasn’t the greatest when I was there, but I still had a ton of fun. While touring around always remember that comfort is always a must. While, yes I did chose booties for exploring, they were super cute and pulled my whole outfit together. They are shockingly very comfortable booties that you can walk around in hours for. Since my stay was a little chilly, I threw on my trench coat and chunky knit sweater and I was all set! I would suggest packing warm clothing if heading to Russia in June. Don’t let the weather forecast fool you. It can be very chilly! I only had a couple of days to see Europe and I learned so much about the fascinating country. A little rain can’t stop me!
Comments
Looks like a great trip! Love seeing the history of other places.
xx, Danielle | Pineapple & Prosecco
Wow! How gorgeous! New place added to my bucket list!
It looks like you had an amazing trip! Your photos are so beautiful!
Megan | http://www.pipmegan.com
Oh my gosh those photos are beyond gorgeous. I can only imagine being there! Those booties are CUTE! When I was in Europe last June it was around 70 ish and perfect, Greece wasn’t so cool though.
Amazing photos!! It looks like you had a fantastic time!
these photos are amazing! looks like y’all had an amazing time!
xo!
Shelby
http://www.glitterandgingham.com
Girl these photos are absolutely breathtaking. Makes me want to go so bad
Wow looks like you had an amazing trip!!!
I never had the desire to go to St. Petersburg till just now. Stunning photos, Sarah!
Oh my, these pictures are stunning! Looks like such an amazing trip!!
xoxo,
Angelle
http://www.dashingdarlin.com
These photos are just gorgeous! Looks like you had an amazing time exploring
These photos are so beautiful! St. Petersburg is definitely on my travel bucket list!
http://www.cettedame.com