Saint Petersburg - Day 3

I went back to Hermitage again to check out the English and French painting sections as well as the Modern Art section. There was no way I was going to finish Hermitage in one day. The museum is enormous. If you try to finish it in one day, you would get tired and eventually fail to appreciate the collection.

The Modern Art section is on the third floor, and it was packed with French and Italian tourists! The Modern Art section features works by Gaugin, Renoir, Monet, Matisse and the like, so the collection may be more familiar to those nationalities. Apart from the Modern Art section, the third floor features some icons and mosaics from Russia as well as artefacts from the East, including the Middle East, India and China. These sections were quieter, and you could spot local art students copying some of the art works on display.

Hermitage is a living art gallery that is very much a part of the city's life. I was delighted to find a huge mosaic, depicting the battle between Alexander the Great and Darius. It was probably a copy from the original, which I think is in Naples, but was just as impressive. 

After that, I crossed the river and reached Vasilevsky Island. Vasilevsky Island has a fair share of Saint Petersburg's attractions, such as the Twelve Colleges building, the Stock Exchange building, the Rostral columns and the Kunstkammer. The square in front of the Stock Exchange building is apparently a popular venue for newly wed's. You can spot a number of couples taking photographs, accompanied by their family and friends, especially during weekends. The square also provides an excellent view of Petrograd Island and the Peter and Paul Fortress.

There is a holiday feel to the square during weekends, and it is actually quite nice. The Kunskammer is reputed to be the first state museum in Russia. It is noted for  Pieter the Great's strange collection of human abnormalities like deformed human embyos...

Vasilevsky Island was originally planned to become the centre of Saint Petersburg. Although a bit run down, walking along Bolshoi Prospekt is a bit like browsing through a collection of classical buildings. If you are tired of over-polished facades on highly commercialised Nevsky Prospekt, this is the place to be. It is a place where history is very much part of people's lives.

I could not believe this was my last day in Saint Petersburg. I am flying back to Moscow tomorrow morning. Saint Petersburg was a lot more interesting than I initially expected. I fell in love with the city! This time, I did not manage to go to Tsarskoe Selo and Peterhof (which I've been to before). But I am quite happy with what I saw. I will definitely come back to Saint Petersburg again.